As I’ve mentioned before, my son, CT (sometimes called The OG Kid since he likes the Olive Garden), is homeschooled. We’ve been homeschooling him since he was in second grade. With Aspergers and Bipolar Disorder, the school system wasn’t exactly supportive of CT and his special needs. While he is quite smart, he needs one on one assistance to stay focused. The school system took his inability to concentrate as a cue to give him substandard work (they were giving him “spell cat” worksheets geared for kindergarteners late into first grade).
Of course, CT’s solution was to not do the work. He knew how to spell cat, so why should he have to prove it over and over in these stupid worksheets? At home, he was already exploring his mom’s Shakespeare books. The easy work made him bored, but the on-level work meant he wouldn’t do it because he didn’t have the supervision to keep him focused. Needless to say, the school system was mean and abusive about it, so for his own safety and well being, he’s been homeschooled.
I started dating my girlfriend in 2002. I’ve been through part of 3rd grade and onward homeschool-wise. I also grew up in a household with a teacher, so I’ve graded papers, kind of knew how to do lesson plans, and I spent my senior year of high school working at the elementary during free class periods as both a tutor and a teacher’s aide. Still, none of that could have prepared me for planning an entire year of school. I can see why (sadly) some public school teachers just brush over school lessons. It is a lot of hard work when you have to plan out a curriculum.
Unlike public schools, CT uses his entire book. I remember the teachers in my school skipping over lessons and doing what they wanted. Our theory is, if it is in a school book, the lesson is there for a reason. I’d hate to skim over something that might help him better understand future lessons. Besides, I find that completing a book fits in well with his schedule. Sure, we’ve had to make a few tweaks and change around a few classes here and there, but the planning process is imperative, to make sure CT learns everything we want him to learn.
This year, things are going to be different for CT. When it is all said and done, we’ll have paid around $1000 for everything he has needed for the year. Granted, this is the year he received his graphing calculator, but we’ve also decided to do a lot more hands-on activities. Usually, we’ve just had him do book work. With him being so visual and sensory, we’re hoping a more hands-on curriculum will make his school year run more smoothly. Yes, he’ll still have to complete book work, but with some internet activities and hands-on experiments it should balance things out to where he’ll start to realize school can be fun.
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