by Peggy Ployhar, SPED Homeschool Founder & CEO

 

As we continue focusing on free resources for families homeschooling children with unique learning challenges, we wanted to share some or our top picks of free homeschool curriculum samples and trials. We hope that these resources from our amazing curriculum partners will empower you as you home educate your unique learner.

 

From our partners at ShillerLearning:

 

From our partners at Demme Learning:

 

From our partners at BookShark:

 

From our partners at Sonlight:

 

From our partners at 7SistersHomeschool.com:

 

From our partners at Homeschool Boost:

 

From our partners at Vooks:

 

From our partners at Clear Water Press:

 

From our partners at BiblioPlan:

 

From our partners at Homeschool History:

 

From our partners at Nancy Larson Science:

 

From our partners at Skill Trek:

 

From our partners at Signing Online:

 

From our partners at Accent Music School:

 

From our partners at Mr. C’s Homeschool Music Academy:

 

For more help finding homeschool curriculum and service providers, head over to our review page where you will find curriculum and service reviews by the SPED Homeschool Review Crew.

 

 

 


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by Peggy Ployhar, SPED Homeschool Founder & CEO

 

This month, as we are focusing on free resources for families homeschooling children with unique learning challenges, we wanted to share some or our top picks of helpful free homeschool resources. We hope that these resources from our amazing consulting partners will empower you as you home educate your unique learner.

 

From our partners at Inside Our Normal:

 

From our partners at Canary Academy Online:

 

From our partners at Goodschooling:

 

From our partners at Austin & Lily:

 

From our partners at Your Parent Help – Decoding Learning Differences:

 

From our partners at HomeLife Academy:

 

From our partners at Personalized Learning Solutions:

 

From our partners at Art of Special Needs Parenting:

 

For more helpful homeschool resources, check out our Free Downloads page. Here you will find a lot more, downloadable, content to help you homeschool your unique learner.

 

 

 


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By Peggy Ployhar

 

This month, as we are focusing on free resources for families homeschooling children with unique learning challenges, we wanted to share some or our top picks of free homeschool therapy resources. We hope that these resources from our amazing therapy partners will empower you as you home educate your unique learner.

 

From our partners at Brain Sprints:

 

From our partners at Equipping Minds:

 

From our partners at Bjorem Speech Publications:

 

From our partners at Child Diagnostics:

 

From our partners at Cherish Child Ministries:

 

From our partners at Homeschool OT:

 

For more therapy resources, check out our Therapy-at-Home page. Here you will find more downloads and links to free parent-led therapy tools.

 

 


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By Stephanie Buckwalter from Art of Special Needs Parenting

 

I love homeschooling because I get to learn right alongside my kids. I’m also a researcher at heart, so as I’ve wandered the interwebs for the last 17 years of homeschooling, I’ve had the chance to sniff out a lot of really cool, free stuff. Here I have a sampling, for a variety of subjects. 

 

Math

  •  Free Math Games–  Plenty of variety in types of games to play to capture interest. My boys loved Fruit Shoot. There are more than math games available here.
  • Places to get free math worksheets: 
    •  Math-drills.com – My favorite for simple pages. You can limit the number of problems per page.
    •  MathisFun.com – My favorite for picture-based worksheets. These can be done online or printed. Includes a link at the bottom to their sister site Mathopolis.com where you can create your own worksheets.
    • Kidzone.ws – Worksheets for the early grades have black and white illustrations. You can use as a coloring page, too. They have multiplication table worksheets in a farm theme or jungle theme, in color or black and white, blank or filled in.
    • EducationWorld.com worksheets list – In case you need more, here is a list of websites that offer worksheets in multiple areas. Have fun!
    • You can find many more options by searching free math worksheets. However, a warning that many sites that provide worksheets are filled with ads. They are not really education sites. They are money-making machines for the owner of the site. The links above are subtle in their ad presence and you don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get to the worksheets.
  • LD Online Article on Math – Helpful website overall. This article talks in depth about math struggles.

 

Reading and Comprehension

  • Reading Plus offers downloadable worksheets for reading and reading comprehension. 
  •  Read Naturally is a highly-recommended resource for fluency. You can try it out with a free trial for 60 days. 
  • I really like ReadWorks  for special needs. It is a completely free resource. The books are illustrated and offer the option of having the books read to the student by a real human voice, not a computer-generated one. You can do one page at a time or the whole book. You can create a library of books for your child to read. It includes some supplemental material such as worksheets and comprehension questions on some lessons.
  • If you want to get lost in the world of reading remediation, I recommend hopping on to  My Three Readers, a blog from a mom of three girls with reading problems. They share a lot of links and printables.

