Hope you stay strong for your Son.

Education is overrated imo. I had drank that Kool-Aid for so long. :|

I had a neighbour that homeschooled her son.. he seemed well adjusted and had a good relationship with his mom.. looking at this as an adventure is a good direction to take.. I think the people that run the homeschool program would have help, if you needed.. don't be so hard on yourself.. this change in your life could be the best thing that you will do... take care.. ((hugs)) polar

Structure it the key to successful homeschooling. Set up times to do the work and stick to that. Most homeschooling also can have a teacher visit and maybe an aide to also visit once in a while.

This can help you get the wheels rolling.

My son was bullied and we changed schools with him and that helped.

I currently homeschool 6 of my 7 kids ( ones a baby). You can do it. I know it is very scary when you first start. I will tell you that there is an adjustment period, but I think you will be amazed at how well you do and how much your child learns. I don't know how the school system is in Illinois, but here in North Carolina my kids jumped several grade levels after just the first year homeschooling. It was just phenomenal!

if you concentrate on the 'joy of knowledge' rather than the 'chore of learning' you cannot go wrong. you will have such fun doing this with your son. try not to think of him as your son and you will have a lot more patience. relax in it and remember the joy of each new discovery for yourself and seeing each new thing for the first time. seeing the 'eureka' moments dawn on his face will make your days worthwhile. you will be so able for it and at least you understand where he is coming from and you are not going to bully him and he will learn diverse and wonderful things that he would never otherwise have the opportunity to learn. you are giving him such a gift. your wonderful self. enjoy every minute of it. try not to be scared. big fat hugs.

Ya'll rock! Thanks so much for the kind words, hugs, support and sound advice. No, I have not chosen a curriculum yet, I will do that this weekend. I will start with a free one and work up...I want something computer-based, since that is his favorite way to learn.

I did find a local homeschool group, and have made contact. I hope to be hearing back from them by this weekend as well.

Timmy goes back and forth from being absolutely gung-ho to worrying about missing his friends. He does not, however, ever talk about missing school itself. He does not like school at all and seems very relieved that we have found an alternative. So I am hoping it will go well. I am sure it will take time to adjust for both of us.

I only work two hours a week, and my boss is cool with him tagging along! So that is one hurdle down already...

So, I am officially in the planning stage. :) Let's get this thing done.

I don't know too much about homeschooling so I will just wish you well and give you a great big hug sweetie...x

Well, first of all, I just wanted to hop on here and say I will definitely be praying for you and your son as you start this new homeschooling venture! And, I know that many parents have had success homeschooling children with special needs and seen marked improvement over how they were doing in a regular school setting.

But, with that said, it's completely normal to be feeling a little scared and overwhelmed right now. I think any parent beginning something like this can relate to that feeling. But, it's great that you've already joined a homeschooling group in your area. Having local support can make a huge difference in how this goes.

Also, if you haven't done this already, I've read that you can actually check with your local school district and see if they have any help/material available to homeschoolers in your area. A lot of public schools can actually assist homeschooling parents, especially when the child has a special need, etc. So, that might be worth looking into.

Lastly, there's a couple organization I've heard of that might be helpful to you as you're getting started. The first one is called the National Challenged Homeschoolers Associated Network and they offer support to homeschooling parents who have children with special needs. The second one is called The Teaching Home and they have lots of online material, newsletters, etc. for homeschooling families. So, you may want to try to look them up online if you're interested.

Well, I hope you're really encouraged by how everything goes and your son does really well with homeschooling. Keep us posted on how you're doing, OK?

You'll Be Fine, But Make Sure He Still Can See his Friends, Home Schooling Can Be Lonely