How Homeschooling Transforms Special Education into Specialized Education

As I cited in my previous article, The Then and Now of Special Education Homeschooling, more parents who have children with special educational needs are choosing to homeschool as a reaction to the lesser quality educational options offered by public or private schools.  But, with this transition, many parents unknowingly bring the same teaching mindset they were looking to leave into their new homeschooling experience.

Below are what I believe are the 4 most important distinctions of how specialized home education differs from an institutionalized special education program and opens the freedom potential parents have in homeschooling a child outside the box of special education.

1. Schooling is focused on the positive aspects of your child, not the negative

Special education within the school setting was created to detect and correct a child’s learning issues.  By focusing on what doesn’t work well for a child, the negative aspects of a child’s learning disability becomes pronounced in their lesson plans and overall educational goals.  The beauty of homeschooling is that although a child may still struggle with an ability to learn, a parent has the freedom to design lessons around the positive ways a child can learn.  Over time homeschooled children learn what methods and tools work best to help them learn, which they then can adapt to take into their adulthood.

2. A child is taught according to their gifts, not their deficits

All children have specific gifts, as well as deficits.  Unfortunately, non-academic gifts are outside the reach of a traditional special education classroom.  Homeschooling allows a parent to supplement a child’s studies with opportunities to work on specific skill sets and gifting alongside the subjects the child struggles in, which allows a child to find success in their studies where before they may have only met defeat. Turning interest in cooking, woodworking, computer programming, acting, or even martial arts into school subjects is not out of the question.  The options are endless on what you can turn into an academic subject and the benefit of adding these classes for children who struggle in core curriculum subjects, is they start to realize that learning can be fun instead of always a defeating experience.

3. Progression happens at the rate your child learns, not against a “norm”

Classroom learning and grading, in general, are based on norms.  If a child is not keeping up with a specific norm, then they are considered “behind.”   Schools focus on working with a child to make them just like everyone else. Unfortunately, each child is unique and those who are more pronounced in their uniqueness will never quite reach what society deems “normal.”   Homeschooling, on the other hand, allows children to be unique and to discover how they learn best, not how everyone else does so they can be the same or “get caught up”. Each lesson learned by a child in a homeschool setting sets the bar for what lesson comes next, no matter how long it takes the child to move from one step to the next.

4. A lifestyle of learning takes education into every realm of life instead of compartmentalized the process

Many children with learning challenges also struggle with translating a learned concept from one mode of education to another part of their life.  This inability for a child to learn one lesson at school and then translate that same lesson to a scenario at home or in a “real world” setting prolongs the learning process for these children.  When a family starts homeschooling, they also start a shift in how learning is perceived. Learning is no longer just found in books, in classrooms, or on a computer, but everywhere in life. Every experience, every encounter, and every relationship bring lessons to be taught as well as lessons to be learned that flow over the boundaries of subjects and grade levels.

For a child who experiences learning challenges, educational delays, or struggles with a disability or medical condition, a specialized home education approach provides opportunities to succeed in learning instead of hurdles they must get beyond.  Embrace those freedoms as a homeschooling parent and watch your child soar above their struggles.

Written by Peggy Ployhar of SPED Homeschool

Special Education Homeschooling

When our family started our special education homeschooling journey almost 15 years ago, the homeschooling landscape was very different than it is today.  From my own perspective of homeschooling two children with learning challenges, as well as a decade of experience helping other parents navigate special education homeschooling, I have seen this backdrop dramatically affect the special education homeschooling movement as well as the families who choose to homeschool their children with special needs.

These changes are neither good nor bad but can create both positive and negative results if a family does not understand how to navigate them.  Thus, I want to share with you a picture of before and after in each of these areas and how families who homeschool children with special educational needs can use these trends towards a positive impact in their own homeschooling efforts.

Special Education Resources

15 years ago, there was no such thing as a homeschool curriculum written for a struggling learner.  There were very few curriculum choices for parents in general. Parents who chose to homeschool did so with whatever books or curriculum they could find or make work.  It was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but teaching resources were looked upon in general as catalysts for parents to use to impart wisdom into their children’s lives.

