Any Aspies here homeschooled?

[CleopatrasAsp]

Sorry if this has already been addressed; I'm a newbie and couldn't find a "search threads" function here.

My son, age 14, is currently undergoing the diagnosis procedure for what we suspect is Asperger's as well as ADHD and maybe even ODD. Possibly Dysgraphia as well, but not sure how much overlap there may be with the Asp's.

He's quite bright and tests well on standardized tests, which is why we've never had him tested before this. As long as his scores were okay, the school refused to do it no matter how "quirky" he was personally. Now, attending an online charter school (which, admittedly, is AWFUL in how they organize their information, making each day a scavenger hunt just to figure out what that day's assignments are!), he is failing miserably.

We have homeschooled a little in years past--in 4th grade, and again in 7th last year--with varied success. It might be different if we did it again though, knowing about his diagnosis.

He LOVES reading but has problems with expressive language whether it's speaking or writing. He hates math but is really good at it, but in a very right-brained, intuitive way rather than a step-by-step, logical way. It would need to be a very literature-based curriculum if we did homeschool.

So we're wondering whether to pull him out of school mid-year and homeschool him again, or whether to wait until end of year when he will have hopefully completed his testing and diagnosis process. Has anyone here been homeschooled? If so, what was your experience? What worked? What would you change? Did your parents seek special ed. help from the local school district even if you were homeschooled? We are just wondering how our teaching methods might change now that we know (or strongly suspect) that he's on the spectrum.

If you have ever homeschooled your child or been homeschooled as a child, please feel free to chime in with any suggestions, advice, etc. If you have never done either and your only thoughts on homeschooling are "What about socialization?" then please do some more research on homeschooling before chiming in. Thank you!

 

[Ste11aeres]

I was homeschooled.
My parents didn't know about the spectrum and didn't seek special ed help.

I would definitely recommend dropping the online charter school without waiting for the end of the school year. It sounds like you will probably do a better job of teaching him than they are doing. You also know your son better than any special ed people do, and it sounds like you have a good attitude, so don't ever distrust your own your good judgement.

 

[zurb]

We are homeschooling our two boys. We have a variety of reasons for doing so, but part of it is their aspieness.
If you want a literature base, you may be interested in the Robinson curriculum. We have friends who have used it successfully. Personally, we're not using it other than as a resource.
A quick Google also brings up homeschooldiner.com who have a list of other literature based curriculum.
If you are able to use any special interests as a basis for assignments, you will find there is more motivation to learn. For example, our son announced in the car one day he wanted to study llamas. He did research, we did a field trip, and he wrote up his findings.

 

[DogwoodTree]

We homeschool our 4 kids, and I suspect that at least 2 of them would be dx'd aspie if we had them tested. All 4 show at least a few traits, but all 4 are still high functioning and do well for their respective ages.

We use a literature-based program (Sonlight) and absolutely love it. For math, we use Singapore Math through 6th grade. The oldest is in 7th this year, so we're experimenting with a new program for intuitive math thinkers. I don't think I'll be able to use the program for #2, though...she's not nearly the mathy thinker that her sister is.

We don't even use a science program--we take a curiosity-driven approach, get books to read about stuff that interests the kids, and regularly attend a local science museum's varied activities. We recently got standardized test scores back on my oldest, and her science scores were all very strong as a result of using this approach.

The great thing about homeschooling is that there are soooo many options out there, and you can find the programs in each subject that resonate with your child. You can cater to their special interests, while still adequately covering all the other important subjects.

And the big "s" word...our kids can carry on intelligent conversations with any age person, not just their age-mates, while at the same time they look forward to playing with kids of all ages. I can always tell the homeschool kids from other kids because the homeschoolers aren't afraid to have a real conversation with an adult.

 

[zurb]

We use a literature-based program (Sonlight) and absolutely love it. For math, we use Singapore Math through 6th grade. The oldest is in 7th this year, so we're experimenting with a new program for intuitive math thinkers. I don't think I'll be able to use the program for #2, though...she's not nearly the mathy thinker that her sister is.

Sonlight is great, but is very American focused, so those who are not from America will probably want to supplement it.
Our older son has thrived on Singapore Maths (Shaping Maths not My Pals Are Here which many seem to struggle with). For high school we're considering Saxon or Teaching Textbooks.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Homeschooled from fourth grade up and loved it!

My main recommendation is to finish a school year instead of half here or half there.

We used a local covering for our homeschool group and necessary backup should legalities arise saying my mom wasn't teaching. Only requirement our covering had beside the basics of math, science, language, and history was a Bible-related something. A lot of our curriculum came from Abeka, and I really ate up my middle school science because it was all the general stuff I love like rocks, geology, geography, biology, clouds, and so forth. I really hated highschool science because it was all microorganisms, chemistry, and boring crap, but can't really get out of that. Our math came primarily from Saxon. I don't remember the others.

