Financial Assistance for home-schooling

TiredSoul

Warrior Mom since 2007
I am not sure this is the right place to post this - but I am wondering if anyone knows of any type of financial assistance available to help home-school when you have a child with special needs who is not doing well socially/emotionally in school.

I have been trying to find a job since September 2012 when my youngest started all day Kindergarten. The problem is I have not been able to find anything that will accommodate my difficult child's circumstances. I need to be able to get him to and from school, and be with him when he is not in school - he will not tolerate any type of before/after school program or summer program - and he cannot be left alone. So basically that leaves me with a part time job at the school district. I was able to get hired as a classified sub (filling in for various positions like adult crossing guard, lunch/recess supervisor, etc.). It's something but definitely won't pay the bills, as it those positions are usually just a couple hours per day.

So is there anything out there to help parents financially in situations like this? He is still attending school in our district but I am looking at options and either way - it is a financial hardship not being able to work a regular job. We live paycheck to paycheck with husband's salary.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I don't think you get any. Depending on your state, you may get services from the public school but you have to go there to get them. As far as I know, they don't come to you. In our state, you don't get anything if you homeschool, whether your child has special needs or not. To get anything, your child must be enrolled in a public school. They won't even help out if your child is in a private school, let alone homeschooling. I did homeschool for a year so I knew our state laws. I never heard of anyone getting financial assistance for homeschooling anywhere. Call your dept. of public education in your state. You may get something if you use online homeschooling through the state...aka public school online. But I'm not sure. Check :)
 

TiredSoul

Warrior Mom since 2007
Maybe I should re-word my post to say financial assistance for 1) having to stay home with a special needs child to educate him at home, or 2) for not being able to work a traditional full time job due to having to be available for him - he would get kicked out of before school/after school/summer child care. I'm sure there are many parents in this boat. What do you do?
 

jal

Member
Jules. I now am more a reader than a poster because my difficult child has been stable for many years. I have been where you are. I came here when he was 4. He is now 11. He was kicked out of 4 daycares starting at the age of 3. He is our bio child and was a planned pregnancy. His dad and I have been together since we were 18 & 19. We had him at 29 & 30. We are still married and have been for almost 15 years.
I lost a job of 9 years many years ago due to difficult child not being able to maintain daycare. He started 1/2 day kindergarten and went to daycare in the afternoon. Couldn't maintain again. Hit first grade and he blew it at school. We had to place him out of district for 1-4 grades. It helped him so much. He has been mainstreamed successfully since the end of 4th grade and is now in 6th. He's always been smart. His grades are awesome. He actually is a success story for out placement. He has friends and is awesome in sports. He has blips here and there but really does awesome given what he's been through. School can do what they want. We requested and got a specifically hired para to oversee him at daycare when he was in kindergarten. Didn't last long as he needed a hospitalization due to a medication wash. My husband was laid off for a while so he was the primary care after school when difficult child went out of district. At one point when difficult child was out of district and husband found new work i had him brought to my new job after work (private transportation by district) to my work for the last hour of my day. Then being mainstreamed I put him into an after school ymca program. He out grew that and now comes home on his own for an hour and a half. I am in ct and know of nothing of what you have asked in terms of monitary assistance. Is an out of district placement a reality?

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TiredSoul

Warrior Mom since 2007
jal,
I've also been here since difficult child was 5 and he is now almost 12 and in 6th grade. Next year will be Jr high. What kind of out of district placement? I really wish more would have been done earlier on in school. He has had an iep since K. At this point it is a struggle to get him to school daily. I don't think me working fulltime is in the near future so we'll just have to win the lottery.
 

Castle Queen

Warrior in training
I AM where you are. And with summer looming it's going to become a bigger issue. First off let me say I am lucky- I work at a job where so far they have been accommodating of me having to be home after school. They have allowed me to work from home a few hours each day while I get difficult child "stabilized." The reality is he should not be home alone, not only for his own sake but because other children are also there, alone. The patience of my employer is wearing thin and I have been told this cannot continue. I am praying I am not under-estimating my value here and am not let go. This summer he will most probably be on his own all day. I have no idea how he'll fare; I'm sure I will need to call him to remind him to take his medications multiple times daily. We live in a small town and even if difficult child was able to stay in daycare without getting kicked out there is really nothing for his age anyway. Right now I'm focusing on finding places for the other 2 kids to go so they are not with difficult child alone all day.

I know this was not what you were looking for but I wanted you to know I really can relate.
 

jal

Member
Jules,
My difficult child will also be in Jr. High next year. He also had an IEP in kindergarten and still does. His placement was a therapeutic school housed in a mainstream school. Their program was based on the boystown model. We have a friend whose difficult child is being placed out of district in a therapeutic program and he is in 6th.
Do his diagnosis's interfere with his education? What services does he receive thru his IEP?

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