It sounds to me like you have your own gut instincts on this one. "I am pretty sure I could do a better job"
I homeschool(ed) 3 of my 6 kids. The oldest (22yo NT) is now a college graduate, and the other two are 13(w/ Kanner's) and 7(w/ Asperger's). My others, one of which has Asperger's, do well in private school.
Personally I don't think there is any one educational venue that is right for all kids. I started my 13yo out in public school and that was a miserable experience for everyone involved. She's been homeschooled now for 6 years and she really does well with it. On the same note, I started my youngest child (almost 5yo, NT) homeschooling for preschool, and she ended up terrorizing her 'at home' sisters and me. She's now in school and doing wonderfully.
As far as the socialization issue it really does depend on your community and how much support you can get from it. Everyone seems to think that homeschooling means staying at home all the time and sitting at your kitchen table all day. That's not necessarily the case. Some families do it that way, and we even have days where we stay home and dive into group book work, but that isn't very often.
My hs'd kids both have outside interests and activities. My 13yo attends art classes at the local community college (where she has a 1:1), is a member of parent-child archery club with her dad, and is a member of an organic farmers union as her grandmother's alternate. My 7yo attends Read America classes at the public library twice a week, is member of an age-appropriate play group in our neighborhood, goes to tumbling classes once a week, and has enough friends to choke a horse. In our house 9 out of 10 times a knock on our door is a kid coming to ask if she can play.
One of the things I like about homeschooling my spectrum kids is that I can choose their 'major' and direct the areas of their learning. I can turn regular text book classes into applied learning classes, which really works well for them.
For instance, my 7yo was doing well in math, but she was bored, and not doing as well as she could. She also has a really hard time relating how something taught from a text book can be applied in real life. This was a big deal for us, because she couldn't complete the most basic tasks if it involved math. She always did great on math tests, but then couldn't 'do the math' when in everyday situations. We recently figured out that she has a a real interest and talent for cooking, so we transfered most of her math lessons to culinary arts. This was a significant turning point for her. Suddenly fractions had a use. Multiplication was something handy, not just something mom and dad forced her to learn. She threw herself into basic geometry and realized that's what it was. After a few weeks she started using her math skills in other situations too, not just in the kitchen, because she was learning the math in a 'real life setting'.
We also get to choose what we do for field trips, where we're going to go, and how long we're going to stay there. One of my 13yo's friend's ps classes recently went to the local museum, but they only stayed 2 hours. We went the next weeks (with said friend in tow to make it more fun) and stayed as long at the girls were comfortable with it, which ended up being 5 hours all together. They got to see all of the exhibits (not just the ones on the school tour), played with the interactive exhibits (more than once in some cases), ate lunch in the garden, and lingered in the guest shop to pick up post cards and t-shirts for their friends who live far away (head's up Yvonne, lol).
Oh, and we have a pen-pal family in England.
Anyway, it seems to me that you've already got your gut feeling. I don't think you need anyone else's. When all is said and done this is your child, and you know what's best for him.
I bristle when schools mention home schooling too. That option should only come from parents. An IEP is definitely in order. The team should try to identify where your son's stress is coming from and try to reduce it. Maybe he would do better in a smaller, more contained classroom or maybe an aide is all that is needed. As far as driving the teacher crazy, I wouldn't let that rule my decision. Kids come in all flavors and she needs to learn to teach them all.
Personally, I would rather be rolled in blood and thrown into shark-infested waters than even consider homeschooling (sorry Candes, but at least I know my limitations!).
My son had a lot of challenges with school and he could not handle a large class size at all. He was in a small self-contained Special Ed class for years (even a special ed class of 12 kids was too much for him). He did great in
LOL, no offense taken Paula. Like I said, it's not right for everyone. I was ready to put my head through a wall after just the first week of trying homeschool Angel. After the 3rd week I was a sobbing mess and willing to do whatever her private school wanted in order to get her a full ride.
Which, of course, led to the reason I attended a funeral this morning. One of my remote students from the school lost his battle against lymphatic cancer on Sunday.
Yup there is no right or wrong. We have had our ds (age 10) in both situations, and they are both good for him for different reasons! He loves the structure and independence from Mom and Dad that school brings, which is why we keep looking for a tenable one, NOT an easy task here where so many schools are just overloaded with kids and overwhelmed with beaurocratic nightmares... And yet he loves being homeschooled as well, sleeping in, learning at his own pace (which is fast) and then doing his own thing, drawing, writing books, taming his rodents, dancing to "Dance Dance Revolution", OK, playing lots of video games.
We do have him in 2 challenging social skills groups, plus play therapy with another kid, and as many play dates as we can arrange with his close buddies. This weekend he is going to a sleepover with 10 other hoys, should be wild. And we are starting to try out homeschool classes on special subjects, we'll let you know how that all goes.
I dislike the forcing of a school to get it right if my child suffers in the meantime needlessly. But I was in situations with schools (ds attended several different ones) that either worked for awhile then didn't, or in the case of the last one, was a total nightmare. And when we had to leave that school, and there was NO question in our minds about whether or not to try working things out with them (!), we just had no other viable alternative than trying homeschooling.
But homeschooling, challenging as it is, has some great advantages! And one of them is watching my son get to learn and grow without so much anxiety. It is a big difference. Therefore, any school we put him in in the future will really have to be fabulous to compete with what we can do, capesh?
