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Homeschooling Children with Special Needs in Florida
Are there additional requirements to homeschool a child with special needs?
No. The same requirements apply to all students. There are no additional forms to fill out--though you might want to apply for the Family Empowerment Scholarship: Unique Abilities Scholarship to possibly get extra funds to help pay for special therapies, curriculum, etc.
If the child doesn't have an IEP, that may help get additional funding for the student through the scholarship. Do I need to mention the special needs on the Letter of Intent?
No, the Letter of Intent must include the child's full name, date of birth, address, a parent's name and signature, and state that the parent intends to take control of the child's education following Florida's home education laws. No other information is required on the Letter of Intent.
How do we request accommodations on the evaluation?
If using public school testing as the evaluation, the parent would contact the school's (or district's) Testing Coordinator; contacting the ESE Dept. as well may be helpful.
If doing private testing, ask the person administering the test about options. For the portfolio review evaluation, the type of evaluation we offer, no special accommodations are required in most cases since the evaluation looks for educational progress commensurate with ability--the child's work or materials at the beginning of the year are compared with those at the end; if the child's been learning and records have been kept, the evaluation is passed. If the child is nonverbal and cannot participate in the brief follow-up discussion at all, then providing documentation of a diagnosis or prior IEP can be helpful. Message us with details for assistance. We've done homeschool evaluations for special needs students since 2003. Do you do assessments to determine if a child has special needs?
We provide Florida homeschool evaluations to meet Florida home education law requirements.
If you need an assessment to determine if a child has special needs, including learning disabilities or giftedness, you'll need to contact a psychologist or educational psychologist or similar professional. Which homeschool evaluation method is best for a child with special needs?
Many parents find that the portfolio review evaluation works best for children with learning disabilities or other special needs (though this type of homeschool evaluation works well for all children).
The portfolio review evaluation is not a test and enables the evaluator to view materials from the beginning of the year and then more recent materials to help find evidence of educational progress commensurate with ability. It is low-stress and works for children of all ability levels. Contact us if you need more details. Special Needs Students with special needs are those who learn at a different pace or need more support than typical; students may have different abilities--including physical and/or learning disabilities and/or giftedness. Exceptional Student Education (ESE): The official name in Florida for education programs for children with special needs. Most modern schools are set up like factories and expect all children to work on the same schedule and learn in the same way. While some exceptions to this are made in Special Education departments in schools, homeschooling can often be a better fit as homeschooling is totally customizable for the individual student's needs. Q: How do homeschool evaluations work for children with special needs?
-- A: Florida law gives parents five options to choose from for evaluations. These are the same for students with special needs as they are for other students. Three options are testing options. 1. Public School Testing
State-mandated testing--accommodations must be made if a child has an IEP in place. Scores above the 35th percentile are considered passing per the Craig Dickinson Act. Scores are automatically used as the evaluation if testing is done
2. Nationally-normed achievement testing administered by a certified teacher
Parents may choose the test and level and the administrator; the test protocols should allow for accommodations but may have rules in place about those. Scores above the 35th percentile are considered passing per the Craig Dickinson Act.
3. Testing with a psychologist or school psychologist
If the student is being tested for learning disabilities or giftedness, consider using the testing as the evaluation. The type of testing is up to the psychologist. The legal standard for passing is not clear here but could be the same as the annual evaluation--evidence of educational progress commensurate with ability.
Option 4 is a portfolio review evaluation. This is the type of evaluation we offer and is perfectly suited to any student since "evidence of educational progress commensurate with ability" is the legal standard for passing. This type of evaluation involves showing records of the child's education and as long as the student is regularly being educated at a level that works for the student and the parent is keeping records, passing this type of evaluation should not be a worry. We are very special needs-friendly and have done evaluations for many children with special needs including those who are severely behind their peers and nonverbal. Option 5 is any other type of evaluation the parent and district agree on. Feel free to suggest other possibilities such as therapists' or doctors' reports, grades from curricula, etc. and see if the district will agree. 2E
Children who are 2E, or twice exceptional, have both exceptional ability and disability; they are gifted and challenged at the same time. Some useful websites
Gifted Resources
The Ultimate Guide to Gifted Children: LOTS of information about gifted children, homeschooling them, support, and more
Gifted Homeschoolers Forum Press: A publisher focused on homeschooling gifted children
Gifted Challenges: A blog by a licensed psychologist on gifted children. Mostly focused on helping gifted children with school but can be useful to homeschool parents, too.
Raising Lifelong Learners: Information on Homeschooling including several articles on homeschooling profoundly gifted children. Tips for homeschooling students with...
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Q: Do homeschooled children need an IEP (Individualized Education Plan)?
