Back to School – Happiness or Blues?

Back to Homeschool:  Happiness or Blues?

We at True North Homeschool Academy are looking forward to starting our classes this Fall.  

For many kids, the idea of going back to school is exciting – seeing old friends and meeting new ones, learning new things, and having new experiences!  For children who struggle, back to school can mean embarrassment, having to explain things AGAIN to new teachers, and anxiety about possibly being teased.

Here are some truths: 

• 13% of children in public schools were reported to have a disability and need special education services. (The Condition of Education, 2016)
• SPED Homeschool reports of up to 35% of students who are homeschooled have a special need or are struggling learners. (Global Trends in Special Education Homeschooling, 2018)
• Parents who homeschool students who struggle need specialized education and support to help their children be successful.
• This specialized support should look different from public school because homeschooling should not be public school at home.

How True North Struggling Learners Program can Help Make Back-to-School Blues Disappear

Special Needs and Struggling Learners will benefit from our small, therapeutically based program.  Our Teachers use cutting-edge techniques and tools to maximize your student’s growth and learning potential and classes are kept deliberately small to facilitate personalized attention. Smaller classes also decrease anxiety in students, allowing dynamic and educationally therapeutic interaction between parents and students. Our Bundles put you in control of your child’s education, but you’ll never be alone. We’ll support you. That’s what we do.

• Executive Functioning Skills 

  • Providing a sensitive, nurturing learning environment for students who have had less academic success, this course will also work on skill-building.  We will be focusing on breaking down larger, everyday tasks to make them more manageable.  We will be discussing how to create their own personalized daily routine.  The students will also be able to improve their day-to-day school and family life as we work in the following areas:
    • making schedules
    • creating a personal calendar
    • creating short, effective lists
    • tips to help our memory
    • understanding how our actions affect others

    Executive Functioning Skills is designed to create a stress-free approach to academic learning.  Homework assignments will be brief, and they will mostly be about habits that they can create to make life easier.  There will be an emphasis on growth, not grades.  There will be no tests, no essays, and no memorization required.  This course is about self-improvement and growing as an individual.

• History and Science

  • Adapted Science 
    • Adapted Science Skills for struggling learners is designed for unique children wanting to shine and explore the science of the everyday world while learning things like Kitchen Chemistry and Biology as well as Physical Science.  Each lesson will incorporate vocabulary introduced in an applicable and hands-on environment- while empowering students to learn differently.
  • World History
    • Adapted World History for Struggling Learners offers 100% supported learning for unique students. This World History course imparts high school level content at a lower reading level.  Using an adapted textbook, film, and other sources, the educator will read every page with your learner and encourage discussion, question your learner for comprehension, and offer explanations that will assist in the development of vocabulary and critical thinking.
  • U.S. History
    • Adapted US History for Struggling Learners offers 100% supported learning for unique students. This US History course imparts high school level content at a lower reading level.  Using an adapted textbook, film, and other sources, the educator will read every page with your learner and encourage discussion, question your learner for comprehension, and offer explanations that will assist in the development of vocabulary and critical thinking.

• Language Arts

  • High School Spelling and Grammar
    • High School Spelling and Grammar will take students on a full-year journey where they will learn a variety of spelling and grammar tips and techniques to ensure academic success! Perfect for students who struggle, those who want a more solid foundation or anyone interested in linguistics, students will learn a plethora of ways to crack the spelling and grammar code of the fascinating, and sometimes difficult language, of English Spelling and Grammar.
  • Organize Your Writing
    • Organizing Your Writing is a course for struggling learners that will focus on teaching students in high school who are struggling with organizing their thoughts and writing to complete academic papers. Students will learn the basics of simple essay writing in a non-stressful environment. Sometimes our struggling learners struggle to write a complete sentence.  Sometimes they can tell stories but not put them down on paper. Other times, they can write informally in journals and free-writes, but can’t organize an academic paper.  What is the solution? True North Homeschool Academy’s Struggling Learners Department is now offering a writing class to help students learn how to write academic papers.
  • Organize Your Writing II
    • Organizing Your Writing II will focus on teaching students in grades 6-12 to write with competence and ease. Different forms of writing can be a hard and frustrating task for struggling students. This course will help students approach their drafts and published writings with confidence. Students often need encouragement and guidance to articulate their thoughts while expressing ideas on paper. Students will learn the basics of simple essay writing in a non-stressful environment.
  • Adapted English I
    • Adapted English  provides 100% supported learning for unique students, this course will also provide grammar review, and paragraph writing development for real-world writing skills such as “How To” paragraphs and paragraphs that tell a story and will further strengthen reading comprehension and vocabulary development
  • Adapted English II
    • Adapted English 2 is for struggling learners and is designed with lower-level readers in mind. This class is a continuation of Adapted English I for students who are working through High School at a much slower pace and need additional instructional support. The textbook selected is respectful of the maturing mind and offers exposure to appropriate reading material at a 4^th-5^th grade level that nudges vocabulary higher, and touches on literary analysis with exposure to topics such as metaphors, imagery, plot development, and setting.

• Special Needs Academic Advising

  • 1:1 Personal Zoom Meeting
  • Personalized IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) Goals
  • Personalized accommodations and modifications
  • Personalized Curriculum Help
  • Personalized recommendations for grading, instructional strategies, and visual aids (if needed)
  • Transcript Consultation as needed

Back-to-School does not have to be a time of pain and despair! We can equip you with the tools you need to succeed, starting with 5 Effective Communication Strategies to use with your special needs child or struggling student.

Additional support can be found in our Facebook Group for parents of struggling learners. 

And don’t forget to take care of you, too.