If you live and homeschool in Oregon your child must be tested after grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.  If you want more data, you may test as often beyond that as you feel you have need, but the state requires tests after those years. In Oregon, after a student is established as eligible to receive Special Ed Services, home educators need to either let the public system write and serve an IEP or if they want to work with private providers and use a PDP (privately developed plan). A PDP is a set of goals for the upcoming year for that specific student. They may be academic goals, or behavior goals. Perhaps the child will learn to load a dishwasher, or be more independent in self care. It is specific to the given student’s current skill levels. Other states have different requirements. If you live in a state that isn’t Oregon, I can find out how often they require testing, or you can look it up at HSLDA.org/legal

You just need a person who is not in your family to observe your child to determine what are your child’s unique learning needs. I suggest that you choose a qualified professional outside your own family to diagnose your child’s need for special ed services. That professional could be your pediatrician, hearing specialist, eye doctor, psychologist, or a Special Ed teacher at your local school. If you are not already certain your student qualifies, call me and we can talk through the various means. I do, however, want to be clear that it isn’t complicated or expensive unless you want to use a complicated or expensive route to get there. If your child has a milder disability and doesn’t yet have a diagnosis, Oregon will recognize what I do to establish eligibility. Think about it, one expensive meeting with a gifted educated experienced teacher can set the trajectory for years of optimum educational experiences and results for you and your child.

See the list of costs on this website. I take checks or cash at the time of service or if we meet over Zoom, I use PayPal.

This link will tell you for each of the US states more specifically what is required:

https://hslda.org/legal/

We will want to decide together what curriculum you will use. Often, families already own and like a particular curriculum. We then work together to adapt the way it teaches to suit the particular needs of your student. OCEANetwork has historically offered a conference annually and curriculum has sold there. CBD (Christian Book Distributors) carries many good homeschooling programs at a discount rate. Exodus Books in Oregon City also has a number of curricula and if you don’t mind driving to their location you can look at materials all year long. They also do mail order. Amazon and Thriftbooks.com also sell homeschooling materials. I have known families that ordered historic (older – out of current printing) materials on Ebay. Since I schooled my daughter a long time ago, I tend to think quickly towards older books, but there are some newer wonderful things available for you now!

This is why you want to start with that phone call. Every student is in a different place. If your student isn’t talking yet, we will start with learning to talk and other life skills before we tackle academics!

This is why you want to start with the phone call. This situation is much easier than you think!

I always encourage therapies for those for whom they are recommended. There are private therapists in most areas, some can be paid for by health insurance, some are more affordable than others. Public schools in Oregon will usually offer families 30 minutes of weekly services which might be an inexpensive way to cover one type of therapy. They will not cover more than that 30 minutes though, so if your child needs more than one kind of therapy, others must happen elsewhere. Also, I would never send my child to any therapist without staying with the child through the sessions – that said – It is appropriate that you stay quiet and let the therapist work, unless something happens that you perceive to be inappropriate. Once the therapist realizes that you are a conscientious parent, and able to follow directions, you can learn from them and practice the therapies daily and let them tweak things at their sessions. This is a win for all parties.

If you have been using a therapist for speech, sensory integration, physical limitations or something of the sort, there is nothing else like what those professionals do. You will definitely want to continue that arrangement. If you want to receive one of those services from your local public school, I can help you arrange that – You will want to meet with that team and make sure you feel they are trustworthy or you would want to accompany your student to all the sessions they attend with them.