Homeschooling is hard enough for all of us trying to teach our own kids while working at home and keeping the house running. But if your child has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and is resisting your efforts as a fill-in teacher, it’s even more challenging. This is a confusing time for us and for our children. We’re trying to assume the role of instructor and help our children move forward. Thinking about special education and homeschooling is overwhelming and exhausting and it’s hard to imagine taking on this role indefinitely.
So how do we make the most of distance learning for children with an IEP? I picked the brain of a stellar special education teacher who has chosen to keep her identity anonymous, so we’ll call her Mrs. IDEA.
How many hours a week should we really expect our children to spend on schoolwork?
“I think it is a very individualized thing. There’s such a wide spectrum of disabilities. Some kids have mild learning disabilities and some are non-verbal.” Mrs. IDEA explained that the amount of time for students that have IEPs should be decided by their educators and parents based on their endurance to receive instruction on a daily basis. Calculate the number of hours your child is actually in her major subject classes (with the help of your teacher) and then decrease it by 1-2 hours.
Keep in mind that some children struggle to work indepenhttps://www.njfamily.com/5-school-strategies-for-students-with-adhd/dently while others can keep up with their mainstream peers. With that said, another factor is the availability of an adult who can provide the right amount of support given your child’s abilities in each subject. For some subjects, your child may be able to handle the assignments and for others, he or she may need you to sit beside him and work on one problem or task at a time.