I want to home school my son, but don't know where to start. HELP!

[Guest terriplus5]

My son is 11 and in 6th grade. His is high functioning autistic, dyslexic, and has dyscalcuila. I tried to enroll him in CAVA because I was told they would tailor curriculum for him according to his IEP. However, after 3 weeks of waiting for his enrollment to go through I was told that the special education team had reservations about his placement in the program. I was told that he would be given 6th grade level work and expected to complete it, the only modification available would be time extensions. So we were forced to put him back in a SDC here in our city. He's miserable in his class, I do't like his teacher at all and I just want to help him learn. He's so behind in math and reading basics that all assignments take double the time because we have to go back and "review" the basics every time. I need a home school program that will help him learn and "catch up". He's currently working at about a 3rd or 4th grade level. We were looking into Verticy but we just don't know where to start. PLEASE HELP! I'M DESPERATE! :confused:

[rafiki]

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[Guest terriplus5]

Thank you for the reply, but how do you tweak and supplement? I guess I just feel like I'm in over my head. I have spoken with Verticy and it's sounds great. My son will take the assessment test today.

[dsmith]

I think Verticy is a great place to start. I wouldn't even worry about tweaking or supplementing, at least not for a few months. Start slowly and ease into the program if you can. Take time for field trips and hands on learning. I did our first year of homeschooling with K12 independent, and it was nice to have everything laid out for me. The following year I was more confident in my abilities to pick out material that suited my son, and to tweak where necessary.

[rafiki]

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[Shellers]

My 11 year old son is severely dyslexic. I pulled him out of public school yesterday but have been busy "afterschooling" him since April. His reading has gone from grade level 1.5 to 2.5 since I started working with him. I'm so happy I finally made the move to homeschool him.

 

You don't need a program, instead pick and choose what you think will work for your son. I found most of the the curriculum I'm using with my son by looking around on this forum.

[Walking-Iris]

Read as many homeschooling books as you can find---at your library, interlibrary loan, buy them, whatever. Familiarize yourself with the territory, give your son some "deschooling" time to adjust, and start gathering your materials. Almost every homeschooler tweaks and supplements in some way.

[happycc]

Reading and Math FIRST

 

 

Does he know basic phonics?

Does he know math facts?

 

 

Right Start and All about Spelling!

 

start at the very beginning....these two are a very good start....it may not be the cure all and you may need to supplement with others.

This is what I have learned--there is never a true stand alone program even for neurotypical kids. One curriculum is great for something but weaker in others, then you find another program that does the opposite.

Edited November 7, 2011 by happycc