Posts Tagged ‘homeschooling’

Year-Round Homeschool A Smart Idea

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Summer school is not just for students who need extra help with academics. For many homeschooled students, school is an every day affair – even in the summer.

Despite the fact that some may feel that homeschooling year-round is tantamount to torturing your children (or yourself), that is hardly the case. In fact, the benefits children and parents gain are numerous:

  1. Managing school and life is easier. We can do shorter school days all year – not just in the summer. Since we are spreading out our schoolwork over approximately 240 school days each year instead of 175 or 180, we don’t need to spend as much time every day on school. This makes homeschooling a much easier endeavor because it allows time for extra activities all year long and not just in the summer. Shorter school days also provide the opportunity for working parents to consider homeschooling as a viable option for their family.
  2. Use it or lose it. Year-round homeschoolers don’t experience “summer learning loss,” as the U.S. Department of Education calls it(1). In fact, we actually gain at least an extra month of progress every year since we don’t have to spend the first month of the school year reviewing concepts that have been forgotten over the summer break. These extra months add up over the years and are typically reflected in higher standardized test scores. Consistent daily teaching is especially important for children with special needs as it prevents the significant regression that may be experienced otherwise.
  3. Prepares children for the real world. Unlike students who are basically trained for 12+ years to think that summer time equals no learning, homeschooled students who are taught year-round don’t hold to this false expectation. Many of us who were taught in the usual September to June school cycle remember those first few years of working in the real world and feeling upset about not getting that nice, long break for summer vacation. It can be a painful reality check and some of us still aren’t “over it”. In the working world of adults, carefree summer months spent doing nothing are not reality. Long summer breaks do not prepare our children for real life in the adult world where two to four weeks of vacation a year are the norm (probably less than that if you are an entrepreneur or a mom).
  4. Helps to prevent the back-to-school blues. Maintaining a consistent school routine minimizes the amount of time that the parent and child spend dealing with negative attitudes towards “school”. Most parents know how difficult the first few weeks starting back to school can be. The freedom of no real demands upon their brain for the summer typically results in children who understandably fight the challenges and discipline that studying requires. However, when children are accustomed to learning every day we can avoid these schoolwork battles.
  5. Take a break as needed. The option to take a break when the student (or homeschool parent) really needs one is often the most beneficial reason to homeschool year-round. Whether due to illness, visiting relatives, off-season vacations or field trips, or just those unexpected life emergencies that demand our immediate attention, families can opt to take a day off here and there as needed without any guilt about getting behind. Since we haven’t already blocked out large portions of our calendar for breaks, we are afforded the flexibility of being able to take time off when necessary. A surprise “day off” from school is greatly appreciated by children and is often all your family needs to recharge mentally.

Homeschooling all year provides significant benefits that should be considered by homeschooling families. Why not make the most of the entire year and allow real life and student learning to dictate the need for breaks instead of a traditional school schedule that was developed for the agrarian society of the past? Don’t be held captive by the calendar any longer – freedom is yours all twelve months of the year.

(1)The Achiever, U.S. Department of Education, Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006, p.5.

Mary Gusman is an educational consultant and an expert in the area of home-schooling children with autism. With over 8 years of personal experience home-schooling her own son with autism, she offers nationwide educational and home school consulting services to families with special needs children. Mary can be contacted via her website at http://www.ochomeschooling.com/specialneeds

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Education | No Comments »

Homeschooling Children with Autism 5 Reasons Why It Works

Monday, September 28th, 2009

As a homeschooling parent of a child with autism, I am often asked, “How do you do it?” It takes dedication, planning, and research, of course, but I find that it is not all that difficult when I remember why I do it.

There are 5 primary reasons why homeschooling is the best option for my child:

1. One-to-one instruction provides for optimal learning. It is a generally-accepted educational principle that the lower the teacher-to-student ratio, the more effective the teaching can be. Most parents realize that the more students a teacher has, the less attention and direct instruction each student will receive from the teacher. One-to-one instruction is always preferred for private lessons or tutoring because the lessons can be customized to the student’s ability in order to maximize their progress in the shortest amount of time.

Homeschooling or private tutoring offers a child with autism the opportunity to make the most of their learning potential. The child receives more direct instruction time, immediate feedback, and teaching that is tailored to their learning style and strengths. Due to the individualized instruction he or she receives, the child with autism is able to experience success on a daily basis which helps improve their self-esteem. Feelings of success are something that many children with autism do not experience in a typical school setting.

2. The environment can be adapted to the child’s sensory needs. In a home setting, it is much easier to control the learning environment. Unlike a classroom situation where other students can be a big distraction from learning, homeschooling parents can structure an environment that is best suited to their child’s needs. Whether it is a quiet room, special lighting, background music, or breaks for sensory issues, the home can be an ideal educational setting.

3. Homeschooling offers flexible scheduling. With fewer distractions and more direct instruction, home-schooled students require less of their time to be spent on schoolwork. There is no time wasted on the taking of attendance, class announcements, student reprimands, repetitive teaching on a subject the student has already mastered, etc.

The school day can also be planned around the child’s best time for learning. Some children with autism are “night-owls” by nature and have a difficult time going to bed early and getting up early for school. We can adjust our hours of instruction to correspond with the times that the child is naturally most alert and able to focus. We can also schedule shorter learning sessions throughout the day with plenty of breaks as needed. Shorter sessions also promote greater intensity and concentration on academic tasks resulting in the child retaining more of the material being taught.Most parents quickly realize that another benefit of homeschooling is the fact that you can plan field trips during the week when places are less crowded. This is a big advantage for children with autism who may not do well with large groups of people.4. The child has a better opportunity for positive socialization. All socialization is not beneficial for our children. In schools, you must take the bad with the good. In a home setting, parents have more say in determining when their children are ready for specific social situations. For more on the topic of schools and socialization, see my article entitled, “Social Skills and Autism – Where’s the Best Place for Socialization?”

5. The child’s interests can be incorporated into their schoolwork. Anything that your child is interested in can form the basis for their studies. In homeschooling circles, this is referred to as unit studies. You take any topic of interest and design a complete educational program around that topic. This approach works well for reluctant learners who say that school is boring.

For my family, homeschooling is a great time-saver that allows us to focus our attention on constructive social opportunities, educational field trips, and practical daily living skills. We don’t have to worry about which teacher our child is going to have every year nor do we have to spend most of the year trying to help the teacher “get to know” our child and their needs. We don’t have to fight the school district for services or for the correct implementation of services that were promised. We don’t have to waste our time going back and forth to school or to school-related meetings. Simply put, homeschooling offers my son with autism a method of instruction that works efficiently and effectively to enable him to achieve his highest potential.

Mary Gusman is an educational consultant and an expert in the area of home-schooling children with autism. With over 8 years of personal experience home-schooling her own son with autism, she offers nationwide educational and home school consulting services to families with special needs children. Mary can be contacted via her website at http://www.ochomeschooling.com/specialneeds

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Education | No Comments »