Focus by Ingrid Ricks -- A Book Review

A Book Review of Focus by Ingrid Ricks

How might it feel to go to get glasses, pick out your favorite frames on the way in to the ophthalmologists’ office, and then to find out that your field of vision is so small that you are legally blind?  To learn that glasses won’t help? To learn it is a progressive disease?

Find out how Ingrid Ricks felt when she received this devastating news. Find out how she got her positive perspective back. Find out what life is like with Retinitis Pigmentosa…and what she is doing about it.

Ingrid Ricks tells it like it is, making it all so real you feel like you are right there. At times, we might go down to the depths with her but, as always, she brings us back up to the positive, optimistic place that characterizes her writing.

As a mother with two sons who had sudden vision losses, I remember looking for books – any books - on the subject of vision loss, and coming up short. At that time, there was basically nothing I could find. I wasn’t looking for a book that explained the technical details or for a book specific to my sons’ condition. I just wanted something, anything on the subject. Finally, someone wrote one of those books I had been looking for.

But even if you don’t know anyone with vision loss, or maybe even more so in that case, this book can help you to see life through someone else’s eyes. 

You can get the book through Amazon here. 

Accessible Books for Visually Impaired Students

As my visually impaired son - who reads print with magnification - applied for college, the director of disability services gave us two great resources for listening to books...if he desires to rest from using magnification, or if it makes it easier for him to keep up with the volume of reading. We could have joined these memberships years ago; they are for students of all ages, but at the time I was looking for free resources. Now, the good news for my readers: Through grants, these memberships have become free of charge to eligible students!

BOOKSHARE:
"Bookshare® is free for all U.S. students with qualifying disabilities, thanks to an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs."

"Bookshare offers approximately 90,000 digital books, textbooks, teacher-recommended reading, periodicals and assistive technology tools."

LEARNING ALLY
"Formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic®"

"Titles from major publishers for K-12, college and professionals."

"DAISY format offers figure descriptions for subjects like math & science."

*****

You can read, on their websites, who qualifies and how to document the disability. If your student is already signed up to borrow free digital books from the Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind, you won't need new documentation for either of these organizations.

P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Homeschool Planning

This morning I wrote a blog post at my main blog, Margaret Mary Myers, about our homeschooling plans for the coming year. You are welcome to read it...by clicking on the link below this post.

Before you rush over to read it, I need to let you know that my son Peter is only legally blind and does do a lot of visual learning: using ZoomText (computer magnification), CCTV (video magnifier), and t.v. and movies. He uses a lot of different learning modes, knows Braille (if slowly), and scored high on auditory comprehension. But if we were pushed into a corner to say what his primary reading medium would be, we would have to say "print".

With all this in mind, if you are interested, you are most welcome to read about our plans for the coming year. :)

http://margmary.blogspot.com/2009/07/plan-next-years-homeschooling-check.html



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Legally Blind Governor Steps Up

As some of you may have read, the man who will be sworn in as governor of New York on Monday is legally blind! Can you tell I'm excited about that?

You know, and I know, that we are not defined by our disabilities but by your abilities and motivations. But it's nice to let the world know!



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Special Math Program

I've heard good things about Math Windows.

These are "easy-to-use math teaching aids for blind, low vision, and learning disabled students".

Tiles are used on a tray to set up a problem the same way that a fully sighted student would set up a problem on paper. The tiles have both Nemeth Braille for the blind student and printed numerals for the sighted instructor.

I just learned about this program. My low vision high school son uses a video magnifier and a computer program for his math, so I probably won't look into this for him at this point. But I wanted to share this because it looks to me like a wonderful resource! I would have liked to have had this when my son was younger. It looks like it can grow with the student, too, from early grades all the way through Algebra.



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Blindhomeschoolers - Which Group is Which?

"The Wild West" is how some people have described the internet...a lawless frontier. Of course, the internet is also an information and networking superhighway. Personally, I don't know where we would be today without all the wonderful people I have met through the internet!

The Yahoo groups for homeschooling blind children are an example of that dichotomy. Two groups exist with almost the same name, yet one is the superhighway and the other is a lawless frontier. How did this come about?

In 1998, Debbie Day founded the blindhomeschoolers group. When she changed her email address some years down the road, she found herself unable to get into the system to moderate the group or make any changes. After many attempts to get in touch with Yahoo and correct this, she moved the group to another address in 2004.

The newer group (which is really the old group, actively moderated, along with lots of new voices) is called Blindhomeschooler - with NO s on the end. If you want nothing but spam (sometimes x-rated spam), join the old abandoned group that ends in an s. But, if you want to join some wonderful people to learn and network about homeschooling a blind or visually impaired child, or about being blind or visually impaired and homeschooling one's children, please join us. You can find the group on the web here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blindhomeschooler/
Or send a blank email to this address:
Blindhomeschooler-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Just remember that you are ONE Blindhomeschooler (or considering becoming one blindhomeschooler). Because you are one, you want to network with others, each one with something unique to share, one blindhomeschooler touching another, touching another. "Blindhomeschooler" in the singular tense, with no s on the end, is the one you want. (You can also find the address at any time in the sidebar of this blog.)

