[blparent] Homeschooling as a Blind Parent

[Judy Jones]

Hi, Misty,

We home-schooled our girls for part of their school career.  I would say 
there is a lot of prep work if you are going to home-school, and maybe 
you've done this already.

First, you have to decide which curriculum you are going to use.  We opted, 
of course, for a total Internet curriculum, as opposed to  traditional 
hard-copy.  One curriculum we used was totally online, but was expensive. 
Another we used was online with supplementary teaching videos on DVD.

We lived in Washington state at the time, and in our area, there were annual 
home-school conventions, where one could go and get their questions asked.

If you are totally home-schooling, you will need then to become familiar 
with the curriculum you have chosen, so you can effectively teach it, 
reinforce her learning, and answer her questions.  Also, have you decided 
how you will teach her penmanship?  Just curious on that one.  If we had 
needed to do that with our girls, I would have enlisted another home-school 
parent; they could help her with penmanship, and you could help teach their 
children in another subject.

Some school districts are good supporters of home-schoolers.  Where we 
lived, the school district allowed our girls to attend the public school for 
the extra curricular activities, such as sports and music.

The YMCA in the area had exclusive gym classes for home-schoolers 3 days a 
week.

Another factor:  If you are going to home-school, make sure there will be 
plenty of social outlet for your girl.  This happens for kids automatically 
when they're around other kids in class, but socialization will have to be 
thought out.

One way around this, too, is to join a co-op of parents who home-school. 
Some of us are good at math and science, while others of us are better in 
the language and humanities.  In a co-op, parents will teach all the kids of 
the co-op in areas in which they feel comfortable.  A situation like that 
may answer the question about penmanship.

Last of all, have you considered a charter school, or are there any in your 
area?  Here, a charter school can simply mean two or more families getting 
together and adopting a curricula for their children.  However, different 
states have different charter school laws.

Oh yes, I forgot one more.  Your public school system may have its own 
online curriculum for home-schoolers.  Check with the district or the school 
counselor.

Sorry if I wrote this book, but there are lots of options out there, and 
now, maybe more than when we were teaching our girls.  Also understand that 
home-schooling can be fun, but is very intensive for the parent.  Although 
you can be flexible in your schedule, that flexibility does NOT mean being 
inconsistent.  It means you can take a vacation at the time of your choosing 
and not have to stick to a district calendar, but you must be in that home 
classroom  consistently at the times you decide.  The beauty is that your 
child can move forward at her own speed, and most home-schoolers are quite a 
bit farther along in their grade level, if not ahead, than their 
counterparts in the public school classroom.

Best wishes, and write back often, let us know how you are doing.

Judy


-----Original Message----- 
From: Misty Dawn Bradley via blparent
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 3:26 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blparent] Homeschooling as a Blind Parent

Hi everyone,
Does anyone on this list homeschool their children? I have a 6 year old 
child, and I am planning to homeschool her starting next week. I have 
already withdrawn her from the school she was enrolled in and researched the 
laws relating to homeschooling in Texas and am looking into what method or 
sources for teaching her I will use. I would like to know if there are also 
blind parents homeschooling their children? I am totally blind and will be 
homeschooling her on my own as a single parent. Also, are there blind 
homeschoolers groups I could join for blind parents?
Thank you,
Misty
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