05: Homeschooling for Children with Special Needs – Katherine O’Brien Shares Her Story

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Welcome!  My guest today is Katherine O’Brien, who is a busy mom of six children.  Her children range in age from 10-21, and three have some degree of Aspergers.  She currently is homeschooling her four youngest children.  Katherine has written magazine articles, a book and has worked in her college consulting business since 2004.  Katherine shares some unique aspects of her family dynamics that have been difficult and challenging.  Hers is not the typical homeschool story.  Join us for more!

Neither Katherine nor her husband had ever encountered or considered homeschooling as they grew up.  They both viewed school as “not a happy place.”  They had a friend who talked about the benefits of homeschooling, and began to consider the endeavor as their oldest son became school age.  Katherine was impressed that the kindergarten homeschooling curriculum only called for 45 minutes of “school” each day.  It felt “do-able,” and she thought she could do it for sure.

Katherine shares details about the following aspects of her homeschooling experience:

• She feels gratefulness to those “pioneering homeschooling families of the 80’s, who did it even before it became easier and more widely accepted.
• She loves the opportunity to “dig deeper” into certain subjects.
• Katherine’s children currently follow a hybrid model of homeschooling and attending school on campus.
• Each day’s schedule varies somewhat, according to which children are at home and which are at school.  The schedule can vary from week to week as well.
• Katherine has a mandatory devotional time for her children in which they pray the rosary for each family member, along with other seasonal devotions.
• Katherine says what she would do differently is to be “nicer” to herself, and be more kind, patient, available, and forgiving to her kids.
• She has had to learn to “give herself permission” to take time for herself, and even her kids now encourage her to do that periodically.
• She advises couples to take the time to be together apart from the kids, to prioritize having a date night, or just walking together and talking.
• Katherine currently has five books on her nightstand that she is reading, besides the Bible.  The first one is The Fulfillment of All Desire by Ralph Martin.  Listen to hear about the other books!
• The main extracurricular activities for her children are Boy Scouts and summer theater activities.

Katherine’s words of wisdom for anyone considering homeschooling are:  “Do it anyway, even if you think it’s too hard!  It’s a calling, so don’t give up, even during the high school years.”  There are resources and special services available no matter where you live, and it will benefit your family in ways you can’t even imagine.  Join us for more of Katherine’s story!

Katherine’s college consulting business is found on http://celticcollegeconsultants.com/