Podcast — Page 4 — Home School Support Network

Sherry Osborne February 6, 2012

Special Needs Education – Context

Podcast Episode 11 – Context – Educating at home when life gets tough due to illness of a child, spouse, grandparent. Maybe your context is caused by a job change, moving, or you have a new baby in the home. Context can strict any homeschooling family at any time.

In particular “context” is an area I struggle with. I attribute it to the task oriented part of both my primary and secondary temperaments (I’m sure being a firstborn also has a part). But alas God is still “working on me” and having four boys (one with special needs) has a way of speeding up the process I think.

Homeschooling can look completely different from one family to another and this is especially the case when there are special needs. This is also the beauty of homeschooling. Parents get to choose how to best teach their child by taking into account any needs.

Caden’s Page – Read more about our special needs son. We never know what medical issues we are going to face or when they will come.

GENERAL HELPS

Heavier work load when Caden’s well. Which means we are mostly at home rather than out and about.
When he’s well enough for therapy, which comes to the house, I make sure I count that as school time. Keep his goal sheets and evaluations.
I give myself 365 days to complete 180 days of school. So basically we do school year around with short breaks as we need them. This also takes care of the problem that comes with long breaks which is that NO one wants to start back! Of course retention is better without long breaks.
Record the work that WAS completed rather than the lessons you WANT to complete. This saves time & frustration from erasing lesson plans plus the pressure to get it all done.

DURING ILLNESSES (Context or other context situations)

Use less active school like videos, reading stories, and educational toy/game like TAG Reader or LEAP Pad. Videos may vary from “There Goes A Helicopter”, to “Character Builder” series, to “Ancient Egypt”. We do a lot of books on tape from the library because Caden is not reading yet or we listen to a Creation based science series called “Jonathan Park” which has our whole family on the edge of our seat!
I give my older child more of the independent work subjects like those which are on the computer/online. Ex Teaching Textbooks, Rosetta, SOS, typing
I write down everything we do and if it is really not much, then I may count two days worth work as one “school day”.
Somedays I just have to remember that he’s doing more learning at home than he would be getting in a Special Ed class. The amount of days he would miss in public or private would be MANY! Give yourself some grace and “tomorrow’s another day!”

Resources

Character Builders DVD Set – Capture your child’s imagination witfully-animated episodes on Obedience & Self Control, Sharing and Kindness, Patience and Peace, Confidence and Love, Thankfulness and Gentleness and more.

The Amazing Bible Series – The Amazing Book

Ancient Africa (Ancient Civilizations for Children) – We found a version on Greece in our local public library.

Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution 1

Your Backyard: Identifying 18 Common Feeder Birds by Sight and Sound

There Goes A….(DVDs)

Real Wheels – Truck Adventures (There Goes a Truck/Fire Truck/Garbage Truck)

Real Wheels – Mega Truck Adventures

Real Wheels – There Goes a Rescue Hero

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Hank Osborne January 18, 2012

Temperaments

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Why temperaments? Understanding temperaments helps you better understand how God has wired you up. You can also better understand your child. When it comes time to choose a curriculum you can save money and unnecessary frustration. Some curriculum choices might be great for you in how the teaching process is managd but end up being a flop for your child. Some things will be a great match for one child and just will not work at all for another child in the same family. We believe that a basic understanding of your and your children’s temperaments can save money and frustration when selecting curriculum and teaching methods. We will reference this episode in many future episodes!

What are the four temperaments we will cover in this podcast episode?

Choleric (lion): task oriented-extrovert
Sanguine (otter): people oriented-extrovert
Melancholy (beaver): task oriented-introvert
Phlegmatic (golden retriever): people oriented- introvert

A version of this episode is also available on the Daddy Life podcast.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Spirit-Controlled Temperament by Tim LaHaye

Personality Plus: How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself by Florence Littauer

The Treasure Tree: Helping Kids Understand Their Personality by Dr. John Trent and Gary Smalley

Wired That Way: An Easy-to-Use Questionnaire for Helping People Discover Their God-Given Personality Type

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Hank Osborne January 5, 2012

South Carolina Home School Law

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Our “Goal” for this episode of HSSN podcast is to provide some clarity of the Homeschool Laws in SC. It is very easy to home school in SC and we want to talk through what the law requires in layman’s terms. We have not found an audio explanation of the SC homeschooling options on the Internet.

