Last IEP Meeting

I've had a busy day. My son's IEP meeting was this morning. It lasted two hours. It went the way I thought it would. Awful. My son is attending a special needs public school. This school only follows one type of curriculum and it is the one that does not lead to a diploma.

So, when I asked for my son's academic needs to be met, they could not do so. I was given the option of sending him to a regular public school, but I know that my son is not ready for that at this time. In the end, there was only one decision left to make. Homeschool.

I told them that I would be sending in the paperwork for establishing our homeschool. It will probably take two weeks for me to get confirmation via the mail. Once I have it, I can pull my son out and start homeschooling him.

I know from previous experience homeschooling my son that I am taking on a difficult role in educating my son. I also believe that I am the best person to do so at this time. I will follow a curriculum appropriate for his age and grade, while working hard on improving his independent writing and work skills.

I've already planned out how I will re-organize the dining room to improve my son's learning environment. I intend to have things extremely organized and establish a routine that we will follow every day. I will need to contact our local homeschooling group and re-join. They will be important for my son's socialization.

Hopefully, everything will be in place by the end of October. I believe that my son will show a great deal of improvement with me working one on one with him. I am also encouraged by the fact that he is starting to develop independent writing skills. He just needs practice and I will give him plenty of opportunities to practice.

I will not have as much time for myself. I will have to make sure that I make "me" time to relax and recharge. Now that I have made the decision, I am already feeling a lot better. It's amazing how much weight just falls off your shoulders when you decide to stop fighting with the public school. Now, I'm not saying that all parents would be better off homeschooling their special needs child. This is a very serious and life altering decision that needs to be made by each family by weighing the pros and cons of homeschooling. For my family, it's the right thing to do. I'll be blogging about our homeschooling adventures and I hope you will enjoy reading my posts.

P.S. The speech therapist said that she did not see any signs that my son was upset about his class or teacher. She said he seemed happy and content. I calmly replied that autistic children show emotions differently. My son rarely shows any outward signs of being upset. It takes a lot for him to even throw a small tantrum. I wish these professionals would learn more about autism.