The challenges of having a child on the spectrum compounded with traditional school can sometimes be a blessing, and at times a curse. Being in school allowed for Roo to socialize with kids her age, learn in an environment that catered to gifted children, and to be honest it gave me an opportunity to get work done during the day.
The curse of attending traditional school with a child on the spectrum include frequent mediation between your child and the school (teachers, administrators, peers), convincing your child that this is the best decision for them, and lots of crying.
By the beginning of June we were convinced that attending school was the primary source of Roo’s high levels of anxiety and I decided to put a stop to it. After an incident at school where Roo reported that a teacher was rough with her, and then placed her in an office alone, I decided we were done with traditional school.
I pulled her out of her classes for the last week of school and chaperoned her while she attended the end of school year celebrations.
As a mompreneur and full-time student this required me to put everything on the back burner, because her mental health and happiness are my first priorities. But, that decision wasn’t the hard part about deciding to homeschool; it was my fear of inadequacy.
I have been involved in academia for over 12 years, and I would like to think that my degree with honors qualifies me to teach homeschool, but my degrees are in Social Work and Midwifery, not elementary education.
Adding in the fact that I had a newborn at home meant that I working on little to no sleep, and on some days I deeply questioned how the new school year would be at home.
I tried to enroll her in our state’s online K-12 option, but was quickly informed that they did not directly provide accommodation for special needs children, and without a formal IEP in place there was nothing they could do to assist her learning needs.
I spent many afternoons scouring the Internet for possible solutions and crying because it all seemed so unfair. Roo is this blazing ball of light and I want that light to shine as bright as it can, but in order for her to reach her potential I was facing some major obstacles.
One day I decided to search “Autism and homeschool” and I was amazed that I found a curriculum provider that had a dedicated article about all of challenges we were facing. As I began reading about the online education program tears started running down my face, because it started to feel like things were finally clicking into place for us.
I am so excited, but still a bit apprehensive, to be starting the new school year. We have a curriculum that meets the needs of our child, is secular, and provides me with the tools to ensure that she succeeds. Bring it on!
WISH US LUCK!
*Disclosure: I’ve been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out more about Time4Learning here!
