homeschool for LD son?

wecandothis
Sat, 30 Dec 2006 20:06:41 +0000

My son has an IEP (Specific Learning Disability); main problems seem to center on central auditory processing and some short term memory issues. At public school, with the help of an educational advocate, I have been able to get speech and counseling services provided. He is a sophomore in high school.

He has an unusual hobby- paintball. Its actually more than a hobby. Its his passion and his dream is to be a pro pball player. It actually has been very good for him, even though I was very skeptical about it at first. He is quite talented at it, and it is good for his self-esteem.

The team he is on does a lot of traveling around the country for various tournaments, and it interferes with his school schedule. He is begging me to homeschool him.

I have a little experience with homeschooling, having homeschooled my d for awhile in 1st grade, but how compatible is LD with homeschooling? I worry about how he would receive the services he is now getting, such as speech and counseling. I look at the whole idea with a mixture of excitement and dread. Excitement because I kind of like the idea, dread because I’m afraid it would take too much time away from my endeavors to go back to work, and I know from experience with on-line classes that it gets old very fast if you just have to hole up and work at home on the computer.

Socially he does quite well when in his element, with his pball buddies. He has made great strides with the help of the counseling at school in advocating for himself with adults.

I read a lot in the past about John Holt’s unschooling ideas, and I’m intrigued by combining the homeschooling with paintball travel. I worked for 7 years as an aide with elementary LD kids.
Am I nuts to even consider this?
I think I will also post this in the homeschool area.
Thank you!