In 2002 my wife and I made the decision to homeschool our two children, who are autistic. This was the main reason. The school we were in was dictating to us what they were going to do with the children, and we did not feel, as their parents that what the school was proposing would meet the needs of our children as we saw them. Of course the administration,as the school was a private Christian school, was not supportive of the decision, as it would take money out of their coffers. Frankly, we have spent far more on homeschooling than we ever did at the school.
So here we are, 7 years later. What have we accomplished? Well, instead of a daughter who sits and withdraws into herself when she can't cope with what is going on around her, we have an outgoing, gregarious, lively girl with a sparkling personality who participates in plays, debates, rides horses and fights with her brother. Which is normal behaviour, isn't it? What about my son? Well, he is a funny boy. He wants to know about a lot of things. He wants to know about Time Portals, wormholes, and stuff like that.... Questions like this often arise. "Dad, if time portals existed, what would it feel like to go through one?" You know how in cartoons, when someone gets rattled and shakes their head really fast and goes "i-e-e-e i-e-e-e i-e-e-e"? That is what I feel like when I get questions like that.
He wants to learn to program computers. I am working on getting a copy of the language that they make Xbox games with. Whether or not we will be able to use it is another story.
Is homeschooling rewarding? Well, I will be honest with you, my wife does 97% of the work. She is often worn to a frazzle. At those times she would more than likely say no. When he comes to me and tells me how rabbits have a bifurcated uterus, and can carry more than one litter at a time, I am in awe of the things he knows. At those times, homeschooling is way rewarding. Being autistic, he is fairly socially unaware, and often entirely socially innapropriate. If he was at school, he would be bullied mercilessly.(I know because I was the same way and I was - not physically beaten up, but often pushed to the fringes and frequently made fun of).
I often call my son the round mound of sound. He makes awesome sound effects. One time he was making all kinds of noise, and it was semi rhythmical and had drums, guitars and other instruments in it and I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was making his own background music. Talk about the soundtrack to our life.
The biggest question asked about homeschooling is Socialisation. Tell me, what does sitting in a desk for 6-7 hours a day listening to teachers drone on, and then having a 30 minute lunch period where you are free to talk have to do with socialisation? Then picture this. A network of people who can get together anytime, any season of the year to play together, study together, do art, science, sports, and other subjects together in a...wait for it....SOCIAL setting. One time my son and daughter and I were at our local hardware store on a Saturday where they have a weekly barbecue to raise funds for local clubs and organisations. (Each week a different one does the bbq and raises funds for themselves). My son said, "MMM dad, smell those sausages." So I asked him if he wanted one. He said he didn't know yet. (Huh?) So he went right up to this big bruiser of a tatooed man running the sausage sizzle, and said "Excuse me, do you have margarine to put on your rolls?" The man looked gobsmacked, and said to him "You know, I really don't like children who are so polite!" Of course he was joking, and complimenting my son at the same time. So who needs socialization? Of course the sad thing was was that the kids didn't understand why he said that. My daughter asked me on the way in why he didn't like polite kids. That was the autism speaking. I had to explain to them that he was actually complimenting the boy on how polite he was.
So tonight we implemented a new system for homeschooling. It is called the box system. Each child has a stack of six clear plastic boxes. Each night we put the workbooks they need to work in in each designated box - science, math, etc, and write the pages they need to do on a post-it on the cover of the work book. As they work, they can see the workload getting less. They put their completed books in an in-tray on the desk. My daughter actually asked for MORE work. (we just gave them a small sample in 4 of the 6 boxes.) My son actually stayed on task for more than 30 seconds and got quite a bit done too. They have an incentive. An Aurora AFX slot car track if they do the work for a month straight. Without (much) complaining.
So homeschooling. Autism. It's all good. It's fun. God has blessed us beyond measure with these children. If Jesus were on earth today, and healing like he did in His earthly ministry, I would not take my kids to him for healing. Exorcism perhaps....those of you with or who have worked with special needs kids will get that joke. The rest of you will just have to take my word for it.
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