Homeschooled, Unschooled, and Too Many Choices

My husband and I have been discussing homeschooling my youngest son Myles next school year. You see, in second grade he was diagnosed with an attention issue. We tried the medication avenue, but it didn't really do much for him other than cause some freaky heart issues. So, we stopped the meds.

I've participated in many parent-teacher conferences trying to rally for him to get some more help, but I have been met with "he's keeping up" and "he's doing fine". Fine does not fail. Fine does not have a difficult time understanding what they learned in class. Fine is not acceptable as an answer to a parent who wants to see their child succeed.

I have tried to get Myles assistance with the areas he has struggled with and not until this year has anyone paid attention. The school is now working on getting him and Individualized Education Program (according to his new doctor they are doing this now, because they don't want his low test scores to count against the schools rating and affect their funding ).  When I went in to the first meeting I was surrounded with his teachers, the school psychologist, an intervention instructor and the principal. As I was introduced to them I made sure to ask them if they have ever met Myles. Surprisingly, the school psychologist and the intervention instructor had never met him. They were trying to evaluate a kid they've never met! Doesn't make sense really.

So, I have began taking Myles to a doctor who can help us understand if he truly has an attention issue or if he is dealing with something else such as a learning disability. This doctor takes a month of visits to get a concise plan of attack. This is not a doctor who prescribes attention in a bottle right from the get-go. I like that about him. I feel like Myles has a chance at help for the first time. You see, Myles is amazingly intelligent. He just doesn't do well learning like they want him to at school.

He's the triangle trying to fit into the square peg. It's not going to work unless they reshape how he's made. I don't want him reshaped. I want him to succeed as the person he is, because he'll always be that person. That's why we are going to homeschool him. We've let the public school system have their chance with him and they couldn't impress us. So, now we're going to work on helping him to learn in a way that works best for him. No, we aren't going to homeschool Tyler (Myles' older brother). He thrives in public school and it wouldn't be right to pull him from something that works for him.

The idea of homeschooling is kind of scary at first, but there are so many great support groups and homeschooling avenues to take that failing is not a necessary fear. There are many different options, from free online public schools to unschooling.  You basically just have to know what will work for your family and your child's learning style. I'm sure once Myles and I begin this journey we'll have to tweak our system a bit, but I am confident that he will come out on top and be successful in this journey.

If you are considering homeschooling in the future here are some sites where I have learned a lot from. If you have some other great sites or resources feel free to share them with me.

HSLDA:   http://www.hslda.org/default.aspx

Join Yahoo Homeschool Groups:  https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/search?query=HOmeschooling

Penelope Trunk:  http://education.penelopetrunk.com/

Something 2 Offer (Facebook):  https://www.facebook.com/Something2Offer

There are some good Facebook groups too. Just search for 'homeschool' and see what you can find.

Good luck!!

NB