Early in the Summer, I had a a mom contact me looking for information about homeschooling a child with special needs.  Her son had been in public school, but seemed to be just kind of stuck in the background as teachers spent more time with students with more severe needs.  She was very thankful for the added services that he was able to get through the public school system, but realized that they were never going to care as much about him as she did.  They were happy when he met the very low goals of his IEP, but as a mom she knew that he could do better.  So she started looking into homeschooling. 

As a former public school teacher that started out with an emphasis on special education (which I switched to Early Childhood because of the immense paperwork of Special Ed), I have a little knowledge of the process at school for special needs children.  I often think the Special Ed teachers are some of the most caring and gifted in the whole school.  They have to be to deal with the issues and paperwork that they daily face.  BUT, typically the best parts of IEPs are that they usually involve one-on-one tutoring and are directed towards that child's particular needs, which is exactly the format of homeschooling. 

I know that parents of special needs children face some issues in addition to the normal homeschooling concerns, but it is so wonderful to see The Old Schoolhouse and other homeschool companies branching into this area and offering support and information for parents with special needs children.  Every issue of TOS has the Resource Room for Special Needs, but this last summer issue had a very expanded Resource Room with tons of information about all different special needs.  As a Homeschool Nation contributor, I get extra copies of each issue of the magazine and I was so thrilled to have them on hand to pass to parents homeschooling special needs children.  If you have a friend or support group member that is homeschooling a special needs child, you really should point them towards getting a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse.  It would be wonderful for them to get the newest information available about resources and trends in the homeschool special education field. 

You can click here to subscribe or go over to Mel's blog to read the official press release.