 

Social Studies & History

  •  Ducksters.com – Easy to read history, biography, geography, and science articles including activities, videos, quizzes, and worksheets. A great resource for helping you organize a lesson. You could take the information in each lesson and turn it into a lapbook or foldables project.
  •  Shmoop.com – The site material is written by high school teachers and college professors. There are multiple topics, not just history. Go to Free Stuff, then Study Guides to find a variety of topics. For special needs, the most helpful thing is the way it is organized. For history, you can trace themes through a time period. For historical literature, you can look up the themes or historical characters.
  • Geoguessr free Mapillary version– Teach deductive reasoning with a fun geography game. I like the classic version. You are plopped down somewhere in the world and have to guess where you are relying on things like the style of buildings, the landscape, which side of the road cars are driving on, language on signs and so on. Great for a group activity, too. To play unlimited free on a world map, you have to scroll to the bottom of the home page and choose MAPILLARY VERSION. 

 

Science

 

Life Skills and Communication

  • Smart Steps app – For building independence in older kids. It allows you to set up a decision tree for when things go differently than expected. For example, if your child is out and they need a ride, you can program choices, including contacts, to call for help. If your child is waiting for a ride, you can add comments like: “Stay where you agreed to be picked up. If you move around, you may miss your ride.” It could also be set up for if you have a car accident or a medical emergency. Any situation can be added like what to do when: having a meltdown, you don’t know what to do, the store is closed, you are lost, and so on. The possibilities are endless, but the key is your child can gain independence through decision-making support.
  • ASL Nook  – Context-sensitive ASL signs. Videos use young children, so you get a realistic view of what a sign may look like from a child as opposed to an adult.
  •  AAC Language Lab – (PRC – LAMP Words for Life creator) Resources for teaching your child to use an AAC device to communicate. 
  •  Quick Communication Boards – (AssistiveWare – ProLoQuo2Go creator) is using an AAC device too overwhelming for you? A download with these 4 pages of words that you can print and laminate. Put in convenient spots around the house and teach your child to point to words as needed. Look around the AssistiveWare site for more help with AAC. Communication boards are a great prelude to using an AAC device, Soma Rapid Prompting Method or touch to spell.

 

You can get an expanded version of these lists that include paid resources and teaching tips by signing up to receive How to Teach Your Special Needs Child at Home on my website.

 

BIO

Stephanie Buckwalter is a homeschooling mom, writer, researcher, and curriculum developer. She helps homeschooling parents and specializes in children who are nonverbal and those with intellectual disabilities. You can follow her work at ArtofSpecialNeedsParenting.com 

 

 

 


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By Julie Grosz, M.Ed., with Heart of Dakota Curriculum

 

Do you have a medical challenge or two in your life right now? If you do, please know you are definitely not alone! Now more than ever, it seems like medical challenges are mounting. In the past 20 years of homeschooling my own three sons, we have had multiple medical challenges. Some have lingered, and praise God – some have not. Faith, family, and homeschooling have held us together; they have given us much needed normality among the abnormality of medical challenges.

We’ve had medical challenges of high-risk pregnancies, months of complete bed rest, fibroids, cysts, dozens of hospital stays, premature babies, NICU hospitalizations, physical therapies, occupational therapies , speech therapies, helmet therapies, cardiologist appointments, epi-pens, severe reflux, thyroid disease, and hernia surgery, the list goes on. I’ve helped care for my dad through pancreatic cancer, my mom through high blood pressure, my sister through vertigo, my husband through COVID, and of course, the list could go on.

 

Your Own Medical Challenges

Many of you, just like me, have your own lengthy list of medical challenges. Some have lingered, but praise God, some have not. You have more than likely found yourself to be the patient needing care. You have likely found yourself to be the caregiver. Both the role of patient and caregiver pose medical related challenges. However, no matter what your circumstances may be, faith, family, and homeschooling can truly hold you together! They can be your calm in the storm. On the worst of days, they can be your anchor, holding you steady until the winds and the waves have passed.

 

Leaning on Faith in the Midst of Medical Challenges

You can lean on your faith  in the midst of medical challenges. I know because I’ve witnessed it firsthand from my dad. My dad was strong, happy, healthy, and a hard- working family man with a heart for the Lord. The other day I needed to list my dad’s medical challenges for my doctor, as we had to do some genetic testing for my son’s heart condition. I was shocked at the list! My dad had his gallbladder removed, had an abdominal aneurysm, needed 19 pins in a rotator cuff surgery, had seven blood clots pass through his heart, had a heart attack, a brain bleed, and pancreatic cancer. I had just told the doctor my dad was an incredibly healthy strong man. Where in the world did I get that idea?!? Well, I can tell you where, it was from my dad.

