This workshop offers practical direction and encouragement for families who are considering home education or for those who have already plunged into the scary waters of special education at home and are seeking assistance to navigate this realm. Faith shares resources for homeschooling special needs, diagnostic checklists for struggling learners, addresses common concerns homeschooling parents face (and how to navigate around them), and shares strategies for charting a course for success with your children who learn differently.

Currently 1 in 44 eight-year-olds in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism every year. You are NOT alone! But this journey can be daunting. This workshop will help you learn the benefits of homeschooling your autistic child and how to determine the curriculum (level and subjects). It will provide some practical teaching tips for more effective learning and suggest additional supports which may be helpful.

The world is filled with all kinds of sensory input that we use and enjoy. Many children can filter out the distracting or non-applicable input so that they can focus on schoolwork. However, some children are aware of much of the sensory input around them at all times OR they are not aware of any input. This impacts their ability to attend to school work and apply what is learned. This workshop will help you to better understand what it is like to live in a world where you cannot process sensory input effectively and provide practical suggestions to regulate sensory input to help your child to attend and succeed in learning.

This workshop addresses some of the challenges associated with teaching struggling and atypical learners at home in the high school years. Do you have questions such as “How do I award my child with special needs a diploma?” or “What do I do since my child with dyslexia can’t read typical high school level material?” Faith discusses alternative coursework, specialized curricula and learning materials, assistive technology, transcript options, possible graduation guidelines, high school programs for special learners, and post–high school options. She also offers tips for navigating the process of applying for testing accommodations for College Board tests.