who here is homeschooling?

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hi! I have many aspie traits myself and my 8 yo son even more so; I have been homeschooling him from the start. I went through quite an ordeal in school as a child and wanted to spare him that. I am also homeschooling his sister (who is "normal"). I have thought of putting her in school and keeping him home but decided against that.

Who all here is homeschooling? Thinking of it?

Hooray for homeschoolers!! (even though I'm not a parent) I went to public school from k-10th, was homeschooled 10th-12th(I had to repeat 10th 'cos I had heart probs that kept me out of school most of the year) I hated public school for many reasons, and I think homeschooling is amazing I graduated last year, and this year my Mom(single Mom for 5 years) has to go back to work, so I'm homeschooling my 6yo brother and 12yo sister(she has Down Syndrome), so I've been on both sides of it, and I like being on either end. My goal in life is to get married, have kids, and homeschool them. I am dx'ed aspie, among other things, BTW.

Hi there!! ! I am so excited to hear of others that are homeschooling! I have an 11 yr old aspie and a 9 yr old son. I am homeschooling them both and we love it. Looking back at my childhood I can definately see the aspie traits in me but back then you didn't know what the problem was. I am 32 now and I also had a horrible school experience.

I wished I was considering my school experience but no.

I am also 32. Also had horrible experiences in school.

We may end up having to do so for youngest child, as there really are no appropriate programs anywhere around here to meet his needs. Just got his neuropsych testing results back last week and there are some critical areas that are not being addressed. Oldest 2 are in a modified type of h/s program, but it is monitored by their school, so I don't have to do any of the instruction.

I've been homeschooling my 12 year old for the past 2 1/2 years. It was the best thing we could have done for our son. I felt like we were losing him. He stopped smiling and joking. He felt alone and began to pack on the pounds. It took him about 1 1/2 to be "UN" schooled and now I have my son back, just as silly and funny as he used to be. He has difficulty with trusting people which I understand. He is no longer all dome and gloom anymore.

His passion is playing the guitar. We finally found an outlet for his music on Saturdays where he is required to form a band ever 4 weeks with different kids that are a little older than he. They must agree on the material to play, work out any issues, and be ready to perform in front of an audience by the 4th week. He loves it and can't wait to get there every week. He has some issues with 1 kid but he loves what he's doing so much he decided he would handle it on his own.

If it were not for the homeschooling and the time we spent crying together, getting closer as parent and child, I don't think he'd have the confidence to meet strangers and work with them as a team. This makes his father and I so proud of him.

Don't get me wrong; Aspie he is, but life has gotten easier for he and our family.

I know someone that homeschools and I am unsure of the way it is done they haven't had school on a regular basis in almost 3 years. the oldest sleeps all day and stays awke all night and the other just does nothing. They tested pooprly on there CAT test the 13 yr old had the grade level of a second grader and the 14 yr old was 8th (which is not bad). But, they are not involved socially, except for church on Sundays and the 14 yr old sleeps there or sits in the van. very little interaction with people even at home.

That's where the parents come in.

I want to homeschool my daughter, but I don't know how to get started. Can anyone help? How do you choose curriculum? How do you set up your day? I'm sure once I start it, it will all work out. What age did you begin school/homeschool?

She is 4 right now, and we just don't have the heart to put her in school. Even as an NT I would have preferred to be homeschooled especially through the teen years. My in-laws want her to go to the same school my husband went to (he is an aspie too. they don't admit it.) He had all sorts of problems with it.

I think it could be a wonderful experience and a time to build a great relationship with her. We have worked hard with her, and she has made some amazing changes. We don't want to lose that by sending her to school.

The first place to look is on your state's dept. of education website. They should have all the paper work and information needed. Many provide helpful links. There is so much information on the web; google home school and you'll get tons of information. The best thing I can suggest is to do your own research. I checked school websites to see what they were learning to ensure I was on the same level if not higher than they were. I used the sites just as a reference.

Much success!! You are your child's best teacher!

Again for most of this information refer to your state's dept. of education website. They should have something for home school.

