My Homeschool Journey

My journey to homeschool was an experience. The idea of homeschooling was not an easy decision. At first, I did not want to do this. I feared it would take away from my work, my time and the push-back I would receive from my family. Once I pulled the trigger and decided to go for it, it was a smoother transition than I thought it would be and my fears did not come true. Yes, there is push-back; nonetheless, he is my son, and I am responsible for finding the very best educational journey that we can have him in.

My son had a great time and did well in pre K - first grade. He is bright, curious and very energetic but when second grade came, he hit a wall. He would not engage in class, nor do his work. The teacher wanted to have him medicated and retained. My wife and I didn't appreciate the suggestions. We were told to have him tested, so we did. It turns out, he is brilliant, but also had autism and ADHD as well as some learning differences. So we found him the professional help and did our best for him to succeed in a traditional school setting; however, this did not go well. Second grade was him rolling around in the back of the classroom with a teacher who could not handle him, so we had to pull him and continue our journey.

We tried the public-school system, knowing the services he would need to help him were there. With an excellent teacher, she had over thirty-five students, many of them with special needs and no aids or ‘pull-outs’ for individualized instruction. We were told the school would not assess or provide any extra services until he is two years behind. Bullying from students and the marginalizing from school officials began. I was shocked and angered how bad things were. We attained an attorney, fought for our rights, joined a parent’s action group and so forth. The private school failed him, the public school failed him, and we had to face with only one solution that I knew could work. Homeschooling was our solution.

I previously worked as a youth director and was in charge of a large homeschool group, and I knew it was a lot of work but worth it. I did not want to be the one to teach my son, so I looked into all the private schools and new charter schools. We started with a Cava K-12 school, and while the system and program were right, we could only meet with a teacher for a few minutes every couple weeks. There were no activities we could go to so there was no social aspect, and my son needed more. The private ones were too invasive with time and overwhelming.

We finally found a charter school that had excellent teachers who did the instruction with a curriculum that was easy to follow. The school included individualized instruction, events, and hands-on classes. My son is now apart of a Robotics league that competes with other schools.

So, the last four years of my son’s education have been phenomenal. He even caught up in his first year. I only wish I found the perfect fit a few years earlier. I have seen so many students flourish with an online homeschool that offers so much more than a personalized curriculum and I hope you can find that too.