Special Needs
Children with special needs, including ADD/ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other situations, can thrive in a homeschool environment. Parents find that support and encouragment from other parents and organizations goes a long way towards a success home education experience. We've compiled the best resources for parents as they educate their special needs child.
Resources
In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Multiple Intelligences
Children learn in differing ways. Thomas Armstrong specializes in helping parents identify the unique areas in each of our children that enhance their special way of learning and expressing creativity. This work on multiple intelligences talks about the eight different kinds of multiple intelligences, showing you how to discover your child's particular areas of strength.
Choosing & Using Curriculum: For Your Special Child
Homeschooling a child with special needs can be challenging. This book lays out a discussion of different reading and math programs, how to adapt materials for special situations, resources for blind, deaf and speech/language, and curriculum types and styles. It will help you find the resource you need to make your homeschooling successful.
Homeschooling a Special Needs Child
I Am What I Am
A mother of an exceptional child discusses why homeschooling is the right choice for their family. A personal look at the joys of learning and growing together through an unschooling philosophy of life.
Allowing Your Highly Sensitive/Out of Sync Child to Shine with Unschooling
A look at using an unschooling approach with children who are highly sensitive and out of sync.
Statewide Assessment: Policy Issues & Questions
This policy paper provides a list of questions that parents and parent organizations can address in an effort to ensure that statewide assessment systems fully and fairly include students with disabilities. In the past, students with disabilities have too often been excluded from large-scale assessments. However, students with disabilities now must be included in state assessment programs with appropriate accommodations, as required by the recent amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Advantages of Homeschooling a Special Needs Child
When you have a special needs child, no public school will ever be able to fully cater to their needs. Private schools do exist for many types of special needs, but they can be expensive and often still not fully adapted to your child’s specific situation. Therefore, you might find yourself wondering how to get your child the education that they deserve in a format that works for them. Homeschooling a special needs child is a very advantageous choice for many parents who can afford the time and resources to do so. A homeschool program will allow children with special needs to have their specific needs addressed and also avoid many obstacles that they would face in a traditional classroom. When it comes to children with learning disabilities or other severe impairments, sometimes a parent who understands their special needs is the only one who can teach the child.
Resources for Families with a Special Needs Child
Homeschool Curriculum Choices for High School
Choosing a high school curriculum for a homeschooler can feel daunting. It presents a greater challenge when your child has special needs. This guide will help you choose a homeschool high school curriculum for a student with dyslexia.
LD OnLine
LD OnLine.org is the leading information service in the field of learning disabilities, serving more than 200,000 parents, teachers, and other professionals each month. Launched in 1996, it was the first and is by far the most visited learning disabilities site on the web. LD OnLine features thousands of helpful articles on learning disabilities and ADHD, monthly columns by noted experts in the field, a free and confidential question and answer service, active bulletin boards, and a Yellow Pages referral directory of professionals, schools, and products. LD OnLine is often the first destination for parents and educators seeking information on how to help children and adults with learning disabilities.
Curriculum Associates
Offers BRIGANCE Screening and Inventories products. Designed for use in elementary and middle schools, the CIBS-R is a valuable resource for programs serving students with special needs, and continues to be indispensable in IEP development and program planning.
Homeschooling Kids With Disabilities
Homeschooling Kids With Disabilities offers information and support to people who are homeschooling children with special educational needs.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Here you'll find the text of the law, along with amendments, articles, general information, and more.
Homeschooling and Libraries: New Solutions and Opportunities
Homeschools are alwsy looking for alternative ways of schooling that do not necessarily reflect what a typical classroom looks like. Since homeschooling is so diverse across families, information institutions, including public, academic, school, and special libraries may find it challenging to meet all their needs and desires. This collection of essays offers approaches and strategies from library professionals and veteran homeschoolers on how to best serve the needs and experiences of homeschooled youth. This book includes information on special needs homeschooling, gifted students, and African American students as well.
Kulp Homeschool
List of resources for those homeschooling children with special needs.
Support for Special Needs Homeschoolers in Indiana
Shining Children with Radical Unschooling
This list is a forum for those either radically unschooling or learning how to radically unschool to discuss our "shining" children (Highly Sensitive, Out of Sync, Asperger’s traits, Explosive) and all the issues that accompany life with them--how we grow and learn ourselves thanks to our non-typical children and how unschooling frees their spirits and allows them to truly "shine."
Special Needs Homeschooling Forum at vegsource.com
A message board for parents who are homeschooling special needs children.
National Challenged Homeschoolers Associated Network (NATHHAN)
NATHHAN (NATional cHallenged Homeschoolers Associated Network) is a Christian, non-profit organization dedicated to providing encouragement to families with children with special needs that are homeschooling. They publish an online or hard copy quarterly newsletter. They also publish a family directory, updated each year. They have a large lending library by operated by mail.
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Featured Resources
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Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School
If you’ve ever felt that your child wasn’t flourishing in school or simply needs something the experts aren’t supplying, you’re ready to become a "guerrilla educator." this books explains what’s wrong (and what’s useful) about our traditional schools and shows you how to take charge of your family’s education to raise thinking, creative young people despite the constraints of traditional schooling. Filled with fun and exciting exercises and projects to do with children of all ages, this rem...
Creative Home Schooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families
For a comprehensive guide to home-based education, that does not promote any particular curriculum or religious view, this is one book parents should buy! Parents will appreciate practical advice on getting started, adjusting to new roles, designing curriculum that is both child-centered and fun, and planning for social and emotional growth. Parents will turn to their favorite chapters again and again. Features interviews and tips from many homeschool parents as well as long lists of resources...
A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling
In 1991, shortly after receiving both the New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year Awards, John Gatto resigned to begin a new career as an education reform advocate. In this collection of 16 essays, Gatto analyzes the problems of American education and suggests solutions for revitalizing the system — prescriptions that run counter to current trends.
Climb Inside a Poem for Children Big Book of Poems
The poetry anthology, Climb Inside a Poem: Original Poems for Children, uses the writings of contemporary children's poets, whimsical illustrations, and an expansive big book format (14"x 18") to create a 36-page poetry playground. The children's poems crafted expressly for this collection are written by acclaimed children's authors.
The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12
Fun and Effective Home Learning Activities for Every SubjectAs a homeschooling parent, you're always looking for new and creative ways to teach your child the basics. Look no longer! Inside this innovative helper, you'll find kid-tested and parent-approved techniques for learning math, science, writing, history, manners, and more that you can easily adapt to your family's homeschooling needs. And even if you don't homeschool, you'll find this book a great teaching tool outside the classroom. You...