What is the best STYLE of homeschooling for a child with a learning disability? Should you go scheduled and highly regulated traditional approach? Should you let the child learn on their own time table and interest level? Should I get some interesting text books, unit studies, go all computer? What is the best way to help my child?!
I can’t tell you the best way. Your family and child is uniquely and wonderfully made that only you can find that right fit of style that creates a learning environment. I have also found that the maturity level of your child, the pressures on your family (such as unemployment, caring for an elderly parent, or a new baby on the way) make a great difference. I am going to
give you a glimpse into my family’s homeschooling style history. I hope this helps you understand the hows and why different styles and ways of learning enhance your homeschooling experience.
TRADITIONAL
I came into homeschooling with one kindergartener and one toddler. It was easy to sit and go through the workbooks one page at a time, in strict order. She had a hard time attending for more than a few minutes but I have happy to work around her problems. We stuck to a schedule and a series of workbooks. When my son joined us we continued to have a traditional style including the two school desks we used.
ECLECTIC
As learning disabilities began showing up I needed to change material, style, and length of time teaching. I used what worked rather than what was next in the graded text books. I continued to use texts but I was willing to go outside them or skip portions.
We added therapy as we added another two children during this time. More kids meant a bit more chaos injected into the day. Fun and welcome but it did mean adjusting once more to the changes in our family routine.
UNSCHOOLING
When I was pregnant with my last little one I was on bedrest for 11 weeks. I could not get up to homeschool. We were okay with our normal schooling just moved to the living room for the first couple of weeks. I could not continue to keep up. I couldn’t get up and find all the books we needed for the coming week, or the print off the worksheets etc. Our schooling needed to change.
I told the kids to go to the books shelves and find what they wanted to work on. This was my first delve into unschooling, frankly I was afraid it would become nonstop tech-a-pollosa (Wii, computer, tv). The kids did great. I did restrict tech to only after they had read with me and we had looked into something that interested them AND it had reached 3PM. Instead of slowing us down on my yearly goals this worked just fine!
At the end of the year, new baby in tow, we saw the evaluator. She gave all the kids a thumbs up for wonderful improvement. Unschooling helped us to continue learning despite a very hard medical year.
RELAXED
Five kids at home. The kids have special needs as do I. It can be intense at times. I never wanted learning to be an additional pressure on their lives. When we went back to school we made a few changes that have stuck.
We homeschool all year round. I take the attitude of slow and steady. Mornings are devoted to schooling. Afternoons are big projects, playing, doctor appointments, what ever is needed. We take breaks about every 6 weeks.
I use whatever material works for each child. I try to align at least some of the subjects together. When teaching a core idea for the day it is easy to adjust the material up or down for each child’s ability.
UNSCHOOLING
Again I had a severe health problem and we ventured back into unschooling. This time with a smile. I knew it would work. The kids did well and again we progressed just fine.
RELAXED with a large dollop of UNIT STUDIES
Right now we are RELAXED ready and willing to use what works best for our kids. I am not restricted by a curriculum. I can take them or leave them.
We are using a large amount of UNIT STUDIES this year. At first I saw these as in addition to our homeschooling. As we have worked with the unit studies I find that they ARE the learning material. Unit studies can easily cover all the subjects.
I have chosen to keep our math workbooks going through out all these changes. It’s easy to grab a workbook and flip it open to the next subject but it does take some math confidence to do it.
Have I found that perfect mix for our family. I can only speak for right now, yes. Will we change for next year? I don’t know. It all depends on the children’s continuing improvement with how we work now and our circumstances.
Your family can find that perfect style. Pick what you enjoy the most. Pick the methods your children learn the most from. Then blend them until your home is a wonderful, exciting learning environment!
I appreciate this post because I am a new home schooling mom. We started a month ago. I planned on being more scheduled, but it has relaxed more because…the boys have been playing more together in the mornings and for the most part not fighting. This is allowing my older kindergarten son on the autism spectrum to practice social skills and learn play from my preschooler. We now do some lessons in the afternoon.
I won a lap book in a contest over on Whatever State, and I’m so thankful I did! Nikki at Hands of a Child sent us a zebra lap book kit, and my son LOVED IT! I think we are going to be very similar to you, with a lot of unit/lap book studies. I agree that I will probably need to use a math book so I stay organized in math. I’m good at math but not organization, ha ha.
Thanks for the encouragement! If anyone wants to see more about our experience w/our first lap book, you can go to my blog and click on lap book in the index.
This is an excellent post. There are many options available in the Home School venue, and sometimes people argue about what is the best one. But here you point out that each child, each parent, and each situation is different, and to use what works.
I give workshops on this very thing, but you said it so beautifully
Great advice. I have experienced and found everything Heather has said to be true. And I can say that my 2 that are now grown have done well in life and are great people. Once I asked a few more experienced Mom’s what they did for homeschooling and the answers were that they made sure to do what they needed so that they (the Moms) were not nervous or tense about homeschooling. One Mom knew she would be uptight if her kid did not learn to read by a certain age, so she made sure to focus on what she needed to have happen and the rest of her focus was on what the child needed at the time – the result was a happy balance. Flexibility is an important key – and not comparing yourself to how others are doing it. Thanks, Heather, for putting this post together.
The joy of homeschooling is choosing what fits best for you and your children. Loved the post!