The scary day is quickly approaching when my oldest will be entering high school. The closer we get, the more I start to panic about homeschooling him for high school. I am pretty sure that is God's plan for him for next year (9th grade) but I want to make sure I don't make choices that will limit him for the future.
His ADHD and Asperger's as well as his hands on and visual learning styles have so far been best suited by homeschooling and even some child-directed unschooling. In "unschooling", he has chosen to study such things as Japanese, video game programming, world history (the Story of the World Audio books - I wanted him to do volume 1 and he loved them so much he asked for all of them and listened to all four them in a row), anime drawing, Christian comedy and more.
As I began to research the guidelines, options, and possibilities, I pulled out a book from the shelf that I had bought a couple of years ago but hadn't read. It was Homeschooling the Teen Years. This gave me a good overview of the ways that you can fulfill high school requirements, what colleges expect from homeschoolers, record-keeping, considering the GED, etc.
I still had questions so I headed to the website of my umbrella school - Home Life Academy. I homeschool in Tennessee so I was thinking that there might be Tennessee specific requirements that I needed to know. Their high school page of the website gave me details and videos on homeschooling for high school and even a goal sheet that I could print out. Other useful info was found on the FAQ page. The most helpful link was the one for homeschooling special needs kids. It told me that I can use classes in each category at his level to fulfill the goals of the diploma requirements OR I can categorize him as special education for a diploma. What a relief to know that I have lots of options for homeschooling high school.
My plan right now is to have him do some online classes (from Monarch Alpha Omega most likely) and some classes (one or two) at Hilger Higher Learning (a local homeschool "school"). He is taking art there now and took math there first semester of this year (8th grade). I hope to also have him take a summer class at Chattanooga State on web design and to do some other things to encourage continued self-directed learning while still completing requirements for his diploma.
With lots of prayer along the way, I know that God will direct me and Daniel along the path that He wants Daniel to follow. I can trust that, above all, the Lord has a plan for Daniel to have a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Isaiah 54:13 says - All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace. AMEN!
UPDATE - January 11, 2011
Life with a teenager is never predictable, even less so when that teenager has Asperger's and ADHD. Daniel's disability in written communication has caused us to drop the two academic classes he was taking at Hilger Higher learning (Biology and English). We are continuing them at home using a lot of oral work and multimedia. He didn't end up taking any Monarch online classes. He took Flash Game Design from Giant Campus and decided that he didn't want to be a programmer. He is still taking art at Hilger and loves it! We may end up switching to a special ed diploma (with Home Life Academy) or simply a goal based non-college track diploma. He can definitely learn and loves to do so but not in the ways that other "neurotypical" kids do. Daniel's current desire is to be a Christian comedian. That'd be cool - a Christian comedian with Asperger's! Now, to figure out a way to tackle Math this summer!?!
Dashwood Studio "Spellbound" quilt
2 weeks ago
