Homeschooling and Learning Disabilities

[author] [author_info]For the next three weeks, our guest blogger is Terri Harmon. Terri works for New Tribes Mission at the Training Center in Roach, Missouri as part of the Families in Ministry Department. Like many of you, she helps with education-related questions from families overseas and in the training program who are headed overseas.[/author_info] [/author] Homeschooling a child with learning disabilities while on the field can be a daunting task. However, there are things that parents can do to make this a good situation for all involved. The following thoughts come from my own experience as a homeschool consultant in Africa and as a mother of a child with learning difficulties.

Thoughts for parents to consider:
1) Read as much as you can about the particular learning disability your child has. The more you know, the better you will understand why he thinks, acts, and struggles as he does.

2) Homeschooling is ideal for one-on-one time with your child and can be a good choice for educating; however, you must give him room to “fail” and not hover over every answer, every decision, and everything he does. Your goal is for him to become an independent learner and you will need to be careful to let him grow up without coddling him.

3) Get outside help if needed because you and your child will probably butt heads during the school day and you will both need an outlet.

4) Try not to let your child take over your life, so that you do everything he says. This can happen easily because you “feel bad” for him and don’t want him to be hurt more by life. However, it will be easy to let him run the house because you don’t want to say “no” to him.

5) Provide opportunities in the community and with other kids for interaction. Kids with learning disabilities usually have a hard time fitting in with social situations, and if you are homeschooling then he has even less time practicing social skills. He needs to be out of the house and interacting with other kids and adults so that he can function in society. It is easier to avoid situations where he might embarrass you or himself, but if the goal is for independent living someday, then you need to let him do things without you and force him to interact with others.

6) Pay attention to things he likes to do and capitalize on those things. His life will have a lot of opportunities for failure, so you will want to highlight successes.

7) If you are homeschooling more than one child, you and your other children must realize that you will need to spend more time with your child with special needs. This can cause jealousy and misunderstandings about “fairness”, but is a reality.

8) Make connections with other parents who have a child with learning differences for encouragement and understanding. Parents of non-LD children will not be able to fully identify with the things you face in parenting and homeschooling and you will need a sympathetic ear and humor to make it through each day.

9) Get professional help from experts and teachers who specialize in learning disabilities.

10) While you are in your home country, make use of any testing services offered at your local public school. This will give you a benchmark and provide areas of need.

11) Consider enrolling your child in a public school during your home assignment for extra academic help, social interaction and further testing.

12) Become aware of alternative methods to help your LD child such as vitamin therapies, limiting artificial colors in foods, Davis Dyslexia Correction methods, and Balametrics.

What other advice do you offer to parents who are home educating a child with a learning struggle?

Next week: Teaching Tips for Homeschooling Parents of Children with Learning Differences

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