How Homeschooling Is Helping An Academically Challenged Girl

Her First Year Homeschool and High School

Jasmine is nearly done with her first year of homeschooling.  This was her ninth grade year.  It was last August when my husband and I were given permission by the judge to homeschool after a custody battle.  I was nervous about homeschooling this child after years of IEPs and LD classes and struggles with the school.  I was comforted by the fact that Jasmine's long-term tutor was going to help.

Two months later that tutor moved away, and we were left on our own.

I have to be honest about this year homeschooling.  It was a learning year for me.  I had spent enough time helping Jasmine with her school work over the years to have a small grasp of her learning challenges, but I hadn't really dug in and worked full time.  For years we had leaned on the tutor.  When it all became up to me, I learned a lot more about how Jasmine learns.

Developing New Skills
She is quite right-brained.  I knew that going in.  And yet, on the advice of the tutor, I used a traditional curriculum.  That, in many of the classes, was a mistake.  While Jasmine did okay with the work, she was bored by it.  It was simply a regurgitation of facts.  She would read and answer questions, read and answer questions.  The constant review was great for her, but she does so much better with hands-on work.  However, using that traditional curriculum, while Christian, was very similar to what she had used all her life in public school.  While I know she learns better with different types of materials, she did learn that she can succeed.  She slowly developed some skills that she never really developed in all her years in public school.  She learned how to find information in a text she is reading.  She learned how to outline chapters, how to find the main points, how to keep reviewing until she "gets it", and how to take notes.  All of those skills had never really been developed in her.  They are skills, though, that can be learned and improved.

Education is not a race, it's a journey.
I didn't follow Jasmine's IEP (individual education plan) that the school had pieced together over the years.  I felt no need.  I didn't feel that Jasmine needed her hand held.  Instead, she needed to develop skills.  She needed to slow down a little.  In a classroom environment she felt constantly stressed by time limits.  Whether it be for classroom work or quizzes and tests, time limits stressed Jasmine to the point that she would blank out or get frustrated.  At home, time limits were gone.  She had a list of work to be completed daily, but she had all day to complete it.  If it took her a little longer, so what?  Education is not a race, it's a journey.

Hard Work and Perseverance Bring Accomplishment
Jasmine would come alive in some areas and struggle with others.  After awhile, I loosened up the schedule.  If she was doing well in a unit, I would encourage her to work ahead.  That way, when she encountered areas where she struggled, like literature, she could slow down.  When Jasmine was reading The Swiss Family Robinson, she struggled.  It was written in an older style with wording and sayings that were difficult for her.  Considering that her big literature in the public school last year was The Hunger Games, I knew this was going to take Jasmine to a whole new level of reading.   I had spent the year adding books to her school work just to get her reading.  It literally took her six weeks to read this book and get through the assignments.  It was difficult, but she did it.  She worked hard, and when she got through it, she felt that sense of accomplishment that I was hoping for.  She learned that with hard work and perseverance,  she could accomplish much more than she thought possible.

Using Computers Sparingly
I learned that Jasmine needs review... and a book in front of her.  One of her classes, a financial literacy class, is being finished right now. It is entirely on the computer.  There is no text book.  Jasmine struggles a lot in this class.  Why?  I'm assuming it is because she is very visual and picks up on clues in a normal book that she misses somehow with only a computer screen.  She can't just flip back when answering questions.  The class isn't full of a lot of videos or things to do or watch.  It's basically just a textbook on the computer with some questions, projects, quizzes, and tests.  The projects are not very detailed or visual.  The result?  Jasmine has not liked any of it.  She is doing it, but the scary thing is I doubt she is retaining much.  I was excited about this class because money skills are so important, but this class was a lot more dull than I thought.  And it shouldn't have to be.   We have a couple of classes on the computer planned for next year, but they are from totally different companies.  Both appear to be very visual with other aids.  The reliance isn't on the computer alone.  After reading that computer classes may actually inhibit learning, I decided to use them sparingly, and in situations where there are more than just a computer screen.

Our Plans For 10th Grade
Next year we have moved from the traditional texts.  I am using Heart of Dakota, beefed up to the High School Level for the guide I chose.  I have already talked to the owner and writer of the curriculum, Carrie Austin, to get advice and counsel on what to do with my girl.  After she wrote me a wonderful letter on the message board, I had a plan of action.   Heart of Dakota uses a wonderful mix of learning methods in their resources.  I have used it successfully with my younger children. Incorporating "living" books and lots of hands-on, the program looks to be perfect for my right-brained girl.  The wide variety of resources should build her skills solidly, but not start at a point that is beyond what she has been able to grasp with her struggle through public school. While I am sticking with the traditional curriculum for English (grammar and some literature), it will be heartily supplemented with Heart of Dakota's Creative Writing program, dictation, copywork, and reading selections.  I also plan to add in more literature.  While DITHOR (Drawn into the Heart of Reading) is usually only used until the 8th or 9th grade, I may utilize it with a mix of the literature in the 10th grade English and high school level reading books.  For math, Jasmine will try her hand at Teaching Textbooks.  She will be doing Geometry, and the highly visual nature of Teaching Textbooks intrigued me.  She will also be using Rosetta Stone Spanish 1. 

Treat Her With Respect; Give Love and Encouragement
I am encouraged by her grades this past year.  Jasmine has done well.  She has learned quite a bit.  I am hoping that the next few years of homeschooling will give her a sound foundation, one that she wasn't able to get in the public school.  The one-on-one can't be beat.  Even with an IEP and a tutor, Jasmine struggled.  I'm wondering if it was the environment as much as the "helps" she received.  Jasmine may struggle, but she knows whens he is treated poorly.  When she is treated as inferior, as a girl with a "problem", as "stupid"; she isn't going to respond well.  When she is treated with respect, given love and encouragement, and helped as needed, she will achieve a lot more than what she ever would have thought possible.