The only real modification we ever made to the main curriculum was the reading class. My mom had no trouble getting me to read the work, if anything she had trouble getting me to stretch out the five books to last all school year. But the problem was in the paperwork. Mundane, dull paperwork that would overanalyze the books and completely miss the point of them. So we decided I'd get an extra book or two from the catalog, blaze through them at whatever speed suited me, do the word definitions, tests, and crosswords and other games, but the book Q&A I could bypass.

We also took full advantage of the flexibility of some subjects. I think we had to have an elective, so I got to take calligraphy. Once we knocked out the required American history, we could study whatever we wanted, so I did Vikings, Celts, Native Americans, and Egyptians. A few years of foreign language was required, so I got two years of Latin, one year of Spanish, and a really garbled accent when speaking foreign things.

And then came the year I'd try to be responsible and get a job, but I got the dumb boss who thinks "homeschooled" means "available anytime", and she got me three months behind in school. I quit my job, unofficially dropped out of school, took the required ACT to graduate, and scored well enough I graduated after 11th grade. An ACT score of 21 isn't much to brag about, but I thought I did good considering I took it a year earlier than I was supposed to and hadn't really had many lessons in six months.

 

[On the Inside]

Wasn't home schooled, my parents would have been disasters as teachers.

I am interested in it though, and even though our son is in a very good public language immersion school, we find ourselves working very hard with him at home to encourage his interests and studies outside of school. He's only in 3rd grade and so far has been doing quite well, but I am sensitive to his needs, in case he starts getting a little aspie on us.

I was also a very intuitive learner, and would have preferred a more literature/project based education than the one I got. I suspect my son might be similar

 

[wyverary]

My fifth grade class was absolutely horrible on so many levels that I won't even go into. Suffice to say, my parents later confessed to me that had they known precisely what was going on, they would have pulled me and started homeschooling me.

I can see many advantages of homeschooling. For me, even when I was undiagnosed, I was so socially stunted that there is no doubt that it interfered with my academic performance, to the point where while my intelligence was through the roof, my grades reflected the performance of a complete dunce.

Now, if only there were a way to be homeschooled through university...

 

[epath13]

Yes, last 2 years in high school. I convinced my parents - it was the best option. I was still registered at my school, did all the tests there and attended a few classes here and there, but I was mostly at home. Nobody taught me, I did it by myself. Did I wish I had a tutor? YES! But it wasn't possible to get one so I did what I could. I loved being at home, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. I might have hated school but it did help me to learn how to socialize. Sometimes I think that if I didn't have sensory issues I would educate my kids better than any school, but then I think, maybe, it's for the best that they are in school in the end.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Now, if only there were a way to be homeschooled through university...

AGREED. The best I can figure is to buy the books online, study and study, then try to test out of all the classes to go through it as fast as possible.

 

[On the Inside]

AGREED. The best I can figure is to buy the books online, study and study, then try to test out of all the classes to go through it as fast as possible.

I tried to finish my degree through a program for individualized learning, where we developed our own plan based mainly on individual projects, and some classes. I had most of the classes I needed already from my (two or three?) previous attempts at college. I had a world of trouble managing the requirements for the projects, which for someone with social anxiety was difficult. I had to find evaluators for all the projects and meet with them to develop, carry out and evaluate the finished product. It was a bit more than I could handle. Along with that was the requirement that all projects include 25-30 page papers or reports. I really struggle with writing.

What at first seemed like the perfect fit for me turned out to be pure hell. I've been diagnosed HFA since then, and may return to see if I can get a little help with finishing once my life gets a bit less chaotic.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I tried to finish my degree through a program for individualized learning, where we developed our own plan based mainly on individual projects, and some classes. I had most of the classes I needed already from my (two or three?) previous attempts at college. I had a world of trouble managing the requirements for the projects, which for someone with social anxiety was difficult. I had to find evaluators for all the projects and meet with them to develop, carry out and evaluate the finished product. It was a bit more than I could handle. Along with that was the requirement that all projects include 25-30 page papers or reports. I really struggle with writing.

What at first seemed like the perfect fit for me turned out to be pure hell. I've been diagnosed HFA since then, and may return to see if I can get a little help with finishing once my life gets a bit less chaotic.

That sounds like a nightmare, even if you could double space with 2" margins! 25+ pages, good golly... The only truly terrible project I ever had was when I was at ITT Tech for computer networking. It was the cabling class where we were to focus on standards and how to create them. Our final project was to pretend a group of four was a full business and we would be judged on our Statement of Work contract, our execution plan, our floor plan, and every last little thing involved with wiring a building full of computers and machines short of when we planned to talk with the "guy". We even had to make a bill/invoice of what we would charge, including enough to pay our "subcontractors". Absolutely none of that was so much as a footnote throughout the entire class! I didn't know what was fair wage for a cable guy then and I don't now either, much less hardly any of that other paperwork. Heck, we'd all have flunked the IP address assignment portion if we hadn't another class that same quarter (their semester) covering IP addresses.