Homeschooling a child with learning disabilities

In my opinion A Beka is the best all around curriculum. You might find one or two subjects that another publisher does better, but all in all it's my favorite, by a MILE. As far as special resources, I don't know. Sorry I can't be of more help in that area. Hopefully, others will be able to help you with that one.

 

Acually my sister put my nephew through one online that was offered though a Baptist church in our area. Although I guess it depends on what type of learning disability it is. My nephew had behavior like ADHD and for him the online class worked, but when my sister moved he went to public school and for the last few times has made A B Honor Roll.

BTW, come to find our he had food allergies that contributed to his hyper behavior.

 

We adopted a child from Bulgaria about 5 years ago. He has some kind of learning disability. It is like there are some wires in his mind that just aren't connected. We were using ABeka with our other children so started him on that. It was just too hard for him. We now have him using ACE and it is much easier for him. He goes slower than the other kids and will probably not graduate at 18, but we do the best we can. It helps also for him to have his own curriculum so he is not "competing" with the other kids. Sometimes his little brother (6 years youngeer) would know an answer that David couldn't get. It was humiliating for him. I think part of the reason ACE works for him is because he thrives on rigid structure (from spending 9 years in an orphanage where every day had the same routine) and Ace is very structured..... read a little, answer questions. We tried many curriculums with him before staying with ACE.

This is kind of off the wall, but it might also help you to know his learning style. One of my daughters learns best by doing and it helped her in school so much once I realized that. A doer is the hardest to teach. You can easily do math "hands on" but need to get creative to come up with things that will help with Language and Spelling or other subjects.

I don't know what his learning disability is, but this is what I can offer based on my experience. Maybe if you were a little more specific we could offer more advice. Keep us informed. I believe anyone can homeschool and any child can be homeschooled.

 

Check out Alpha Omega's Switched on Schoolhouse. It is computer based and is customizable. You can design the curriculum to work for your child. The computer keeps the attention of those with A. D. D.

 

What kind of learning disabilities are you talking about? There are different ways of handling different problems.

A Beka is a good nuts and bolts curriculum, but it does not encourage individual expression or creativity at all, and these may be very necessary for a child with a disability. If A Beka is used, I would strongly recommend going outside the curriculum in those areas.

Everything depends on how the child learns. Is his/her reasoning inductive or deductive? Is dyxlexia involved? What is the age of the child? Etc...

 

Isn't it funny how we view things differently.? I wouldn't recommend A Beka to anyone, unless one wanted to produce an un-creative, rigidly disciplined student. I was never so frustrated as I was trying to use A Beka. Likewise, I tried BJ Press with the same results. I found it better to pick and choose per subject. For instance, Dr. Wiles for science--there is absolutely none better! Each has to pick what works for one's student, but if I had a child with learning problems, the need for hands-on as opposed to worksheet after worksheet would definitely come closer to meeting his/her needs than rigid paperwork. How's that for a confusing sentence? LOL!

 

While I like A Beka and both of my children use it, I wouldn't recommend it for a child with a learning disability. A Beka introduces concepts and moves on quickly. It works well for kids who can remain seated and can focus on lots of paper work. My oldest is gifted and this works well for her. My youngest gets tired of all the paper work and prefers not to be confined behind a desk for long periods of time.

Also, A Beka has great visuals on their worksheets and in their reading books. Some children enjoy the visuals, but some are distracted by the bright colors and illustrations. It depends on the learning disability.