I am the parent of a special needs child.

I can’t sing. I can’t roller skate. I can’t write poetry.

If I concentrated on all the things I do not know how to do, I would become discouraged. That vision of myself is one-dimensional. God created me with many interesting facets. The ability to sing is not among them.

Sometimes I would imagine my precious child (diagnosed with a learning disability) taking a similar inventory. Her thinking probably ran along these lines: "Ican’t read well, I can’t remember how to do math from day to day, I forget how to form my letters, I can’t write."

Probably unexamined by her, the other side of her giftings and talents balance sheet is that she has wonderful musical talent, she is an amazing and intricately detailed story teller, she can explain with great sophistication difficult science concepts and she can tell great stories from history. Give her a project to work on and she shines!

My job, as her teacher, is to work on strengthening her weakness AND using her considerable strengths.

Homeschooling, no matter how diligently and prayerfully practiced, will not solve all our problems. It will not cure our child’s learning disability. Our goal as Christians should be to equip them to live as productive believers. Scripture contains the true curriculum for life. The rest is mere knowledge.

When my child was first diagnosed with a learning disability, my first inclination was to turn her completely over to the learning specialists. How could I possibly help her? I only knew how to reach and teach "normal" learners. When I reached up my arms and cried out "Help!" I realized that no perfect solution existed. I would have to do my research and create our own optimum, not perfect, program.

If you are considering homeschooling a child who learns differently, the first area to be addressed is your own doubt about your ability. Consider this: In a traditional school setting, your child struggles with a broad array of challenges. There are academics, attention, social issues, and environmental concerns - not to mention the likely complete lack of spiritual input. If your child is receiving "services" those services may only represent a small fraction of his day. Fleshing out the full picture, realize that after arming yourself with some knowledge about your challenge, you probably won’t provide any worse an educational environment than your child is receiving in school now as a different learner.

On the positive side, imagine going to a dressmaker for a tailor made garment. Although you may be an unusual size or shape, the dress fits your curves perfectly. Would this dress be of greater value to you than one pulled off the rack that all the other size 12s were wearing?

Homeschooling a challenging child is an opportunity to tailor a program to fit that child.

If you are fretting about the hours and hours of time that this will take out of your day, I have to be honest and say that homeschooling is quite time consuming. After all, you are investing in human beings. However, it is a long recognized truth that it is much more efficient that classroom learning, from the teacher’s perspective. A short period of one-on-one time is worth HOURS in the classroom. While the typical school day is 6 hours, many homeschoolers complete the bulk of their program in two hours.

Certainly you’ve read the studies concluding that being a good teacher has little to do with credentials, either. Besides, it’s not about you. It’s about the child.

Remember, whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.

Christine M. Field practiced law for eight years before becoming a full-time Mommy. She and her husband live and home school their four children in Wheaton, Illinois where her husband serves as Chief of Police. Three of their four children are adopted, one through a private adoption and two are from Korea. She is the author of several books, including Coming Home to Raise Your Children (Fleming Revell, 1995), Should You Adopt? (Fleming Revell, 1997) A Field Guide to Home Schooling (Fleming Revell, 1998), Life Skills for Kids (Harold Shaw/WaterBrook, 2000), Help for the Harried Homeschooler (Harold Shaw/WaterBrook, 2002) and Homeschooling the Challenging Child (Broadman & Holman , 2005) She has the privilege to write and do lots of cool stuff for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Christine loves to encourage others. She has spoken to many groups, including small fellowships and large conventions. To contact her about speaking to your group, you may email her at christinefield@sbcglobal.net or visit her website at www.HomeFieldAdvantage.org.