Additional needs
No matter how hopeful or excited we can be about home education, without the right mindset or attitude, if there is someone with a difference, disorder or disability in the family, it can feel like a disastrous prison sentence. We need to ‘make room’ for any differences if we are to thrive and flourish in this season instead.
The chapter is to acknowledge how hard having a family who is different can be - the vastness of emotions we go through when home educating under different circumstances and the pressures and judgements that we put on ourselves and those that are put on us by others. However, this is not a chapter of doom and gloom - but hope! It is just a very genuine affirmation and validation of the life you may be living but with encouragement and support to make the most of the amazing experience that home education is, and where to go for more support if required.
I wrote it because it’s very easy to feel alone or that no one knows the depths of what you have to cope with. Yes, the details of your life will look different to anyone else’s, but the impact of the exhaustion, frustration and disappointment will be a consistent thread nonetheless – and we get it!
As a home-educating mum of over 20 years, the chapter takes you a little through my personal journey first of living with my husband’s diagnosis of MS and visual impairment, then my journey as a sensory occupational therapy specialist with families I love and serve whose children are on various spectrums of disability, disorders and differences. Much of what you’ll hear is coming from my own journey of transformation because of home educating through our circumstances, which I hope will be an encouragement to you if your family looks different to the norm.
Anne Laure Jackson is a home-educating mum of twenty years, whose husband has MS and a visual impairment. As an occupational therapist with post-graduate qualifications in sensory integration, she founded and runs an international business/ministry through which she helps those with OT and sensory issues within their families. She has a passion for helping those with differences or difficulties thrive in everyday life, especially in home education, and her wisdom and compassion have made a huge difference in many families with additional challenges.