Join us today. We would be happy to have you!

NOTE: Added later. The old group has finally been successfully deleted.



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Homeschool Co-op

This year, Peter and I have been participating in a homeschool enrichment co-op. He takes music, art, Latin, P.E. and a few other subjects. The neat thing is that he is learning to advocate for himself. I told the teachers about his special needs before the school year began, but he keeps in touch with his teachers and classmates, sometimes by email, sometimes in person, telling them specifically how they can meet his needs. The teachers have been so helpful, and he and they are so proud of his accomplishments; and he is making wonderful new friends this way, as well, as he works with other students, side by side, on this one day a week.

If you can join anything like this, I highly recommend it.

If you are reading this at the blog, and would like to receive it as an email so you know when something new is posted, please sign up at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/viphomeschooler/



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Free Microsoft Accessibility CD

I'm not sure this would be helpful for those using screen readers or screen magnification, but for people with low vision who use large print, this free CD from Microsoft offers demos and tutorials on accessibility. After you order, they say it takes 6 weeks for delivery.

http://www.microsoft.com/enable/cd/default.aspx



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Test-Taking Tips

Have you ever wondered how to prepare your children to take tests? As homeschoolers, the need for test-taking might not be as frequent; but it's every bit as important.

Carla Ruschival, from her many years of experience in the educational field, offers a page of invaluable tips to help prepare our children for both multiple choice and true-and-false forms of testing.

You can read her credentials at this page, as well as find the links to this helpful information:
http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/carla40206





P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Book For Children with Low Vision!

At last! Here is a positive book for children with low vision, All children have different eyes, Learn to play and make friends, by Edie A. Glaser, a writer who has lived with low vision since infancy, and Dr. Maria Burgio, Ph. D., a child and family specialist.

Low vision children dribble, skate and hopscotch their way across the pages, as they model upbeat responses to difficult social situations. These cheerful children confidently explain their eye conditions in simple words. They demonstrate, in a natural way, how to join the fun, answer questions about their needs, ask for help, and show leadership.

Parents and teachers will find a chart in the back of the book which lists the social competency skills demonstrated, along with activities to help children, particularly 4 to 8 year olds, to learn these social skills.

”The eyes are beautiful!” my neighbor said when she saw the book. Doina Paraschiv, the illustrator, has made all the pictures very attractive and endearing.

You really have to see this beautiful book for yourself to appreciate it. You can order the book online, or print a form to mail in your order, at this website:
http://www.vidipress.com/allkids/store.php



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Parenting Children with Multiple Disabilities

If you have - or someone you know has - a child who is blind or visually impaired along with one or more other disabilities, Hadley School for the Blind has a new course just for you, Parenting Children with Multiple Disabilities. "This course is designed for family members of children with visual impairment and one or more other disabilities."

Hadley courses are all done by correspondence and are all free of charge if you are visually impaired, a family member of a visually impaired person or a person who works in the blindness field.

You can check out this new course by going here and scrolling down to For Family Education Students.

If you are reading this at the blog, and would like to receive it as an email so you know when something new is posted, please sign up at:
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P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Preparing for the New School Year

If you do high school - or even if you don't - you might enjoy my mission statement that I posted at my primary blog: http://margmary.blogspot.com/2007/08/mission-statement-for-our-high-school.html Although parts of it were directed particularly to high school, much of it was part of my mission all through the years. After all, we enjoy their childhood with them, but raise them to be adults.

I also posted seven ways that I'm preparing for the new school year here: http://margmary.blogspot.com/2007/08/preparing-for-new-school-year.html. Although these postings were not specifically regarding visual impairment, they do apply to homeschooling (and of course, one of my two that I'll be homeschooling for high school this year is legally blind). If anyone would like to share ways that they prepare for a new school year (for any age level), please share in the comments.

If you are reading this at the blog, and would like to receive it as an email so you know when something new is posted, please sign up at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/viphomeschooler/



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Harry Potter in Braille

Did you know that National Braille Press has made the 7th Harry Potter book available in Braille at the same time that the print book becomes available? An article about this popped up on my Yahoo features this morning at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070718/ap_en_ot/harry_potter_braille

This is the address for National Braille Press: http://www.nbp.org/



P.S. If you are receiving this message as an email, you can read this post and others in a blog format at the following blog link. If you are reading at the blog, and would like to know when new posts appear, you can join the e-newsletter "group" through the second link: http://viphs.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/viphomeschooler/

Test Post #2

Please bear with me (for those who have this coming into your inbox). A link grabbed the "If" following it and wouldn't link, so I'm trying again. I promise I won't do any more testing today, regardless of the results.



