Homeschooling

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Home schooling with a standardized (published) curriculum seems to work very well at the elementary school level, where most parents have a solid foundation of the materials to be taught. It also seems to be a little easier to bring along several children of diverse grade at the lower levels.

When I was much more grateful to be in public school was in high school. I was able to explore classes my parents had no skills in, and the home school curriculums I've seen had little or no coverage of, like psychology, science-fiction, classical english literature, and auto shop. I was able to take four years of electronics, spend after school hours in the chemistry and physics labs (just the cost of setting up those labs in a home school environment would be prohibitive), and starting in my Junior year, take college level classes that were taught by the University of Cincinnati professors that were brought in for that purpose. I was the first person in my family to graduate high school, and because of the public school advantage was already halfway through my freshman year of college.

There is a book that has been published called Hitchhiking Through Asperger Syndrome in which the author (mother of an Aspie son) has provided information about homeschooling, which she had her Aspie son do.

However, there is one part of the chapter on homeschooling with which I disagree:

"Q: Can my child go to college is s/he is homeschooled?
A: Absolutely. You can have your school district assign grades based on the work completed at home. Or, you can simply type up homemade transcripts based on the work you have done at home and send them directly to the college to which you are applying."

Bec-I honestly believe that if I had been homeschooled, I would be completely reclusive and unable to cope in the real world.

Mockingbird-I see my social skills and ability to cope with the "real world" as having developed despite my experience with school as opposed to because of it.

I see both points. We are all different and each one of us responds differently to our experiences. It's possible that for Bec, homeschooling would have hindered her growth. But for Mockingbird, homeschooling helped her to blossom. I homeschooled five of my six children for a total of 11 years and I wish I could have been homeschooled when I was a child because the school environment was just too much for me. I ended up dropping out of high school as a junior and I don't regret it. There are pros and cons to every kind of educational setting-Bland

Vessel-The social aspect of school had been removed; recess is no more and lunch has become a quiet time. Even the end of the day when they prepare to go home they must be quiet. I also worked at my son's school before I decided to homeschool him. I felt if we could complete academics in 4 1/2 hours and use the rest of the time for life skills, social skills and pleasurable things why not. I think because my son is a musician/ artist, he is around all types of people all the time and the result has been awsome.

That's great! I wish I could give my AS son as much. When I was homeschooling it was difficult to meet much more than the academic needs because I was schooling up to 5 of my children as well as my son. I don't regret it for a minute. He recieved an excellent start and he seems to be further ahead socially than his AS counterparts at school who have always been in public ed. I think that if the parent is responsive, capable and informed, the child with special considerations can do much better at home: at least in the first few years. I know that for me, the sensory overload of the school environment and the inability to understand others caused so much panic and anxiety that true learning and development was inhibited.

Right now I am being cyber schooled, which means I take all my classes over the compeuter. For me it's been a good experience beacuse I take alot of control over my schoolwork when and where I do it. the downside though is that I no longer really socialize.
Have a nice day
Chloe

I'm curios to know if you did actually home school your son. We just found out that my soon to be 11 yr old has Asperger's (among other sensory and motor problems) and are frantically trying to repair the damage our school district has already caused in our 5 yr battle for treatment. He is in fifth grade now but begins middle school (6-8) in the fall and we are worried about the chaos of switching class every hour and the rush of students in the hall way.
Is there any advice you can share on how you've transitioned through things, including explaining to them how they are different?

I wished I had been homeschooled in the last five years.Homeschooling is much better than normal school.

It's interesting that someone stated their social skills were saved by school. I feel like mine (what little I had) were destroyed by it. Maybe you went to a wonderful school--? That's part of the problem with school-- it's the luck of the draw what kind of environment you find yourself in.

My AS homeschooled son has poor social skills. My NT homeschooled daughter has fantastic social skills. She can carry a conversation with a wall. It's amazing. I have met socially inept homescholed kids and socially graceful homeschooled kids. I really believe that people who are bound to become recluses will become that no matter what. Even when being homeschooled there are many chances to get out into the world. A reclusive person will avoid those chances, a social person will seek them out and embrace them. I just think that if a person truly is reclusive, there is no "forcing" them to change. But maybe my understanding of such things is not adequate.

I am currently HS my 8 yr old AS son, and he completed math, sequencing and reading a book today and is happy that he has earned some down time to play X-Box. Earlier today we did some socializing by attending a Schoolastic Warehouse sale. He found an employee to ask where the comic books were and to ask for prices on some books. Even though he did not make eye contact with these people, I find that he is getting the experience of social skills as well as an education thru "everyday life experiences". (We were joined by a friend and her son and also had lunch and read some books with them)
We had pulled him out of public bc he was put into a "contained" classroom and was watching children (we are talking elementary here) go after each other with pencils, scissors, and a teacher who was sent to the hospital with a concussion by one of these kiddos. My son came home thinking that some of these behaviors were acceptable as these kids were always at school dishing it out the next day or a week later. (institutionalized). I have tried to work with the school and it's staff, but they are overwhelmed by the paperwork of an ARD, are unable to accomodate my sons' needs(IEP), and are unable to modify any of his schooling in a mainstream enviornment. They just wanted to put him in classroom with "behavioral" children and thus he felt like he was a bad person and was embracing violence as a way to get his way or when he was becoming frustrated. All of which is opposite of what he is being taught at home! I have to listen to my son when he is "crying" for help and this was one instance where it was either pull him out OR up his meds or send him to a mental hospital. I chose to get him out and quick, NO REGRETS in doing so! I will always be his Jedi Mom!
If he ever wants to try public again then we will cross that road when the time comes. His happiness is more important to me than his education. He's smart and I am not afraid that I am doing him a disservice by HS him. He is learning but by love and patience, not violence or by bullies.

Wow! I admire your gusto! I have many times felt the need to bring a lightsber to school meetings to defend my children!
I have been battling the school all year with my 11 yr old son, and they finally set his IEP for June 1st! He goes to middle school in the fall so I think any effort they have made is a joke. My 8 yr old son also has similar problems and they have completely ignored me and not aknolwedged any diagnosis. He has fought about going to school every day for the last 2 weeks. No friends, no fun. I just keep counting down the days till summer.. 17 more days of school! No child should dread school this much!
My other problem is I also have 2 younger kids (6b & 3g) and I have no clue how I would school the older ones at home without constant chaos. The fun thing I've found with Asperger's is that all three of my boys have varying levels and all need set structure... but DIFFERENT structure. I also have many Asperger's traits which compounds the kids'. Oh for the simple life again!
Does anyone else struggle with multiple children w/ AS dx? Please tell me there's something miracle plan I haven't seen.

Someone posted this over at AFF and I think it explains a lot of stuff:
http://www.nhen.org/specneed/default.asp?id=246

Here is what I wrote in another thread (that was about bigots):