I am new to the board. We have 5 children our baby has DS she is 18 months old. We homeschool the other 4 (ages8,7,6,5). I was wondering does anyone else homeschool while caring for their DS child or does anyone homeschool their DS child.

No homeschooling here. When that bus arrives in front of my house I jump for joy, ha ha, only kidding. I can't even tolerate homework in the evening, my husband is charge of that, I just do NOT have the patience, so I really admire you for being able to have 5 children and homeschool. Now as far as homeschooling a child with Ds, my feeling would be that that child would need to interact with other children as much as possible, and receive all the PT, ST and OT he/she can get, which my son does receive at Pre K. His teachers are trained in the area of special needs and teach me things to help Noah all the time, but they are the pro's when it comes to teaching my son and I couldn't have picked better teachers if I had picked them out myself. If you do decide to homeschool I would just keep in mind that it's gonna be a little different, as children with Ds NEED so much more and you'd have to cover all areas, not just teaching, but therapy as well. Good luck!!!! Vonda

WELCOME Keleigh! I am a mom of 6 and have always homeschooled. My oldest four are in 9th, 7th, 5th, and 2nd grade this year. So i am busy with that, plus caring for Daniel. One of the wonderful things is that i have so many willing helpers with Daniel and my oldest two especially work a lot with him.

There is support for homeschoolers of special needs children, but you have to search it out. You may want to join NATHHAN (National Challenged Homeschoolers Network) and buy their new book Christian Homes and Special Kids. Even if you are not a CHristian, there is a LOT of info there on raising disabled children at HOME. There are a few yahoo groups as well, but i do not know if i am allowed to list them here, so feel free to write me at pilgrimhen @ yahoo dom com if you are interested.