One important purpose of homeschooling is homeschooling for kids with special needs. There are many children who need special attention and for some homeschooling is the answer.
It is important to socialize children and some parents feel there are greater benefits to have a special needs child attend a public or private school. There are many things to consider. Some special needs children have impairments that are not extensive and to attend school is enjoyable, fun and educationally advantageous.
However, that is not always the case. Realistically speaking some special needs children benefit best from the home environment. It may be for safety reasons or because of the child’s inability to function in a school setting.
When to Consider Homeschooling
Just take the example of certain autistic children. It is often hard for the child to study in the regular public school system. They do not grasp knowledge very easily and hence they will be left behind. There are special schools for these kids, but some won’t attend those schools. They want to be close to their parents. For them homeschooling with a special curriculum especially designed for autistic students would be the best option.
There are families who have kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Asperger’s Syndrome. Their parents generally opt for homeschooling. They prefer this method because it allows their child to learn in his/her unique manner. There is especially designed curriculum for the autistic child or child with special needs. The curriculum is designed after considering many special cases and still improvements continue.
Home Curriculum Options
There are many websites that offer free homeschooling curriculum for autistic children that you can easily download. There are also accredited distance learning homeschooling for these kids. There are methods by which they assess the progress of the child, and then further create special curriculum for them. Distance learning homeschooling is very flexible. They consider everything from auditory problems to the amount of time it takes the child to learn concepts. If a child has auditory problems they provide curriculum that is visually based, and if the child has problems with the speed of learning, they are given curriculum that is designed for a slower pace.
Take the case of the subject of math. A problem an autistic child may face is that he/she is weak in math and it becomes a difficult subject for them. However, there are specially designed structures to teach math so that it becomes easy for them. One of the most common methods is Math You See. It offers very effective math curriculum for an autistic child. This is especially used in the case of homeschooling. It mainly focuses on visual learning, as kids with autism are generally very visual and they think in terms of pictures and images. The base 10 and stacking blocks are part of this curriculum as they are great for learning simple math.
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