What kind of support is available for parents who choose to educate their struggling learners at home? Many families find help from the Home School Foundation’s Special Needs Children’s Fund. Today on Home School Heartbeat host Mike Farris talks with a recipient of one of these grants.
Mike Farris:
I’m joined today by Nita, who’s a homeschooling mom and a parent of a special needs child. Nita, welcome to the program.
Nita:
Thank you! And greetings from Boise, Idaho.
Mike:
Nita, tell us a little about your family’s experience with homeschooling a struggling learner.
Nita:
We homeschool our five children, ages 13 to 4. When my eldest was kindergarten through 3rd grade, phonics and handwriting were a disaster with many tears and lots of frustration. So we set aside formal academics according to the Raymond Moore theory, and we adjusted to more of a read aloud format. But by 4th grade it became obvious that there was a huge gap between his intelligence level and his ability to perform at that level. So I contacted HSLDA and asked their opinion about diagnostic testing, and they encouraged me to move forward towards a diagnosis, telling me you can't really fix something if you don't know what's broken. So after we received the diagnosis we discovered that he has severe dyslexia and dysgraphia, he has processing problems and mild symptoms on autistic spectrum, and actually of our five children, only one would be considered typical without any neurological problems.
Mike:
How did you find out about the Special Needs Children’s Fund?
Nita:
Well, I originally heard of the grant through a homeschooling friend from a different state, but when I talked to HSLDA about the merit of diagnostic testing they also referred me to the grant.
Mike:
Nita, we look forward to hearing more about how the Home School Foundation helped you homeschool your son.
I’m Mike Farris.
