My dd's teacher has recommended her as a candidate for the school at home program. This is where the school district pays a teacher to come into our home to teach dd one on one. She is PA but she has a TON of other allergies so right now her body is in overload and she is having reactions all the time. The school never knows if its a reaction to peanuts and will progress or if its to something else. So they always call me and she ends up missing so much time because of it. Last year she was on atarax every day to help with reactions but she was half asleep all day...there in body but not in mind and it is really having an effect on her scholastic performance. We're hoping to do this maybe for a few months to see if we can stop some reactions so we can get all the other allergies under control.
I'm just wondering if anyone has tried this and what your opinions are. Any thoughts at all would be much appreciated.
\"School at home\"...has anyone done this?
Posted on: Thu, 01/29/2004 - 3:56am
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The only info I have (not much, at that!) is that in our school district (US), the student does not get a lot of teacher time. For instance, a lot of time was considered 3 times a week for an hour each visit. All this to say that in my district, it never "looked" the way I "pictured" it.
I have had to do short term homeschooling (several weeks at a time)for asthma/ other health issues. In high school, I was entitled to 2 hours of tutoring per subject per week. However, in middle school, I only recieved 3 hours of tutoring per week. If your daughter is getting sick very often, it might be beneficial to try the homeschooling for a few weeks until her immune system has time to calm down. IF you decide to go this route, you should come up with a comprehensive school plan to help make her environment safer (ie no class pets, etc). Does your daughter's symptoms become much worse at school? Because this may signal an indoor air quality problem. There could be mold problem or excessive dust or numerous other factors. If it is school related there is a free indoor air quality kit your school can use and send to the EPA for testing. I am now in college but this year the schools I attended were found to have black mold in the walls. The schools were closed for 3 weeks until the problem was fixed...gee I wonder if this contributed to my problems.
I know my doctor has admitted me to the hospital on numerous occations for "lung rest". I was not in status asthmatus (severe, acute asthma attack) or anything like that but was having fairly severe, chronic symptoms (on prednisone almost daily). She would put me in a "allergen-free", hospital environement so my body could recover.
I hope your daughter feels better. Feel free to email me off boards if you want more info about the EPA testing.
Allison
A friend of mine had an arrangement like this for her son, temporarily after surgery. As others have already posted, this usually includes only a few hours a week of direct tutoring. He was expected to do a lot of pencil-and-paper work on his own between tutoring sessions. I am not sure how well this would work for a young child, since younger kids learn better by doing things and being more active. In the lower grades, kids often learn through activities and are not usually expected to sit and do a lot of paperwork.
You might want to find out about different styles of homeschooling, where the parent teaches the child, choose an approach that appeals to you, and supplement whatever instruction the school is offering. You may find that your child learns better through homeschooling. Most people who try homeschooling enjoy it tremendously (I'm not a homeschooler, so I'm not pushing that option, but it does have many advantages).
It sounds like you and your child are dealing with an extreme level of allergy problems that I can only imagine. I hope you can find a solution that works for you. It's sad to think that your child is experiencing so many reactions, and it must be nerve wracking for you. I hope a break from school will be helpful. Good luck!
In our school district, homebound teaching opportunities are posted in the teacher lounge on bulletin boards at the local public schools. It is considered an "extra money" opportunity for teachers and it is done after regular school hours...which in my opinion, isn't acceptable. The teacher and student are likely going to be tired and very unproductive this time of the day..and it is only for a few hours a couple times a week.
As each school district has different guidelines re. homebound instruction via. the public school system, it is unlikely anyone's opinion here will be of much use to you. I would contact the district and speak directly to the person who runs this program and get specifics on how much time the teacher will be in your home, the hours, and the curric. that will be taught.
If you are interested in homeschooling your child yourself, check out [url="http://www.hslda.org"]www.hslda.org[/url] (Homeschool Legal Defense Assoc.). They have the state laws posted for all 50 states...as it is legal in all 50 states.
Thank you everyone for your response. Apparently the program here is 2 hours of intensive one on one 3 times per week. Now I know a lot of time is wasted in school but I don't feel that this is adequate so I will be "homeschooling" as well. The teacher that does this comes highly recommended and will come to our home during school hours. Hopefully this will just be a temporary situation (maybe 3 months) until we can get reactions under control.
Allison, I was shocked when you mentioned about the black mold problem (yuck, no wonder you were so sick) but I was happy to hear thoughts from someone who's been there. I think in my dd's case the reactions are from other foods besides peanuts but it scares the teachers when ever she has the least symptom of allergic reaction (don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm glad they take it seriously) because they've seen her have a major reaction.
My biggest concerns are that she stays at par with the class academically and that she can re-integrate easily after a few months of being out of the class. And I really hope in those few months we can get a handle on all these reactions.
You're getting 6 hours of one on one instruction per week, which is adequate, but no more. I saw a study somewhere (too tired to remember where) that mentionned there's only 60-90 minutes a day worth of actual learning something new in school.
As a homeschooler, I do an hour of formal teaching with my son per day. And next year, he'll skip a grade.
What I don't think is fair though, is that you get two hours in a row. One on one schooling is very demanding on a child. There's no time for rest, for day dreaming. Two hours is just too long for a child in grammar school. You won't be getting the 2 hours worth, that's for sure.
Quote:Originally posted by darthcleo:
[b]As a homeschooler, I do an hour of formal teaching with my son per day. And next year, he'll skip a grade.
[/b]
simply amazing. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img] I'm also noting the word: [i]formal[/i]. There is so much we can learn from, no?
Thank you all so much for the input. Darthcleo, I hadn't really thought of that issue. You're right, 2 hours is a long time for a child in gr 3 to sit. My dd is also a bigtime "daydreamer". She has a very hard time focusing at times. I'm planning on doing school work with her myself on the other days when the teacher is not here so hopefully between the 2 of us we can keep her on track. She is in french immersion so if we can't find a french teacher I will have to cover some of the french LA and reading with her myself anyway. I'm not too worried about that because she does great with french.
I've always thought about hs so I'm hoping that this will give us a little taste of what it could be like. You never know...we may really like it.
I would recommend going out to Yahoo Groups and joining the Home Schooling group for your state. I've recently joined the one for my state, and I am learning lots.
------------------
Sherlyn
Mom to 4 year old twins Ben & Mike - one PA & the other not.
Stay Informed And Peanut Free!
Quote:Originally posted by MommaBear:
[b] simply amazing. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img] I'm also noting the word: [i]formal[/i]. There is so much we can learn from, no? [/b]
Yes! My son hasn't realised it but I'm sneaking in lots of information in the afternoon too ! LOL...
These days, he's taken to studying my reference book for conjugating verbs. (for those who don't know us, we're French Canadians).
He's going through all the tenses and modes, and asking when to use one or the other. He's learning how to conjugate pretty much all the verbs! I'm not pushing him. This is something he does when he's bored! LOL