Anyone regret switching to homeschool?My oldest son (now 12) was in a preschool program and enrolled in a private kindergarten. We pulled him out at age 5. We have schooled the rest since the beginning. The adopted ones were in autism preschools and all day aba autism programs before coming into our home. They now recieve services through the public school district (just speech, ot, resource class- all 1 day a week for a few hrs). The hours per day on school work depend on per child. My 12 yr old does about 5 hrs, 10 yr olds do about 4, the 5 yr olds and 4 yr olds do about 2-3 hrs and the 2 yr olds join in on preschool like stuff  We have no regrets. We love our homeschool life. I hopeschool NT children and ASD children, but especially with ASD children it helps that my child is not being made fun of for the way she talks, that I can help her with social growth, I can teach her and let her continue instead of being held back by a bunch of kids in the resource room, etc. Our children have grown by LEAPS and BOUNDS in all areas since bringing them home. We still go to the Public School for therapy, though we won't be for much longer. Even their therapists who spend 30 minutes a week with them are amazed at how much they have grown up at home compared to how they were doing at school. Hi, my son is currently in Grade 3 in a regular mainstream classroom with help from an Education Assistant half the time. I'm starting to wonder whether I should be homeschooling him. I think it would be less stressful. I know that he can do the work, but the school environment makes everything more complicated. He struggles socially, he wants friends but is struggling with appropriate play. His ticks are starting to get worse, I don't know if it is from the constant demands that school brings. I don't know, maybe I am just tired of the whole "fight" to make a square peg fit into a round hole. Do you know what I mean? I'm just so tired of the effort and issues that keep coming up. It just seems so much easier to remove the school from our lives and let him learn at home where he won't be constantly judged or stand out as different. Have any of you switched from school to homeschool and how was the transition? Any regrets? My ASD son started having trouble in school end of 3rd grade. Once school became an issue and the stress of meetings, punishment, attempts of a FBA, the school half heartedly trying to learn about autism, my son getting further and further in an emotional downslide, it was just awful. I'm convinced that had he had the right intervention at the beginning of his problems, this could have been headed off in a better direction. Anyway I took him out a few months into the 4th grade. I feel I had to save him from that environment. He was a fun happy boy at home, but such a problem at school. Trust me, I tried to make it work, tried to teach the teacher on what works with him, made suggestions, even got the teachers to go to an autism conference 2 hours away. Too little too late. I spent nearly a month at school observing. I paid for an outside consultant to come into the school for advice. (she said it was not a good environment & suggested a private autism program that would have be driving an hour and a half each way!) I had my private speech therapist in meetings. I was so worn by the middle of 4th grade! I gave up. But it turned out to be the best decision. Now he is a 6th grader and we have such fun homeschooling. All my friends and family see such positive changes in him. He has grown in many ways. Oh and we found he did not need Risperdal & Celexa anymore. He was only on meds for about a year (which we ONLY used to try to get him thru a school day!) & I am so glad he is off them. I still have my NT child in public school. My asd son is lucky that he's had a best friend since 1st grade and he spends lots of time at our house after school and overnights on weekends. My older son has lots of friends over as well & they all hang out like regular 12 and 14yr olds do. The social interactions are for the most part, very positive. Not negative like what was beginning to happen at school. Plus what I like also about homeschooling is we get to practice being in the real world more, like trips to the store, doing laundry, cooking. You know things that you never have time to do with your child when they are at school from 8 to 4pm. Because when they get home from school, they are too wiped out & stressed to learn any of that kind of stuff. To answer how long we do school, we spend about 4 hrs a day on academics and 1 hour or more on what I call Life Skills. Homeschooling can be great for asd kids. I take it one year at a time and if our district ever got a good program (or any program at this point) I may reconsider. But for now, this has definately made a huge, positive difference in my son's life. Good luck with your decision. I struggled for nearly 2 yrs with it. I have to commend and admire all of you that do this. I, for one, need the break. I will fight and make sure their services are up to what they need and deserve but, I don't think I could do this with 5. I am causing earthquakes, jumping up and down on Mondays--IF there is school on Monday. My NT children are having issues in school--one, my rebel son is really hating school and is also..well, a rebel. He has been given a choice--he makes a's and b's (which he has potential of being full A student), or home school. Same with my oldest daughter, who is struggling in high school. But, we have fully electronic home school here, where this dummy doesn't have to try and figure out how to do things like algebra--They get a one on one teacher that is available, throughout the entire day, their own laptop (if needed, but wont be), books supplied and they can keep the teacher on IM, email them or call them all throughout the day. The scoring and everything is done through this method. Now, THAT I can deal with--and I will ensure they are working during the hours of class. But, I am not overly looking forward to it--yet, it seems to be going in that direction. All is covered under our taxes, too so, even privatized school here comes into the home. As for the others, between neighbors going nuts over all the cars for the 20 or more specialists coming in and out, and my nerves for trying to autism issues, 24/7, I just don't see myself benefitting, which also means, they wouldnt benefit from me. So, my hat is off to all of you. you are stronger than I am. Me, I just cry on holidays cuz I know..everyone is gonna be off and there is gonna be scheduled meltdowns all day..ugh. Good for all of you! I think you are all great!
|
||
|
Copyright Autism-PDD.net |