From experience I found out that it works better if it isn't as ridget as regular school. We review and study for test lying on the bed alond with reading. I try to make sure that it is stress free. Our goal is for our son to learn. He is 12 years old and we started when he was half-way through the 4th grade. It was not always easy because establishing a new routine never is but we have it down now. He gets himself up at 8:00am does whatever he wants to do along with morning chores until 10:00am when we start home school for 31/2 hours. Then he finishes his last hour of home school with his father whenever they decide to do it. We do not give homework. We work on problems until he understands then we move on. He has music on Saturday from 1-5pm with other young musicians and MWF he has weight lifting, P.E. with his father. Once he is 13 years old we are hoping to get him involved in some type of gym so that he is able to practice his social skills more often.

My son was extremely depressed at 10 years old. It took a year for him to smile and feel confident again. I have my son back; the one who loves to kid and joke and I'll never ever subject him to public school again. It will always be his choice.

I have looked at so many websites, I'm not sure where to begin. There is much info out there, it is hard to decide which way to go.
She likes routines although she likes it a little freer during the day. Morning and evening must be the same. Although I have known she likes routines, I try to vary the day some so she won't be too rigid.

My son likes routine and knowing what is next. He doesn't like suprises so home school follows the same routine each day.

At age 4 you don't have to spend too much money. Look at the elementary schools websites in your school district and see what they are requiring the kids in your child's grade to know and teach that. At age 4 you don't need much, however at age 4 my son had taught himself to read and write. We have always exposed him to books, paper, pens, markers glue, etc. Go to "The School Box" or an educational store and explore what they have. Ifyour daughter has a special interest build her learning experience around that. That's the great thing about home school, you can tailor it to your child.

First, find out about your state's laws. Here in Illinois we are not very restrictive.

WorldBook.com offers a suggested guideline for what children need to know at which grade level.

Spend time with your child - when we embarked on homeschool, I thought we'd school 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then we'd have free time.

HAH!! It's 8:35 now and we're still in our pajamas (which is actually okay). We now try to *school* from 10 a.m. until finished with first half and then start again at 1 p.m. My son is actually better in the afternoons so we may not stop schooling until 3:30 or 4 p.m.

Don't worry about curriculum - you can go to the local bookstore and pick up some workbooks or you can spend thousands on full-blown programs. For now, since I think I read your state doesn't even require school until age 7, just start slowly with some workbooks, more trips to the zoo, look in the papers and on-line for educational field trips.

There are a lot of homeschool groups out there, including state-wide, and they offer conventions and curriculum fairs. Try to attend one of them and see what would actually appeal to your child.

It's amazing the number of free, on-line resources that are out there for every subject. Just do some web searches or join some of the homeschool forums to collect links.

Some states require a lot of documentation, others may only require that you show progress and attendance. You can start practicing now and start locating other homeschoolers in your area. We're in a rural area and I know of at least three groups in our county - that can be a good source for comparing notes AND socialization.

As far as your other post about socialization and public school - you don't even want to know what some of these kids learn at ps. I'm not overly religious, but there are just some things that shouldn't come from the hands/mouths of children. By building local support groups and opportunities in your community (the Y, church, clubs, Scouts, etc.) your child can have plenty of positive socialization. Since my boy is big on nature, we plan to join the local Audobon Society and he's also in Cub Scouts and was on the Y swim team. There's a non-denominational youth group that meets on Wednesday nights that we may join - there are positive opportunities, you just have to look for them.

I have homeschooled five out of six children and loved it; All of which are in school now with the exception of my 18 year old daughter who is basically self-directing her education, with me testing her and keeping her records. My AS son has benefitted from being homeschooled from k-4th grade. After 4th grade, however, he was bored being home with mom and longed for interacton with other kids.(even though he was awful at it!!) So I figured we'd give it a try and so far it's been okay. I question his academic progress and we may be homeschooling him again if this doesn't change. The problem is that he needs more time to learn concepts that are hard for him; those that require creativity in writing; and he needs less time doing those things that he's good at; mathematics and science. If he get's bored, his mind will wander and obsess and he is hard to get back!