Nowadays, there are so many homeschooling curriculum options for parents of struggling learners, that narrowing down the choices can be daunting.  Parents can find more options than they know what to do with, and not only in the form of books, but also from online teaching resources, apps, and mainstream curriculum providers who are now catering to the special education homeschooling community.  

Special Education Support

Homeschool support systems of the past were comprised of local families who were trying to find ways to connect with other homeschooling families.  These groups were about community and building relationships so every family, and each member of the family, could find a way to connect and feel involved. Families who had children with special educational needs were welcomed along with the rest because these groups focused on relationships and commonalities.

Over the years homeschooling groups have mostly turned into structured programs to allow parents to share their teaching load. There still are some meet up groups that focus on playdates and field trips, but these groups are often harder to find.  In general, though, academics have become the driving factor behind most groups that bring homeschoolers together.  And, unfortunately, as part of this trend, parents of children who struggle with academics or in working/learning in a classroom environment, have found less support for their families within these groups.

Special Education Foundational Basis

The onset of the homeschooling movement in the United States was undergirded by parents who desired to instill in their Christian faith into their children.  Faith in God, and His call to “train up [children] in the way they should go,” was the main reason most people homeschooled.  This commonality joined homeschoolers together and it was almost assumed that if you were homeschooling your children, you were doing so because you had been convicted and called to this way of schooling.

If you were to ask 20 different homeschooling parents now why they homeschool, you will probably get 20 different answers.  Families not only homeschool because of their faith, but also because of school violence, so they can travel, for the ability to teach towards their child’s gifts…or because the school was failing to teach to their child’s specific needs.  In general, instead of homeschooling being a choice of conviction it is now becoming a reactionary choice because of circumstances external factors that move parents towards the homeschooling option.

Special Education Information

Yes, it is hard to believe that just 15 short years ago, the Internet was in its infancy.  Smartphones were not around, neither was Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any of the other places most of us frequent daily to not only get information but to stay connected with one another.  Our world is changing quickly, and so are the jobs we are preparing our children for as we homeschool them.

The days of spending a homeschooling afternoon at the library seem almost antiquated.  As parents, we are bombarded with information, and for parents, with struggling children the information can be smothering.  Special education research on what causes children to struggle with learning as well as the latest methods to help them conquer their deficiencies are everywhere.  This information is in a constant state of flux and parents are never quite sure who they can trust and what information is going to be beneficial in helping their children.  This surplus of information makes parents uneasy about their decision because they are pressured to make the “right” choice to help their child best overcome their learning challenges.

Special Education Choices

Parents who chose to homeschool 20 years ago were pioneers.  When I started homeschooling the stories of how these pioneering families fought for our freedom to homeschool were still prevalent in homeschooling circles.  For this reason, homeschooling families were diligent about record keeping and staying active in politics.  They intimately knew the price paid for their freedom to homeschool, and they were determined to not have that freedom compromised.

Today, many homeschooling parents seem to have an attitude of indifference towards their freedom to homeschool.  Families, in general, are not as committed to the homeschooling lifestyle.  Instead, many parents view homeschooling as an option that may be least restrictive, more affordable, or their current best schooling scenario. However, should a better school choice for their child arise, they will consider a switch.

Planning for the Future of Special Education Homeschooling

I can’t say I have all the answers, nor can I predict the future, but based on the changes I have discussed above, it is very clear that special education homeschooling has not become easier over the years.  And, while the simplicity of homeschooling a struggling learner has diminished, the ease of homeschooling our unique children has become a more viable choice for parents who otherwise would not have considered this option.   

As I look ahead, the best advice I have to give parents who are homeschooling, or considering the leap into homeschooling, their children with special educational needs is:  Be discerning about resources you choose, find commonality in a supportive homeschooling community, witness to other homeschooling families, teach others what you have learned on your own homeschooling journey, and understand homeschooling is a wonderful freedom that some will choose for the long-haul while others may only make this  choice for a season.

Written by Peggy Ployhar from SPED Homeschool