So, I mentioned I decided to homeschool my daughter for a while to preserve what little confidence and self esteem she still held onto after years as a target in various schools; the relief for her from the stress impacted her overall health and for that I was grateful. Some great sites I found helpful were IXL.com where they offer rewards, certificates and keep track of the time and quantity of your child's work; which can be printed and placed in your homeschool folder for record keeping. So at first the homeschool was awesome, but, after a couple of years of homeschooling and not being able to find any support peer groups for her to be involved with, the isolation started to become stressful for both of us. We managed by getting out and doing things outside of the house as much as possible which did help. But, lets face it, all kids enjoy being part of a group, having friends and activities with their peers it's just a very hard thing to accomplish when your child doesn't fit the mold.
Now, my daughter is tech. a senior in HS, she is now enrolled in a fantastic ALTERNATE SETTING SCHOOL; I didn't know these existed until recently. Check out Alternate School Settings in your community, may be one close by and you don't even know it!
Anyway, she's been going now for a month and LOVES IT!!!! She's working towards her GED because having gone through only private schools and being a senior, we didn't have the option to have the Alternative School work through our public school to have my daughter receive her diploma from our local HS; this is an option though, if you're willing to have your child go through the child study team and be evaluated, if not, then like me you'll have to find an Alternative School that allows you to pay out of pocket, some don't as they will loose their state funding....but ask anyway.
After her GED, I'm hopeful she will enroll in our local community college to start. The school she's attending now, and most Alternative Schools offer peer social skills along with the academics; for an hour and a half a day the kids have lunch together and get to engage in group art projects, or play board games etc., it's fantastic because they don't even realize the skills their learning because they're having FUN!!! It's awesome!!
So, I wanted to share the information here that Alternative Schools exist, they have A LOT to offer students with anxiety, high functioning Asperger's, etc. as my child has, I wish I had known about this school a few years ago!
Superb! Thanks for sharing your family academic triumph! Wishing you both continued success as your daughter enrols in college.