Our Homeschool Journey… How We Got Here
Our homeschooling journey began in 2005, out of necessity.
Our oldest son Austin was almost 10 years old, in 3rd grade, in his fifth year at public school, and having a really hard time.
You see, Austin is dyslexic, has Irlen Syndrome, has learning differences (LD) across all subject areas, and was labeled emotionally disturbed (ED) due to some emotional challenges that he had. These issues led to one office referral after another, suspensions, and finally alternative school. We had insisted the traditional setting hold him back in 1st grade, much to their disapproval. Because he was in the Special Education program, they continued to pass him along. The public school said he was unteachable.
We moved him to a charter school where he had a much smaller class. That didn’t help, either. He was still struggling and was also now being bullied. He turned 10 and finished his 3rd grade year. The charter school promoted him to 4th grade, just as he had been passed through the previous grades. We pulled him from the charter school at the end of the year.
He had been to both a traditional and a charter school and his needs were still not being met. He needed more than either of those two settings could give him.
We began testing him to find out what grade level he was really on. To our utter surprise and disgust, our 10-year-old son who was just promoted to 4th grade, who had been held back in 1st grade, and who had been in the public school system for five long years, was at a middle kindergarten level.
We felt defeated. We were worried about his educational future, his future job prospects, and his overall quality of life. We knew that no school would take him at that level.
My husband and I talked for a long time, and decided that I would homeschool him to try to catch him up. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no support system, besides my husband. Neither of us knew the first thing about homeschooling.
We researched, tried things that worked, tried things that didn’t work, and through it all began a journey that ultimately changed our lives.
It took 6 years and a lot of work, but at 16, we were able to put him back into a charter school for high school. He wanted to try public school again for high school. He was still in the special education program, but this charter was much better at meeting his needs and with him being older, he was able to communicate his needs more effectively. He started two years behind and graduated in three years at 19. Austin graduated high school!
During our homeschooling years, my husband and I had another son. His name is Ian and he is 11½ years younger than Austin.
Our boys, however, are polar opposites. Where Austin struggles so much, Ian is gifted & talented (GT).
We decided when Ian was born, that we would homeschool him. We had learned so much with Austin that we couldn’t justify putting Ian in public school. We unschooled Ian until he turned 7.
I was offered a part time job at the school where Austin had graduated, and I accepted. Ian was going to public school.
When they tested him, he tested too high for 2nd grade, which is where he should have been based on his age. The principal decided it would be best to place him in 3rd grade, as she wanted him to be challenged. We agreed and he started school. He did great for the two months that he was there.
But remember the life changing journey that was Austin? My husband and I decided that we really wanted to homeschool Ian. That this journey was an important part of our life and of our family. With that, we pulled him. I quit my job there and we came back home. Ian is now 9, and rocking 5th grade.
And now, our journey continues… Stay tuned!
Summer 2018
Ian is 10 now and summer schooling through 6th grade math. He has decided he wants to pursue some type of engineering as a career, so he’s getting a jump start on his core classes. His goal is to work hard so that he can take dual credit/dual enrollment classes in high school.
We are part of a rocketry club that we all really enjoy, and we’ve started a robotics club. Our goal is to give Ian and others within our community, every opportunity that we can to pursue STEAM focused activities.
Summer 2020
Ian is now 12 and we just started our homeschool year. He is currently between 8th and 9th grade. With Covid, it’s been hard to meet with our clubs, but he understands and knows that as soon as we can, we will start meeting again.
We have started a small nonprofit to help support our STEAM activities. Our hope is to help homeschooled children in and around our area to have STEAM focused educational and competition opportunities.
Wish Us Luck!
Summer/Fall 2022
A lot has happened since I last updated. We sold our house and moved out of the city. Ian is 14 now and doing well. He’s between 10th and 11th grade and rocking it all the way. He’s getting really tall as he passed me up months ago. We are enjoying a slower pace while we figure out what’s next with our STEAM stuff. We still want to provide opportunities, but we’ve had to put it on hold as we simply don’t have the space at the moment to continue. It’s ok though because it gives us a chance to really reflect on how far we’ve come and what comes next for our family. Change can be exciting and the changes we’ve made have been a wonderful adventure so far.
I also had time to finish my first unit study and upload it to the downloads page. It’s from a book that we read a few years back, and I had not had the time until recently to finish the workbooks. I hope to create more great content and post it here for all who are interested.
Until next time, I hope you all enjoy learning with your children and cherish every moment. They grow up so fast!