A Day in the Life with Homeschooling, by Christine Hawkins
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I had it all.
Everything that every parent wants for their child with Down syndrome and their education.
We didn’t have to fight, we got an aide. She was fully included. Everyone loved my girl. Kindergarten was GREAT.
First grade just fell apart.
They didn’t modify the work soon enough and by early November behaviors started to appear.
Then she got sick and missed a few weeks of school. Then winter break. Behaviors still continued.
In February I requested a Functional Behavior Analysis. In early April I received the results and what their plan was. Two weeks in and the behaviors still continued. I didn’t know how to help them anymore.
All I knew was I could teach my child better than the school could. I really knew there was a problem when her aide told me she wouldn’t read that day in school and then the first thing she did when she got home after school was read a book!
So in after Spring break I pulled her out of school and began homeschooling.
Below is an example of our Tuesday. It’s one of the busier days.
7:40 Wake up. Do some reading for about 20 minutes and review Classical Conversations material.
8:15 Help prepare toast for breakfast. Eat. Get dressed. Watch Gemiini at breakfast.
9:45 Drive to Speech therapy. Speech therapy. Then drive to swim class
11:30 swim class. Change clothes, then come home.
12:30 art – stamping with apples. She loved it. Got idea from A Year of Playing Skillfully.
12:45 make lunch. Eat lunch. Watch Gemiini at lunch.
1:30 Preschool Prodigies online music program
2:00. Drive to horse therapy. 30 minute lesson. We watch Gemiini in the car for speech practice. Or listen to Talk It, Rock It
3:15 Costco trip. Then home. Costco trip took longer so no time for writing today. I had her read signs on packages at Costco.
5:00 start preparing dinner
6:00 eat and then play with daddy.
7:30 bed!
In short I am SO glad I pulled her out of school.
She LOVES school and asks for it every day.
She is learning organically from her environment and not from just worksheets. She is happy and THRIVING. 🙂
See how proud she is of her work. She is perfecting the happy face and getting comfortable with writing.
Pic in front of a Children’s Science Museum – one of many field trips we have been on.
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Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
