Homeschooling Tips- Specialized Schooling for Your Child’s Special Needs

This article is based on a presentation that talks about homeschooling your child with additional needs. It tries to answer the different questions around homeschooling and offers a step by step guide towards creating a holistic homeschooling environment. Please read through it. Find the guidance you need to identify the best teaching methodology for your child’s holistic growth and development.

What is homeschooling?

Homeschooling refers to the practice where education of children is done outside their school. The number of home-educated children is continuously growing. In fact numbers increased from 2% to 8% per annum over the past few years. (India Today) 

Before homeschooling, ask yourself these questions

• As a parent, what do you aim to achieve by introducing your child to academics?
• How can you set academic goals for children in accordance with their ability?
• Will a certificate assess and signify your child?
• Do you have the required support system in place when you are homeschooling your child? 
• Do you have a backup for your child’s education if you cannot continue?

Have a strong support system

Before you start homeschooling, it is extremely essential to have a strong support system in place

1. Family members
2. Social circle
3. Your peers -other parents
4. Your children’s peers
5. A health management comprising of therapists and or special educators

Is homeschooling for us ?

Homeschooling can be started at any age. Even if the child is already at a school, you can make the switch to homeschooling.

Once you start thinking about homeschooling, it is important to assess the child’s abilities.This will help you design a suitable plan for your child.

How do I assess my child?

Before homeschooling it is important to assess where your child stands and devise a plan that suits them. It is important to assess the various developmental areas:

1. Milestones: How is the child developing and progressing
2. Cognitive skills that might affect their reading, comprehension and ability to understand concepts
3. Motor skills that may affect the child’s writing

It is also important to address concerns that the child may have such as sensory sensitivities, communication difficulties or concern in their social, emotional or psychological aspects.

If you still find it difficult to understand the child’s needs, connecting with other parents in similar situations may be of help.

Be mindful of the child’s needs and ability. Do not try to fit your child into a pre-determined schedule, rather find one which is best suited for them.

The next crucial step, once you identify where your child stands, is whether or not you want your child to be certified for grade 10 and/or grade 12. It is important to consider if the child has the cognitive abilities to sit through and answer examinations. Your decision will decide the next course of action.

1. Certificate academic homeschooling: the child can either be affiliated with a mainstream curriculum or take certification examinations. The child can be officially homeschooled and still get the same certification as other children studying under the board.
2. Independent academic homeschooling: can use mainstream curriculum and learn the subjects without any certification. You can choose specific subjects and concepts for your child to learn.
3. Non academic homeschooling: teach the children life skills for them to live as independently as possible.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both certificate and independent academic homeschooling. 

Certificate academic homeschooling offers:

1. The opportunity to apply for universities and jobs that require certification.
2. Both a set curriculum and study material for the curriculum will be available.
3. Set goals will be available for each topic.
4. It is easier to find tutors to help out with the studies.

However, the downside of this mode of homeschooling is that the children have to follow the board’s pace rather than their own. The child will be graded and will be competing with other children in the same grade.

Independent academic homeschooling offers:

1. The child learns at their own pace.
2. The parent has the freedom to teach the child anything.
3. A comfortable and stress free environment.
4. More time for non-academic activities.

The downside however is that the children may not be able to apply for certain universities or job opportunities. Most of the planning will be the responsibility of the parents.

A good homeschooling schedule is one that is holistic

It is important to focus on some core areas while creating your child’s learning schedule. 

1. Imitation skills: Will help the child learn from the environment on their own. It includes: object imitation, vocal imitation, Imitation by drawing etc.
2. Cognitive skills: will help the child to learn, understand and comprehend. For example:
   1. How to sort based on feature or function, 
   2. Matching objects
   3. Concepts in everyday life such as big/small, wet/dry, more/less, full/empty to name a few
3. Attending skills: helps the child focus and follow instructions. Example: sitting in a chair independently, waiting for their turn
4. Gross motor skills: helps in coordination of larger body muscles.Important for body awareness, balance. Can be useful for several activities such as throwing a ball at a target, catching a ball.
5. Fine motor skills: help develop skills important for activities such as grasping or writing. 

Including activities that focus on all important aspects of the development needs of the child will ensure an all-around development of the child.

It is important to note that this article focuses on information about independent academic homeschooling. It aims at answering questions such as 

• What subjects should I teach my child?
• How can I create a healthy academic routine?
• What non-academic activities can I include in my routine?

For more information on Certificate academic homeschooling, please read the article Specialised schooling for your child’s special needs – The NIOS board (hyperlink it)

Step by step guide for homeschooling

Step 1: Choose and download a curriculum: There are many boards such as ICSE, CBSE, NIOS or your state board. Choose what suits your child best.

Step 2: Select the subjects that your child wants to learn and prepare the curriculum you want to teach.

Step 3: Find the study material: This can be obtained from the board’s website. Additionally visit book stores to find books that cover the syllabus and which will suit the child’s learning needs. Look for informative resources on the internet too. Use puzzles, memory games to enhance learning in a fun way.

Step 4: Make a timetable: Make monthly plans, plan activities, divide the day into timeframes, have breaks and manage them creatively, use visual aids.

Step 5: Test creatively: You can use online platforms for taking tests. You can also create new tests or use available tests. Let the child answer test questions in ways comfortable to them. It may be oral or written. 

Step 6: Record Keeping: Keep track of your child’s progress and areas that need work. This will work as a guide to create the study plan for the next month.

Step 7: Non academic education: Remember to have fun. It can be boring to study all day. Important activities to be included can be:

1. Activities that focus on movement, physical fitness, music or art.
2. Daily living skills such as self care, cooking, activities that enhance fine motor skills
3. Generalization: Applying what is learnt to different scenarios. For example, using money concepts and a shop or a restaurant. 
4. Turn taking: learning to wait for their turn in group activities
5. Socialization: Take the child outside the home environment and help them explore social situations.
6. Social skill development: help the child understand their emotions. This can be taught through flash cards. Teach the child to communicate and engage in social conversations.help the child understand what is acceptable and what’s not in specific situations such as at the doctors, or at an event.
7. Communication: not just for reading and writing but to interact with people. Working on communication is important for the child to express themselves, interact with others and engage in meaningful conversations. Non-speaking children should still be encouraged to interact by using alternative means of communication such AAC or PECS
8. Consistency: children should practice this skill to help adapt in any situation. They should also learn to adapt to changes from their daily routine.

It is important to stay positive and adapt different teaching strategies based on the individual child’s needs. Each child is different, so if they cannot learn the way we teach, we need to teach the way they learn.

Acknowledgements: We extend our heartfelt thanks to our wonderful team of parent champions – Aparna Srinivasa, KS Lavanya, Triveni Goswami, Preeti Dixit, PH Acharya and Pooja Mehta. They helped us build the content and also reviewed the material rigorously for the awareness and the benefit of the entire parent community. We would also like to warmly acknowledge and thank Anita Narayan Iyer (Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Founder & Managing Trustee – Ekansh Trust) for her useful insights, time and effort towards reviewing this information resource.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this guide is for information purposes only. If you need professional counselling or any medical help please consult a qualified practitioner for immediate guidance and support.