It always bugs me when a teacher or school administrator mentions homeschooling as an option.
Shar-mom,
It sounds to me like you have your own gut instincts on this one. "I am pretty sure I could do a better job"
I homeschool(ed) 3 of my 6 kids. The oldest (22yo NT) is now a college graduate, and the other two are 13(w/ Kanner's) and 7(w/ Asperger's). My others, one of which has Asperger's, do well in private school.
Personally I don't think there is any one educational venue that is right for all kids. I started my 13yo out in public school and that was a miserable experience for everyone involved. She's been homeschooled now for 6 years and she really does well with it. On the same note, I started my youngest child (almost 5yo, NT) homeschooling for preschool, and she ended up terrorizing her 'at home' sisters and me. She's now in school and doing wonderfully.
As far as the socialization issue it really does depend on your community and how much support you can get from it. Everyone seems to think that homeschooling means staying at home all the time and sitting at your kitchen table all day. That's not necessarily the case. Some families do it that way, and we even have days where we stay home and dive into group book work, but that isn't very often.
My hs'd kids both have outside interests and activities. My 13yo attends art classes at the local community college (where she has a 1:1), is a member of parent-child archery club with her dad, and is a member of an organic farmers union as her grandmother's alternate. My 7yo attends Read America classes at the public library twice a week, is member of an age-appropriate play group in our neighborhood, goes to tumbling classes once a week, and has enough friends to choke a horse. In our house 9 out of 10 times a knock on our door is a kid coming to ask if she can play.
One of the things I like about homeschooling my spectrum kids is that I can choose their 'major' and direct the areas of their learning. I can turn regular text book classes into applied learning classes, which really works well for them.
For instance, my 7yo was doing well in math, but she was bored, and not doing as well as she could. She also has a really hard time relating how something taught from a text book can be applied in real life. This was a big deal for us, because she couldn't complete the most basic tasks if it involved math. She always did great on math tests, but then couldn't 'do the math' when in everyday situations. We recently figured out that she has a a real interest and talent for cooking, so we transfered most of her math lessons to culinary arts. This was a significant turning point for her. Suddenly fractions had a use. Multiplication was something handy, not just something mom and dad forced her to learn. She threw herself into basic geometry and realized that's what it was. After a few weeks she started using her math skills in other situations too, not just in the kitchen, because she was learning the math in a 'real life setting'.
We also get to choose what we do for field trips, where we're going to go, and how long we're going to stay there. One of my 13yo's friend's ps classes recently went to the local museum, but they only stayed 2 hours. We went the next weeks (with said friend in tow to make it more fun) and stayed as long at the girls were comfortable with it, which ended up being 5 hours all together. They got to see all of the exhibits (not just the ones on the school tour), played with the interactive exhibits (more than once in some cases), ate lunch in the garden, and lingered in the guest shop to pick up post cards and t-shirts for their friends who live far away (head's up Yvonne, lol).
Oh, and we have a pen-pal family in England.
Anyway, it seems to me that you've already got your gut feeling. I don't think you need anyone else's. When all is said and done this is your child, and you know what's best for him.
~Candes
Ultimately the decision to stay in the public school or to homeschool is yours.
Personally, I would rather be rolled in blood and thrown into shark-infested waters than even consider homeschooling (sorry Candes, but at least I know my limitations!).
My son had a lot of challenges with school and he could not handle a large class size at all. He was in a small self-contained Special Ed class for years (even a special ed class of 12 kids was too much for him). He did great in
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
LOL, no offense taken Paula. Like I said, it's not right for everyone. I was ready to put my head through a wall after just the first week of trying homeschool Angel. After the 3rd week I was a sobbing mess and willing to do whatever her private school wanted in order to get her a full ride.
Which, of course, led to the reason I attended a funeral this morning. One of my remote students from the school lost his battle against lymphatic cancer on Sunday.
~C
awww. I am sorry to hear that. The death oif a child is always heartbreaking. It is so very
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Hi guys,
Yup there is no right or wrong. We have had our ds (age 10) in both situations, and they are both good for him for different reasons! He loves the structure and independence from Mom and Dad that school brings, which is why we keep looking for a tenable one, NOT an easy task here where so many schools are just overloaded with kids and overwhelmed with beaurocratic nightmares... And yet he loves being homeschooled as well, sleeping in, learning at his own pace (which is fast) and then doing his own thing, drawing, writing books, taming his rodents, dancing to "Dance Dance Revolution", OK, playing lots of video games.
We do have him in 2 challenging social skills groups, plus play therapy with another kid, and as many play dates as we can arrange with his close buddies. This weekend he is going to a sleepover with 10 other hoys, should be wild. And we are starting to try out homeschool classes on special subjects, we'll let you know how that all goes.
I dislike the forcing of a school to get it right if my child suffers in the meantime needlessly. But I was in situations with schools (ds attended several different ones) that either worked for awhile then didn't, or in the case of the last one, was a total nightmare. And when we had to leave that school, and there was NO question in our minds about whether or not to try working things out with them (!), we just had no other viable alternative than trying homeschooling.
But homeschooling, challenging as it is, has some great advantages! And one of them is watching my son get to learn and grow without so much anxiety. It is a big difference. Therefore, any school we put him in in the future will really have to be fabulous to compete with what we can do, capesh?
Sara