SC has three options to choose from in terms of who you answer to from an accountability perspective. On the surface these options can seem to be very similar and that can create confusion for the homeschool parent when trying to choose an option. We will break down the differences and similarities of these three options in South Carolina. HSLDA “State Laws” map. This link is a great tool showing the level of states’ regulations at a glance. Individual states are listed at the bottom. Click on your state then click “Legal Analysis” to read what the law actually says for your state.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are our personal interpretation of the SC Homeschool law. We are not lawyers. You should review the law for yourself and/or seek legal advice.

South Carolina Home School Law Basics:

There are three options in terms of accountability in the State of SC. You can be accountable to:

Option I: The district board of trustees
Option II: South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (SCAIHS)
Option III: An association (of your choice) for home schools which has at least fifty members.

Options II and III seem very similar on the surface and we will explain the differences in more detail below. We will also provide some links to associations that meet the requirements for Options III.

Similarities of the Options:

Compulsory Attendance Ages: “five years of age before September first until … seventeenth birthday or graduates from high school.” Any parents whose child is “not six years of age on or before the first day of September of a particular school year may elect for their child” not to attend kindergarten, and then must sign a written document with the school district. S.C. Code § 59-65-10. The source for this quote is HSLDA’s legal analysis of SC law.

Basic Requirements:

1) A parent must have a high school diploma or GED
2) The school year must be at least 180 days
3) Subjects taught must include: Reading, writing, math, science, and social studies; composition and literature in grades 7-12.

Differences between the options:

Option I vs. Option II – Michael Farris said at one point, “South Carolina was the most active state in the nation in taking home schoolers to court.”

1992 – Option II – Law passed
1996 – Option III – law passed

Option II vs. III

The over arching difference between II and III is that with Option II you have a mandated accountability group (SCAIHS) vs. in Option III you can choose.

SCAIHS membership requirements are much more structured than most of the Option III accountability groups. (see their site for things like required testing for certain grade levels)

The Option III accountability groups’ membership fees are on average about 10% that of SCAIHS. However SCAIHS is much more organized and offers some benefits that none of the Option III accountability groups.

A list of accountability associations from State of SC: (CAUTION: Some track more data than the law requires.)

PACESC – $40 covers all family members

The South Carolina Homeschool Accountability Association (http://www.tschaa.com/) – $10 covers all family members (Not mentioned or linked on SCHEA web site or HSLDA)

The accountability groups in option III are required by SC state law. The law is focused on reporting and membership requirements. The law associated with Option III does not require these associations to provide support in terms of support group meetings, field trips, cooperative education services, etc. There are a number of support groups that you can choose to join regardless of the homeschool option you choose in SC. OPTION III is the least intrusive Homeschool Option for parents in the state of SC. You are not required to provide anything directly to your school district or the state as long as you follow the requirements of your OPTION III Home School Association as defined by SC §59-65-47.

South Carolina Virtual Charter Schools:

If you choose to enroll your child in SC Virtual Charter Schools you are not considered to be home schooling in the state of SC! This method of educating your child is simply providing public school education directed by a public school teacher in a separate geographic location from the other public school kids in your district. We have heard stories about parents and even state employees confusing virtual charter schools with homeschooling. The SCVCS web site is very well worded and should create no confusion in this area. The SCVCS program is a good option for families who want public education for their children but would rather not send their children into the public school classroom. A great example is when you have a child in your home that you are not allowed to choose the education method. It might be due to custody reasons. They might be foster children that the state or social worker will not allow to be homeschooled.

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