Homeschooling Your Child With Dyslexia

Are you homeschooling your kids? Do you have concerns about your child’s progress? Do you feel there are any underlying issues? If so, this blog post is for you. Homeschooling your child with dyslexia will undoubtedly throw some challenges your way, but with the right approach you will succeed and your child will thrive.

Homeschooling and Dyslexia: The Facts

Before looking at the best ways of homeschooling your child with dyslexia, it’s important to look at what dyslexia actually is.

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty affecting reading and writing (in particular, verbal memory/processing and phonological awareness.) However, it also affects working memory and organization. While it is a learning difficulty, it’s often easier to think of it as a different way of learning. Children and adults with dyslexia often possess great strengths in reasoning, they see the whole picture and are often exceptionally creative.

Dyslexia in Young Children

If you are homeschooling your child with dyslexia and they are in preschool, it may be difficult to recognize the signs as many of them are common and present in children with and without dyslexia. However, the following gives a good idea of what to look out for, especially if multiple signs are present and they don’t improve over time:

Late talker
Difficulty in learning the names of shapes, colors, letter names, and sounds
Reverses syllables and sounds within a word
Cannot see rhymes
Temporary stuttering at an early age
Does not understand the concept of time
Cannot follow step-by-step directions
Poor fine motor skills (such as coloring, tying shoes, pencil grip)
Difficulty with sequencing rote memory information (days, alphabet, numbers)

Dyslexia in Primary and Elementary Aged Children

It’s difficult to be sure that your child has dyslexia without professional assessment, but showing a number of the signs mentioned below is a good indicator. Homeschooling your child with dyslexia will highlight those areas where they thrive as well as those where they struggle.

Slow reader with many mistakes
Does not possess a love of reading independently but loves audio books or being read to
Uses context clues to read words (does not sound words out)
Misreads (and often completely ignores) words such as ‘to’, ‘is’, ‘at’
Poor spelling
Difficult telling the time
Difficulty expressing themselves – can’t find the right words
Easily distracted
Messy handwriting (also known as dysgraphia)
Letter and number reversals
Trouble memorizing rote math (such as times tables)
Messy and unorganized bedroom, backpack or desk
Fears going to school and often shows signs of anxiety

The information above is a very brief overview of dyslexia and its symptoms. If you are concerned about your child, you should get them assessed by a licensed educational psychologist as a professional diagnosis means they can receive much needed assistance for all exams, assessments and coursework.

Why Homeschool?

Homeschooling your child with dyslexia requires a great deal of planning and research, however, the progress your child makes will be more than worth this initial effort. Public schools can’t always offer the support that children with special educational needs require; whereas a tailored program to implement at home focuses on your child’s strengths and learning preferences.

Teaching your own child at home allows you to personalize the lesson plans, build up their weaknesses in reading and writing and ensure that their self-confidence remains high. Homeschooling works! It’s not an easy solution by any means, but for a child with dyslexia, it means not feeling like a failure for falling behind. They will thrive from being given the chance to learn at their own pace in a way that suits their learning difference.

What are the benefits of Homeschooling Your Child with Dyslexia?

Personalized lesson plans and instruction for all subjects.
The freedom of working at their own pace is one of the best gifts you can give to a dyslexic student. It instantly removes excess pressure.
The ability to learn by multi-sensory techniques that would not be allowed in public schools (the use of audiobooks, different teaching materials, large and colorful fonts, videos etc) Allows for the necessary individualized instruction in all subject areas: reading, spelling, composition, and comprehension.
Homeschooling is generally designed to be interest-led and because of this, kids with dyslexia get to focus on their particular areas of interest and passions. Lessons can easily be planned around these. This will improve motivation and ultimately, results.
Homeschooling a child with dyslexia removes all peer competition. It’s completely natural for kids to compare themselves to their friends and any perceived weakness can make any child stand out in a way they don’t want to. Given how often dyslexia is misunderstood, it’s no surprise that too many kids believe they are dumb. This could not be further from the truth.
Allows for your child to work at their own pace using resources that work best with their abilities.
Homeschool avoids rigid timetables, standardized testing, and the necessity in public schools of teaching for the test.

How to plan your lessons successfully

When it comes to homeschooling your child with dyslexia, the best way to plan is to break it down. Create smaller goals and targets and once they are reached, move onto the next.

Setting Goals

Setting goals for your child is the best way to measure whether the tactics you are using are working. The worst thing you can do is set the boundary too high, but at the same time, you do want to challenge your child. Sometimes a bit of trial and error is necessary to find the best level.

Creative Timetables

Creative timetables are the perfect way for you to teach your child what they really need to know. Interest-led learning really works for all children of all ages. Find their passions and create your own curriculum about these. Whether you’re teaching math, science, English or a creative subject, your child’s own interest should determine how you teach it.

Prioritizing

Prioritizing what’s really important is key as you’ll find that despite your best efforts, there’s rarely a time where everything goes according to the plan! However if you’ve worked out what you really want to achieve that day/week/month, then regardless of what else happens, you will be able to stick to that.

Lower Your Expectations of Yourself

You’re not super mom and there’s no need to create super-exciting, hands-on projects the entire time. Being a mom and an educator is tiring and time-consuming. Do what you can. You can always go on that nature trail tomorrow and the paper mache can wait until next week. Realistic expectations will benefit you and your child.

If you are just starting out on your homeschool journey, I wish you the best of luck! Make use of every resource available and join support groups. There are many local ones across the US and also groups on social media platforms like Facebook. Here you will find expert advice, support, and a community. You are not alone on this journey and neither is your child.

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Rachel Begley is an ex-pat mom of three living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. By day she is a publishing editor and by night, a blogger. She is extremely passionate about giving her kids the best childhood she can and about saving as many stray cats and dogs as her house can take. Her blog, princessescanwearkickers.com, focuses on dyslexia, dysgraphia and internet safety for kids.

You can connect with Rachel on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.