special needs high school

[margoargo]

Is anyone homeschooling a special needs high school child? My son who has high functioning autism, mild cp, and microcephaly has always gone to school, though I have homeschooled his other 3 siblings. For the most part the elementary years were good for him (prob. not better that HS would have been, but I had to pick my battles at the time). With puberty setting in he is changing SO much. For a kid with autism he has always been VERY social in social settings, and at home he tends to go off by himself.

 

Anyway, I am wanting to bring him home now to work more on his academics, and to get a better read on what his future will be beyond high school. I may bring him home and do 8th grade over again, since the school tends to just keep moving him along, regardless of his true ability.

 

If anyone is homeschooling older kids with special needs I would love to know what resources you use, how you handle outside classes, and stuff like that.

 

Thanks!

[hsmamainva]

I'm homeschooling a 14yo with high functioning autism. He's always been homeschooled, save for a few months in 1st grade (that were a disaster).

 

He's working on a 7th grade level, for the most part, which is on track for him. I tried to use a modified 9th grade curriculum this year and he was too overwhelmed. So we've scaled back and he's very pleased.

 

He's doing Sonlight Core 4 with his younger brother, but the read alouds are his readers, if that makes sense -- and it makes the core more challenging. He's also reading all of the history portions on his own as well. They're also using the Trail Guide to US Geography together and my son LOVES this curriculum! He loves maps and memorizing things, such as states, capitals, presidents, lakes, rivers, etc.

 

I'm sort of "winging it" for English. I'm having him write book reports and papers on what he's reading, and then using those to look for grammar and spelling corrections, encourage good handwriting, etc., because language arts is his real weak area and I haven't found an English program that I like. So I'm sort of making up my own Learning Language Arts Through Literature approach. He's happy with it so far!

 

He's using Christian Light Education 7 for math and he loves the workbook format. Black and white pages. No distractions. Just math.

 

For science, he's using Sonlight Science 5 along with his younger brother because SL Science 5 covers human anatomy and, since he's also going through puberty and feeling rather unsure about it, the 'facts of life' book(s) are terrific! (And he doesn't feel alone with his brother along for the proverbial ride)

 

The only outside class he's involved in is an art co-op with our local homeschool group. He loves art so it's a favorite event for him. He plays baseball (Little League Challengers) and basketball (Special Olympics) and he really, really enjoys it!!

[JennW in SoCal]

I have a 16yo senior who has ADHD, possibly Asperger's as well. We've always homeschooled.

 

Algebra was the toughest subject and I never found anything perfect for him so he got through Algebra with a tutor, using a combination of workbooks and test prep books. I don't recommend it!! He liked Geometry, though, and we used Jacob's together.

 

Other than Algebra everything else has been easy to do. I've followed his interests in Literature and History, and built up his writing from simple narrations to the standard 5 paragraph essay. We review grammar, puncutation and spelling when editing his writing. This year for English, he is using "Movies as Literature", a nice curriculum from the Design-a-study people.

 

He had some outside science classes using standard Glencoe text books. He wasn't a stellar student, but it did the trick.

 

The best part about having him homeschool has been that he has had the time to delve into his interests. He is interested in theater, especially the technical aspects of lighting design so works almost every weekend at church on the tech team there, he has worked as a stage manager, stage hand, spotlight operator, usher -- you name it -- at local youth theater productions. He also acts and sings on stage, but his heart is backstage. He knows that he wants to pursue it as a career, and knows he has the talent and temperment to make it a successful career. That, to me, is by far the best result of our homeschooling him as most kids don't even figure that part of life out even after 4 years of college!!

 

Good luck!

[Miss Sherry]

There is a publisher that has some textbooks written for Junior High to High School at a 3-4 grade reading level.

 

Here is a link. My son used a Physical Science program from them. It had cassette tapes of the entire textbook. He also used a World History course from AGS with cassette tapes. I don't have either one of those sets any longer but I do have Pre- Algebra set from AGS. I have listed it for sale.

 

http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ1Ai

 

I'll be back later to list some more ideas for resources for you. I have to clean and cook right now.

Edited September 27, 2008 by Miss Sherry

[Miss Sherry]

Hewitt Homeschooling Resources has a special needs program for High School students.

 

Here's a link to it.

 

http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/serv/specneeds.asp

[margoargo]

Thank you SO much for your replies - you are giving me hope! I will be researching the information you all have suggested, and may have more questions coming. My son is not a typical Aspergers kid. He does have many of the same autistic characteristics, but he also has some physical disabilities, and probably more serious cognitive disabilities, as well. According to the school, he is on at least a 9th grade reading level, but his math is really low. His memory has always been very good, but it seems like that is changing somewhat with puberty.

 

Thanks again!

[Miss Sherry]

In case anyone is interested in looking at a program to help students with special needs write essays here is something I found when I tried to get on Joyce Herzogs website. There used to be a website for special needs homeschoolers by Joyce Herzog but now if you type it in it takes you to Teach 4 Mastery.

There is a program titled "Hands on Essays" there. There are some samples you can take a look at on the site.

 

 

http://www.teach4mastery.com/handsonessays.html

 

 

Has anyone used this ? :001_smile: