special needs children and HOD

[yayadaisy]

Has anyone homeschooled their child that has special needs. I have one with a LD in writing and reading he is 8 and can not read still and also have a 5yr who at this time has a developmental delay, who we will be getting testing done sometime this fall for Autism. Just wondering if anyone out there has something like this and how HOD has worked for them? Did you make adjustments to anything? I really love the lay out and have started with Beyond with my 8yrs(my 6yr. also does it too) and LHTH with my 5yr and 3yr. seems to be going well so far, but just wondering about others how you have done it and how it worked for you?

Sheila mom to five great kids and one angel in heaven.

ds 12-2-99
dd 1-21-02
ds 7-31-03
ds 6-10-05
ds 4-3-07
dd went to see Jesus on 7-8-08

[water2wine]

I am homeschooling my dd that has cerebral palsy with HOD and all my children with HOD. I think HOD is the best for LDs. There is so much there yet there is so much flexibility in what is there. My daughter is delayed especially in reading and cognitive skills along those lines but also. She is two levels behind her age level in math and four behind in reading. What I have loved about HOD is that we can easily accommodate that while still keeping her learning general things on her age level due to all the read alouds. So we use Bigger, I read aloud the extension pack to accommodate her and customizer her LA to her with the Emerging Readers and some from Beyond just in LA but she is actually in The Bigger Program. I am just using Beyond because I have it now. I have done LA really with things that have worked for her independently but I am just figuring out Carries stuff is about what I am doing and it is working so now I am letting her do the work. Carrie gave me other picks for my on target child the same age to read on her own in place of the extension pack. I can put LA where ever I want including reading. And Math is on her level. I can still use Carries math connections and tie it in at her level. If I want to use a lower level for that like Beyond for LA and Math only I can and yet she is still on age target for everything else. It doesn't have to be as complicated as what I am doing. I am just kind of make things more complicated than they have to be. I am learning to simplify thanks to HOD.

To me what you really need for special needs is a program that is designed to meet them at their developmental need but also has options so you can customize for your child. Then an author that answers questions and helps you is the added wonderful bonus here. I have never hit a bump that Carrie has not helped me fix and even turned into a bigger blessing. HOD has been the absolute best thing for meeting our daughter at her needs while not neglecting the others one bit and still meeting my person educational and spiritual goals.

I HTH a little bit. I know there are others here that also teach kids with learning differences and they will chime in. If you have any questions we are all happy to answer.

ETA-Sheila my heart goes out to you. I just noticed on your tag. I am so sorry for your loss. Heavens gain but I can't not imagine how great a loss for you. Prayers and hugs to you.

[Carrie]

Sheila,

There's another thread running on the board right now that may help you! Here you go:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1730

Blessings,
Carrie

[melzy71]

I will be using Beyond with my 10 year old autistic boy. Right before I ordered my books I found out he could read! We worked on phonics all last year. Tried out 100 ez lessons but at about lesson 30ish it started to get too complicated for my son so I turned to the MacGuffey reader. We were halfway through with that when I ended school for the summer. I didn't work on reading at all and when I was looking at the books for emerging readers I just had this weird idea in my head to ask him to read a page. He read the whole page and didn't need help but on one or two words. I think he has been reading for quit a while actually but I wasn't paying attention really and he pulled a fast one on me . He is mostly on a 2nd grade level with everything except math and the books that I will be reading to him in Beyond are just at his comperhension level. They are beyond his reading level but he can listen and get the story of what I am reading. I have tried narration with him before and he can't answer any of the questions asked of him. I know it's in there he just can't seem to vocalize what he has learned so narration will be tried but I am not sure all of the questions asked of him will work or not. I know some will though as I looked over the different weeks. We are going to try memorizations too. I like the way Carrie has them do big motor skill activities while doing memory work. I think this will work out great for my son. He loves to wiggle lots. I love also that this curriculum is so flexible and uses very few books. It is a very uncomplicated way of doing school and I really like this aspect of it. I think it is very doable for a child with special needs. I would just go off of what grade level his comprehension is and go from there.

[yayadaisy]

melzy71 and water2wine- thank you so much for sharing. I feel like sometimes I am not doing the right thing for my kids by homeschooling them. I have close family who don't support it at all. So with the LD it makes it even harder at times because I wonder if I am doing better or not than the school would. It was very encouraging to hear your story. I agree with everything you have said about HOD. I too will be reading the books to my son rather than him reading them, but I know he will get some much out of it still and we have a new reading program to try this year I am very excited about. Also Carrrie thank you for the link to the other site. Very helpful. What is better than finding a great program but having one you can ask questions about and get answers! Thank you all ladies.

Sheila mom to five great kids and one angel in heaven

ds 12-2-99
dd 1-21-02
ds 7-31-03
ds 6-10-05
ds 4-3-07
dd went to see Jesus on 7-8-08

[Vicki]

Sheila,

My little guy has problems too, but I know that each day I'm filling his heart and mind with God's word. He wouldn't get that at school, nor the love and attention you can give your child at home. That, in itself, is enough for me.

Here's a hug for you, and hope that this year is a good one for you and your child.

[water2wine]

melzy71 and water2wine- thank you so much for sharing. I feel like sometimes I am not doing the right thing for my kids by homeschooling them. I have close family who don't support it at all. So with the LD it makes it even harder at times because I wonder if I am doing better or not than the school would.

If it makes you feel better to know this my family all thinks I am crazy for hsing and my father has even openly and very verbally disapproved. So all that does not matter. My heavenly Father approves and knowing that makes it worth listening to all the doubt.

I just want to encourage you that I honestly believe you can do a much better job than a ps special ed teacher with 8 plus other kids all over the board with different needs who is confined by bureaucracy and paper work can do any day of the week. There is no substitution for one on one time. And bottom line is there is no one trick that works for all kids. They simply do not have the time or the people power to find the best fit for your child. One thing that I have found very important to do is to pray for God to show you what will work with your child. Then start working with them and you will be amazed at how God honors that prayer. Don't give up, don't give in, it is worth it!

[Jodi]

I've homeschooled all along with special needs children. Over time you will find what works best for them. The main thing is to use materials at their ability levels not the grade they would be by public school standards. My autistic 14 yo did not read at all until he was 10, and then he could read easy readers all of a sudden, I was very excited! Not sure what would have happened had he been in school but at home I could just keep patiently working with him at his own pace until it clicked. What I like about HOD (and I have not begun yet, just looked at materials we're on summer break now) is that there seems to be an ability to use just the basic materials for children who aren't reading, or don't have the attention span for lots of read alouds, but there is more that can be added in from the other packages for kids who want or need more. HOD looks to be quite flexible. For me with 2 special needs kids, two typical kids and... well I'm more of a science Mom than a history one...I think HOD will be a fun and easy to use program.

Main advice put the blinders on about what they "should" be doing at certain ages and just keep doing the next thing. All children are different and with homeschooling we can tailor their education to our kids unique needs.