Special Needs and HOD
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 8:02 pm
Hello,
I wanted to share our journey with homeschooling my two boys, who are both on the Autism Spectrum, and what a BLESSING HOD has been in our family.
After much prayer, we decided to pull our boys out of public school 2 years ago. They had just finished 1st and 2nd grade. Like many kids on the Spectrum, they had wildly mixed skills, and did not fit the mold in a traditional classroom. But, they are "mild", or "high functioning" on the Spectrum, and didn't fit in an alternative education (life skills type) classroom either. We tried public and private school, but just couldn't find the right fit until we realized the right fit was at home.
I was blessed and found HOD early; it was our first homeschool curriculum purchased. I felt God led us to the perfect curriculum. Unfortunately, God was dealing with an imperfect mom
and pride kept me from placing them in a lower guide than their age range suggested. I knew formal school work would be a problem (these are kids who memorize all maps, routes, every fact ever found about dinosaurs and most other animals, license plate numbers of all friends and family, airplane types on sight, train types on sight, etc, but have lots of educational delays when compared with peers), and should have placed them in LHFHG to give them a year to grow in fine motor, reading, focus, and all the other skills that are important in education. Instead, I placed them in Beyond. We failed. They couldn't keep up, didn't listen to any of the read alouds, zoned out, didn't retain, etc. They were 7/8 years old and 8.5/9 years old at the time, and I was so frustrated. I thought HOD just wasn't right for us, it couldn't be anything else, right!?! 
Our first year and half of homeschooling, although filled with so many good things, was HARD. I felt scattered, wandering, and lost because NOTHING fit. I probably bought and sold more curricula than most homeschool books stores, lol. We tried every homeschool model out there: classical, unit studies, traditional, workbook, unschooling...you name it, we dabbled in it. The whole time, I kept coming back to HOD, and kept wishing that it would have been the fit I was looking for all this time. I knew the CM philosophy was good fit, and was trying to follow her teachings already, but wasn't having much success on my own.
My kiddos really wanted to study world geography this school year (2013-2014), so we started with another popular program often compared to HOD, and quickly found that it was NOT going to work. We sold that one quickly, and we ended up doing our own thing and winging it. That was fine, and the first part of this year was nice, but it's hard to sequentially build on skills without seeing the big picture, and I was planning week by week, which is not how I like to operate. We eventually covered what we wanted in World Geography, and were at a stalemate. That was when I began praying again about where to go next. It was then that God started laying HOD on my heart once again. But this time, I was armed with a much better knowledge of what my kids needed, and where they placed in the guides. So, even though it was February, I placed another order with HOD, and we went with Beyond once again. Even though my boys are now 8.5 (almost 9) and 10 years old.
This is where it gets good!
They are THRIVING with HOD now! They are on the edge of their seats when we read the History stories, often asking for another chapter (which is a PRAISE as they have some pretty major auditory processing issues and have never responded so well to anything read aloud before), actually enjoy the poetry, love the art (another thing they haven't really cared for before), and are right where they need to be on everything else. But most of all, they are relating it all so well to the bible. They soak it up, and make wonderful connections! Another bonus, my son has memorized the Beginner's Bible, he loves it so much!! We pretty much do the guide as written, not adding any extra writing, or notebooking yet, even though I wanted to at first when I saw all the cool files in the archives. I add in handwriting (they have severe fine motor delays as well as dysgraphia) instead of the copy work because they just aren't there yet, and their math is a little different since we have had success with a different program from the start.
So for anyone out there that might any of the same sort of troubles...don't be afraid to wait! I don't know which guides we'll end up covering before my boys get through High School, but I know they will get a wonderful education with HOD. Right now, I'm hopeful that they will finish MtMM, with or without the extensions. I am CERTAIN, however, that God is in control, and he is planning some GREAT things for my boys. He's got this, if I would just step out of the way and keep my trust in him!
Thanks for letting me share my story, and my journey in getting back on board with HOD!
