SPED Homeschool was created to fill a void in the national homeschooling community, specifically to support families of children with special education needs who feel homeschooling is the best educational choice for their child.

Current statistics are now showing a 25% special education student demographic already within the homeschooling population, which spans a wide range of learning difficulties.  Plus, one of the fastest growing groups seeking parent-led homeschooling education are families already in the public school special education system or those whose children are enrolled in early childhood intervention programs.

The choice to homeschool is not one taken lightly by these parents. Many realize homeschooling is the only educational option able to provide their children with the customized instruction they need.  These families sacrifice careers, time, and money to provide for the specialized needs of their children because they believe these children have a better future than educational institutions have been willing to admit are possible.

SInce starting SPED Homeschool in late July (2017) , our first steps in setting up outreach to special education homeschooling parents has been:  

• Creating a strong support team
• Recruiting influential and knowledgeable board members in the field of special education homeschooling
• Branding SPED Homeschool to be an approachable, yet professional, organization for special education homeschooling parents
• Developing a website with useful and pertinent static content pages
• Scheduling content calendars for blogs,images, and videos
• Building an Internet presence through social media streams ( Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , Pinterest , Flipboards , and YouTube )
• Incorporating as a Texas nonprofit on August 24, 2017
• Receiving IRS approval on September 28, 2017 with a Federal 501.c.3. tax exempt status

In looking ahead, the end of 2017 , our team will be focused on continuing to keep our aggressive content calendar and social media push as well as working on these specific tasks:

• Partnering with state and national homeschool and special needs organizations to provide resources and support to their special education homeschooling families
• Recruiting additional team members to diversify content, reach a larger audience, and increase original blog and video content
• Running a Giving Tuesday and 2017 Year-End Giving Campaign to meet our $50,000 fundraising goal to ensure start-up costs for our 2018 projects
• Hiring 4 part-time supportive staffing positions: Office Coordinator, Social Media/Video Specialist, Graphic Designer and Donor Coordinator

In looking ahead to 2018, here are our top priorities:

• Creating a homeschool co-op training program to instruct homeschool groups, who are interested in helping special education homeschooling families, on how to adequately prepare their leadership, facility, procedures, safeguards, and teacher training for the specific needs of special education students.
• Creating a SPED Homeschool Family In Need Fund and resource supply chain, to allow families-in-need to request help in obtaining computers, curriculum, in-home teaching help, and therapy services
• Hiring 3 more part-time staff positions:  Web Designer, Editor, and Partner Relations Coordinator
• Booking team member speaking engagements, and vendor booths slots, at various 2018 national and state homeschool and special needs conferences
• Developing an app that would connects parents easily to helpful resources, events, materials, therapists and groups, both locally and nationally
• Partnering with special education authorities (bloggers, speakers, etc.) and setting a vision on how to reach the special education homeschool population from a united front

Our board, team, and volunteers are excited about the hopeful future ahead for special education homeschooling parents and how our organization will be able to help their families more readily fulfill their dreams to homeschool.