There are varying forms of Dyslexia. Iz has mild dyslexia and scored Advanced in ELA on the LEAP test, Mastery in other subjects, was in the 90s club at school, and 1.5-2 years ahead in math, however she still spells phonetically for the most part and is slower at completing most academic tasks. Roo is highly dyslexic and is pretty far behind in reading. She was also in the 90s club and 1.5 years ahead in Math, but she did not score well on the iLeap.
Roo was able to improve a full grade level in readingover the summer through 20 minutes of intervention a day, but the academic load at her school coupled with her exhaustion from working extra hard during the day, did not allow time to continue with reading intervention. Don’t get me wrong, her school provided accommodations such as read aloud, small group pull-out, extended time, etc. It was also such a nurturing environment with amazing teachers, that our decision to return to homeschooling was not an easy one.
If a child does not get proper intervention, the gap will increase in other academic areas, and this was beginning to happen. Most dyslexics have high average to above average IQ scores, and thus they can learn to compensate in most any environment. However, why compensate when you can thrive? In our opinion and in our particular situation, homeschooling allows for the most individualized approach, which will allow for much less stress on our child(ren).
Schools are increasingly required to follow mandates, class sizes are growing larger, and less time is being devoted to individual needs and exploration. The girls’ school is a great school and did very well with accommodations. However, we feel it best to homeschool them so that we can slow them down, keep them on level, or speed them up in areas as needed, while also having the time to do reading intervention to decrease academic gaps… And time to explore other non-academic areas of interest.
Being that 1 and 5 are dyslexic, we are all bound to know several people affected by it… But that means we also know some people with the most fascinating minds! What better way to kick off Dyslexia Awareness month than to return to homeschooling…
Now that one month has passed, we are starting to get the hang of things… and enjoying homeschooling once again!
Beyond the Elm 
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