Trista
I wanted to share our journey with homeschooling my two boys, who are both on the Autism Spectrum, and what a BLESSING HOD has been in our family.
After much prayer, we decided to pull our boys out of public school 2 years ago. They had just finished 1st and 2nd grade. Like many kids on the Spectrum, they had wildly mixed skills, and did not fit the mold in a traditional classroom. But, they are "mild", or "high functioning" on the Spectrum, and didn't fit in an alternative education (life skills type) classroom either. We tried public and private school, but just couldn't find the right fit until we realized the right fit was at home.
I was blessed and found HOD early; it was our first homeschool curriculum purchased. I felt God led us to the perfect curriculum. Unfortunately, God was dealing with an imperfect mom
and pride kept me from placing them in a lower guide than their age range suggested. I knew formal school work would be a problem (these are kids who memorize all maps, routes, every fact ever found about dinosaurs and most other animals, license plate numbers of all friends and family, airplane types on sight, train types on sight, etc, but have lots of educational delays when compared with peers), and should have placed them in LHFHG to give them a year to grow in fine motor, reading, focus, and all the other skills that are important in education. Instead, I placed them in Beyond. We failed. They couldn't keep up, didn't listen to any of the read alouds, zoned out, didn't retain, etc. They were 7/8 years old and 8.5/9 years old at the time, and I was so frustrated. I thought HOD just wasn't right for us, it couldn't be anything else, right!?! Our first year and half of homeschooling, although filled with so many good things, was HARD. I felt scattered, wandering, and lost because NOTHING fit. I probably bought and sold more curricula than most homeschool books stores, lol. We tried every homeschool model out there: classical, unit studies, traditional, workbook, unschooling...you name it, we dabbled in it. The whole time, I kept coming back to HOD, and kept wishing that it would have been the fit I was looking for all this time. I knew the CM philosophy was good fit, and was trying to follow her teachings already, but wasn't having much success on my own.
My kiddos really wanted to study world geography this school year (2013-2014), so we started with another popular program often compared to HOD, and quickly found that it was NOT going to work. We sold that one quickly, and we ended up doing our own thing and winging it. That was fine, and the first part of this year was nice, but it's hard to sequentially build on skills without seeing the big picture, and I was planning week by week, which is not how I like to operate. We eventually covered what we wanted in World Geography, and were at a stalemate. That was when I began praying again about where to go next. It was then that God started laying HOD on my heart once again. But this time, I was armed with a much better knowledge of what my kids needed, and where they placed in the guides. So, even though it was February, I placed another order with HOD, and we went with Beyond once again. Even though my boys are now 8.5 (almost 9) and 10 years old.
This is where it gets good!
They are THRIVING with HOD now! They are on the edge of their seats when we read the History stories, often asking for another chapter (which is a PRAISE as they have some pretty major auditory processing issues and have never responded so well to anything read aloud before), actually enjoy the poetry, love the art (another thing they haven't really cared for before), and are right where they need to be on everything else. But most of all, they are relating it all so well to the bible. They soak it up, and make wonderful connections! Another bonus, my son has memorized the Beginner's Bible, he loves it so much!! We pretty much do the guide as written, not adding any extra writing, or notebooking yet, even though I wanted to at first when I saw all the cool files in the archives. I add in handwriting (they have severe fine motor delays as well as dysgraphia) instead of the copy work because they just aren't there yet, and their math is a little different since we have had success with a different program from the start. So for anyone out there that might any of the same sort of troubles...don't be afraid to wait! I don't know which guides we'll end up covering before my boys get through High School, but I know they will get a wonderful education with HOD. Right now, I'm hopeful that they will finish MtMM, with or without the extensions. I am CERTAIN, however, that God is in control, and he is planning some GREAT things for my boys. He's got this, if I would just step out of the way and keep my trust in him!
Thanks for letting me share my story, and my journey in getting back on board with HOD!
Trista
You don't want to know how many different things I used with them.