--- A: Not necessarily. In a school, such a plan is meant to help a child be treated in a way that will help make the child more successful. But at home, homeschooling can be totally customized. When learning at home, children can take breaks to walk around, work off energy, get a snack, go to the bathroom, move on to another topic, etc. whenever needed without permission from a bureaucratic organization. Methods and materials can be used that are best for the specific child--if something isn't working, the parent can dump it and try something else without having to get approval from anyone. The child can take as much time as needed. And so on. On the other hand, an IEP might help with getting resources needed (such as qualifying for certain scholarships--see information on this page about the Family Empowerment Scholarship) whether now or in the future. The Florida Dept. of Education provides information on home education which includes a Frequently Asked Questions page listing district obligations to students with special needs. Special Needs Curriculum Options
Feel free to use any curriculum or methods appropriate for your child. You may use materials below (or above) grade level, if appropriate. Or ones with no grade level at all. Some options that many have found useful include:
Orton-Gillingham Method Materials
This method of teaching reading has worked well with students with dyslexia and other struggles with learning to read. Examples of curricula using this method include The Logic of English, All About Reading, All About Spelling, and more. For more information on the options and choosing for your child, see learningabledkids.com/reading/proven_reading_programs.htm
Hummingbird Homeschool Online Resources
List of online resources for gifted and 2E students including podcasts, websites and online communities for parents, but also YouTube educational channels, EdTech platforms, curriculum resources, enrichment programs, competitions, and clubs for gifted or 2E students.
Lists of curricula, supplements, and other resources for children with special needs; list indicates which are secular and which are faith-based
a2zhomeschooling.com/special-needs/ Gifted Curriculum Options
Parents of gifted children might choose to follow what many public schools do and move the child forward to a higher grade level. No special permission is needed to do this when homeschooling. Parents might want to show caution about moving a child forward in all subject areas as gifted children are not necessarily gifted in all subject areas. Homeschooling allows the option to use a grade level that words for one subject area, and a different grade level for another subject area, etc. Some curricula have been developed with gifted children in mind: Art of Problem Solving (AOPS): Math: Textbooks and online classes for grade 6-12; not religious Beast Academy: Math (an AOPS program): online and books for gifted children grades 1-5; not religious Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts: books and/or pdfs for gifted (and other) children; ages 6 to 14+; classical; not religious Moving Beyond the Page: All Core Subject Areas: Curriculum designed with the gifted learner in mind; written by professionals who are also homeschool parents; not religious My child has severe special needs. How will that work with evaluations?
Q: What if my child cannot handle academic testing?
A: Our portfolio review evaluations are not tests. They are a low-stress option in which the parent shares records of the child's education to verify that the child is being educated. There is a discussion of the educational progress shown, but the child can listen to the discussion and participate as much as his ability allows. There are no quizzes nor tests with this home education evaluation option.
Q: But what do I show for a Log of Educational Activities if my child is working on learning to speak and eat and hold a spoon?
A: If the child is working on those skills, list those skills.
If the child is working with a lot of therapists, then the Log will mention a lot of therapy--the parents might keep those records or they might ask the therapists to keep a few records. Q: How can I keep a list of titles of reading materials when my child is working on learning to talk and is a long way from learning to read yet?
A: Reading materials can be titles that are read to the child. They can be titles of sets of flashcards that are used to teach reading skills. They can be titles of picture books used to teach early vocabulary or of websites used to work on reading skills.
At least 2 titles of reading materials are required. Q: How do we keep samples of materials used by or generated by the student when he's not yet working on reading and writing and such?
A: Samples of materials used by or created by the student could be photos of flashcards used to teach new words. Or scans or photos of pages read to the child. Or screenshots of websites or apps used. They can even be detailed therapists' notes that show what the student is working on learning.
Q: Do you do home education evaluations for children with severe special needs?
A: Yes, we have done many home education evaluations with children who are nonverbal, working on potty training skills, or learning to hold a spoon, etc.
Florida home education law asks us to look for evidence of educational progress commensurate with ability; so we are looking to see that the records show that the student is getting an education at a level that is appropriate for that student. Q: My child can't answer questions so how will that work?
A: Florida law requires a discussion with the student. Federal law requires that accommodations be made for special needs as well. Florida law doesn't require the child to speak but rather to be part of a discussion. The student can be present as we discuss the student's progress. The child can listen; noverbal children tend to understand a lot more than they are sometimes given credit for.
Q: Would your online/email option or your video call option work better for children with severe special needs?
A: There is no one right answer to this question as the better option for the evaluation will vary depending on the child.
Most families use our online/email option and we finish the evaluation with a brief phone call, usually done by speakerphone, in which we discuss why the student passed the evaluation. (If the records weren't enough for us to pass the student on the evaluation, then we'd be talking to the parent instead to get more records from them.) This is a positive phone call and the student usually enjoys it. But some families use the video option and let their child sit in the background during the 30 minutes or so of the video call to be there to hear the discussion of the child's progress. While others will just bring the child in after the materials have been shown, so we can have a brief talk with the student about the progress shown. Q: How do we start an evaluation with you?
A: Most people will start the evaluation by going to this page on our website and filling out the form for the option of their choice.
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As of July 2025, the Florida Dept. of Education moved its list of contact info for district home education contacts.
We are working to update all the links on our site but the current link is here: The Trzasko Family
Cheryl & Mark Trzasko
(pronounced Trahs-koh) have homeschooled their own from the start. Two have graduated high school as homeschoolers with college credit earned already. One is now a public schoolvteacher, and the other has served our country. Our youngest is still learning at home. Cheryl was homeschooled for part of her early education. We are passionate about helping others homeschool and protecting their rights. Discover us on social media!We offer a free support group on Facebook for those who want more information. (No advertisers, please.) Answer the questions fully to join. Download to print and use a convenient set of optional portfolio forms
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