My dad’s faith made him strong. So strong, even through all his medical challenges, my mom, my sisters, and I still would all say he was a healthy man. Making that list showed me he doesn’t really look all that healthy on paper. Still, we remember him as a strong, healthy man who loved to laugh and who loved the Lord. People came to visit my dad during his pancreatic cancer, and they often left encouraged by my dad! He had his bad days, but overall, he was still quite happy. Faith, he leaned on his faith during medical challenges. They seemed to disappear right before our very eyes. We forgot them because he didn’t dwell on them. Lean on your faith in the midst of medical challenges. Talk to God  about it. He cares, and He will carry you through the storm.

 

Leaning on Family in the Midst of Medical Challenges

You can lean on your family in the midst of medical challenges. I know, because I have been leaned on, and done some leaning of my own. My husband got up before work to put a lunch he made for me in the fridge every day during my many months of bedrest. When doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, my sister hauled me from doctor to doctor until they figured it out. My mom came to care for my baby while I recovered from medical challenges that had brought sheer exhaustion. My dad came to help me care for my premature baby. Even my sons brought me food and blankets and hugs as I lay in bed recovering from surgery. I returned the favor by caring for my husband, my sons, my sister, my dad, and my Mom through some of their medical challenges.

Lean on your family  in the midst of medical challenges. Tell them what they can do to help. Be there for them in their medical challenges. Send a card, give them a call, make a meal, give a hug, get groceries, or simply ask what you can do to help and do it.. When my dad was at home in hospice care, he wanted me to take all the encyclopedia sets home in my car and disperse them among family. There were four complete sets. They were heavy, and they were in the basement. I carried them all to my car by myself, and they barely fit. It didn’t matter. He wanted it done, and he couldn’t do it. There is nothing wrong with helping with odd requests nor making odd requests. Family doesn’t judge; they help.

 

Leaning on Homeschooling in the Midst of Medical Challenges

You can lean on your homeschooling in the midst of medical challenges. Let homeschooling be your normal in the midst of the storm. Do what you can and do it as regularly as you can. If you are bedridden, have the children bring their books to you. If your children are bedridden, go to them. Homeschooling can work in a bed or on a couch. I’ve done both and actually still quite enjoyed it! Make your homeschool things mobile. Backpacks, canvas cubes, totes, wheeled suitcases, get creative! Mobile homeschooling means it can be done wherever you are.

If medical challenges require lengthy therapies for one child and your other children need to come, use that time to homeschool your other children. When my youngest son had helmet, physical, and occupational therapies in another city, my other two sons came to the appointments. My husband traveled for work and could not care for them. I brought my other two sons’ homeschooling things in backpacks. I also asked the nurse if they had an empty room or place I could quietly homeschool the boys. They did! In fact, they gave me my own room. They even let me use the physical therapy room for indoor recess. It was full of balls, ramps, mats, and hoops. The boys loved it!

Maybe you’re in the middle of a major medical challenge, and maybe you don’t see it going away any time soon or maybe ever. Do what you can. If you have two good hours a day to homeschool, then homeschool those two hours. Move slowly, steadily forward. Maintain routine and balance by moving through subjects in the same order. Write down the order you’d like: Bible, history, geography, science, math, reading, read-alouds, spelling, music, grammar, art, etc. Maybe on Monday you have two good hours and you start with the Bible and make it through science. On Tuesday, maybe you have three good hours, so you start with math and make it through art. Maintain a routine, and homeschooling can still be your normal.

 

In Closing

If you find yourself in the midst of medical challenges, take heart! You are not alone. Lean on your faith, your family, and your homeschooling. Give yourself, your spouse, your children, and your extended family a LOT of grace. Looking back, I see God’s hand in all we have been through. I rest in the promise that His plan is good; it is better than mine. Medical challenges come and go; even medical challenges that hang around have periods of respite and times of hardship. Hold strong in the storm; celebrate in the calm. Look back and marvel at all God has brought you through. Know in the depths of your soul, God is good. He loves you. He is with you in the storm, and the storm will not last forever.

In Christ,

Julie

 

Julie Grosz, M.Ed., is a placement specialist and professional blogger for  Heart of Dakota. Julie is a former public school teacher who lives in South Dakota, where she and her husband have homeschooled their three sons. Julie has enjoyed helping Heart of Dakota families on the phone and at conventions with placement, questions, and orders for the past 20 years. Her passion is writing, however, homeschooling her own sons from preschool to twelfth grade has been her most fulfilling adventure of all!

 

 

 


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