Thinking about homeschooling my 9th grader

[DBZ]

She has never been a great fit for our public school and high school is even worse. I am afraid that she won't even be able to graduate on time if I keep her in there. I'm considering other options and homeschool is one of them. I am worried that I am not a great fit to be a homeschooling parent though. Her biggest problems are in math, spelling and written grammar. I think she has dylexia, but the school thinks her problem is with sequencing, but I guess that is a whole other post.

What I need to know if how to asses where her math skills are at. I know we need to work on times tables.

My worries are that I will lack proper follow through with teaching her on a regular and consistent basis. I also worry that I will hinder her self-expression when it comes to writing because I think things should be one way and not her way. I am also worried that my English skills are not up to par enough to teach her. 

I've wanted to homeschool her for a long time, but it's so hard to get over all these issues and then there is how other people will react too. I know I don't need to answer to them, but I don't want to put up with them either.

Kara

[greenmama]

If you decide to do it you may want to look at buying homeschool curricula and online homeschool programming which will take your weaknesses out of the equation.  Some of the online programs have placement tests which will help you determine which programs to buy.  Does she just not know her times tables because she her school allows them to use calculators but she has still learned her pre-algebra  skills or are her math skills in general that weak.  If they are you may be looking for some remedial help to bring her up to speed.

You mention not knowing if she is dyslexic but don't indicate she has reading problems.. this is confusing.  Is she reading at grade level?

I hope you can find some help to identify her needs and then really look at how you would go about addressing those needs.

[DBZ]

I have a pretty limited income. I hope these curricula are affordable. A placement test would be great.

My daughter's school doesn't go over board with calculators, but my daughter relies on a grid a lot or she will add 8 six times. The things she does well are and doesn't do well are all over the map. She was in a small sped class for math and she did well so they put her in the regular ed room and she couldn't handle it. She is easily distracted.

Her dyslexia shows up in her writing. She has a lot of reversals (esp b and d). She used to reverse all her numbers too. She also had trouble learning/reciting the days of the week, months, etc. She also was just as likely to put her clothes on backwards as she was forwards, when she was little. She still gets things like before and after mixed up. Her reading skills are pretty good. She loves to read. She just recently read The Hunger Games and had very good recall. She does have trouble decoding words she hasn't encountered and will often just approximate it to something else. 

Originally Posted by greenmama 

If you decide to do it you may want to look at buying homeschool curricula and online homeschool programming which will take your weaknesses out of the equation.  Some of the online programs have placement tests which will help you determine which programs to buy.  Does she just not know her times tables because she her school allows them to use calculators but she has still learned her pre-algebra  skills or are her math skills in general that weak.  If they are you may be looking for some remedial help to bring her up to speed.

You mention not knowing if she is dyslexic but don't indicate she has reading problems.. this is confusing.  Is she reading at grade level?

I hope you can find some help to identify her needs and then really look at how you would go about addressing those needs.

[greenmama]

Well, dyslexia is by definition a reading disability.  Reversing letters you write is a form of dysgraphia which often co-exists with dyslexia, but the other things you mention would lead me to assume the school is probably right in their identification of the challenge.

It sounds like you have a major research project on your hands to determine what will meet your needs to be able to achieve your education goals on a very limited budget.   Homeschooling on a limited budget in the early years is pretty easy, but it has always bothered me that it can be expensive for anyone in high school (except maybe but not necessarily unschoolers), but with special needs it may be harder.  You might jump over to unschooing and see if anyone over there has done anything interesting with a special needs high school age kid. 

[flightgoddess]

SHe needs professional help with the dyslexia. It will probably help with the math too....if words are jumbled, numbers could be jumbled too!  Maybe a private tutor? Have you looked to see if there is a local dyslexia club/association/group? they would have resources, classes, maybe even tutors....