Anyone Homeschool their child(ren)?

[Elfay]

Last year, during an IEP meeting, we told those in attendence that at 16 our son was told he can legally quit school. They looked at us like we were crazy!! One of the ladies said as serious as can be, "Who told him that?" Gee whiz lady anyone can and will tell our son (didn't say that!) we told her we told him, he has a right to know. He will find out anyway - he is not an idiot. If it really was the schools intentions to keep him in school they would have been listening to us, his parents, for all these years, what he needed and didn't need.

I know how much our county public school system gets for a special education student, $10,000 per student - is it any wonder they won"t promote special ed kids back into regular ed??? They will lose their extra money!! Keeping our son behind is in the schools interest, not his. There is totally something wrong with our public school system here in Georgia.

[Love Wisdom Truth]

Originally Posted by Elfay

We had to take our 12 1/2 year old son out of school, he is an Aspie (Aspergers Syndrome) and has been in an "Mild" Autistic class for the last year and a 1/2. He learned nothing in that year and a 1/2 other than to color a turkey ....
Thoughts and opinions welcomed.

You could try to teach him chess. You can take him to places where they play chess. Chess requires concentration and thinking and it is a lot of fun as well.

I am training one child who got problems - "concentrating" to play chess and he took a few first prizes (one of them about $600, the other one $960, yes he was competing against the best children out there) I also teach him math private lessons. He is 5ft grade, I teach him 6th grade math. I believe if I teach him math 1 hour a day, we could take all lessons up to 10 grade in about 1-2 years.

Two things. Get him private lessons in math - everyday if possible. Getting ahead of others will give him Confidence. Very, Very, Very important. With chess, start slowly ask his opponents to either give him the game at the beginning or make draws to encourage him to play. You have to use psychology here.
A gardner is known by his garden, a teacher by his students.

God be with you,
DS

[tainamom]

I feel for you. I homeschooled for 7.5 years. I put my dd back in PS for HS.

Firstly, take it one day at a time. He's going to need time to adjust from being in school for so long. Follow his lead, if he likes certain books to read, let him read them. Find out what he likes to do best and encourage it - swimming, sports, games, whatever w/in reason. You have a great opportunity to go slow or fast with him on the topics learned. You might even be able to start hs sooner for him, depending on his level. YOu still have to follow the rules according to your state and don't slack off on reports. It might get very lonely or crazy being at home so many hours (that's one reason why my dd's back in school) so try to schedule time with other people who share similar interests as he does and time for yourself to be with other people too. You can go slow or fast according to how he learns. Take more trips together. Also, give each other space when you've been together for so long. Remember, you both are not used to being together for long periods of time together w/ the exception of summer and school recess. You might need to get on his case if he doesn't do his work and decides to slack off or you might need to discipline yourself to help him with his assignments. It's very easy to do other things around the house or to run errands than to sit with a dreaded assignment. Self-discipline is key. Luckily for us, my state's bd. of ed. required me to report what my daughter did. Otherwise, fahgettaboudit! I would have never done any work with her. LOL. Take a break when needed. I generally worked M-Th and Friday was free time, but she had to do something. I also took breaks when Public School was out so that if we did anything outside, there were more kids for her to meet. Also, there are many opportunities to learn from outside the books and in real life - reading, geography, history, music, etc. Education doesn't happen only indoors. Most importantly, enjoy the time together.