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/
If you are reading this at the blog, and would like to receive it as an email so you know when something new is posted, sign up at:
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Test Post

Test Post. Please pardon the inconvenience.



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read the post in a blog format, or read past posts, at http://viphs.blogspot.com
If you are reading this at the blog, and would like to receive it as an email so you know when something new is posted, you can sign up at:
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Editor's Note

I'm chagrined that when a post goes out through the VIP Homeschooler Yahoo group to your inbox, all the formatting is lost. There go any paragraphs or lists. I also need to find a way that you can easily go from that email message to the actual blog, if you would like to read the post there (it looks much nice there than in an email. smile). Actually, after getting out my magnifying glass (just kidding), I found out that my little addition to include that information did work, but it's in tiny print after everything else. I am going to try to find a better way. Not sure how well this will work, though. (smile).

So...when I get time to do a bit of experimenting with this, please "pardon my dust". And thanks for your patience!

By the way, for those who don't know, when I say "VIP Homeschooler Yahoo group", that is a "group" used solely for the purpose of sending these posts out like a newsletter. However, if you'd like to participate more actively, you are most welcome to post comments at the blog. As a matter of fact, I would love it if you'd like to share.

If you want to have the blog posts sent to your inbox, so that you know when there is a new post, you can send a blank email to:
viphomeschooler-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Or you can sign up at the group webpage:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/viphomeschooler/

For those who are receiving this post into your inbox, here is the web address for the blog itself:
http://viphs.blogspot.com

High School Credits

When you plan your child's home high school curriculum, you will want to know what courses are required.

If you are preparing a high school program that is not college-preparatory, you will want to find out what's required in your particular state...unless you are using a correspondence course that issues a diploma, and then, of course, you can follow their program.

Here's a somewhat typical high school curriculum:
English - 4 units
Social Sciences - 3 units
Math - 3 units (may include bookkeeping, accounting, consumer math, as well as Algebra or Geometry courses)
Science - 3 units
P.E. and health - 1 unit
Electives to bring the total to 21 or 22 units

Hadley School for the Blind does issue a diploma, and their program requires the following credits for graduation:
English - 3 units
Science - 2 1/2 units
Math - 1 1/2 units
Social Studies - 2 units
Electives - 7 units
Total of 16 units

The Hadley high school program, as you can see, if not college preparatory, but it might be a viable option for someone who struggles academically and just wants a diploma, for example for students with some types of multiple disabilities.

If there is any possibility that your child may pursue a college education, check into the specific colleges that are in your local area, or that your child may be interested in, to find out what credits are required.

Here is a somewhat typical example of a college preparatory program for high school:
English - 4 units
Social Sciences - 3 units (of which one must be American history)
Math - 3 units (must include Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry)
Science - 3 units (of which one or two must include lab work)
Foreign Language - 2 units
Electives to bring the total to 21 or 22 units

Some of the requirements vary from one college to another; for example, some colleges require two years of foreign language...but some smaller colleges do not. Some require a year of performing arts or art appreciation of some type. Also, if your child is planning on a math or science major, an additional, more advanced math course may be required, such as trigonometry or calculus.

Curriculum Planning - High School

"What about algebra...and chemistry?" parents sometimes ask themselves when considering homeschooling at the high school level. And I don't mean only parents whose children have special needs. I mean homeschooling parents in general.

Do you need a college education to teach high school? Let me just reassure you that I don't have a college education...and I've graduated four kids from homeschool high school and all have been accepted into college. My kids were invited into the honors program, on the honor roll in college, or given a scholarship. Now, at the moment, I'm not talking about blind or visually impaired children, just about homeschooling in general. My visually impaired son Peter is just beginning high school this coming fall. But I know I can do it, I know he can do it; and I believe you can do it too, if you and your child feel called to do this and you are willing to learn.

Is that "willing to learn" scary? Does that mean we have to learn algebra and chemistry (or whatever subjects are difficult for us)? Maybe; maybe not. Can your spouse teach it? Can you hire a tutor? Can your student handle a co-op class or community college class? Can you use a self-teaching program and just help a little without total mastery of the material on your part?

Once you decide you want to homeschool for high school, you will want to plan your curriculum. Does your daughter want to go to college? If she doesn't right now, might she change her mind later? Might she be able to "make the grade"? If not university, might she consider a vocational school or technical school or community college program?

Or does your son have additional disabilities severe enough that he would just be doing well to get through high school? This will make a difference in the program you decide on. If your ultimate educational goal for your child is a high school education, you might want to use the Hadley program...or use another program geared for just getting through high school. Or you could find out the minimums for high school for your state or district and use those to make up your own program. (You can usually find this on the web).

If college is a possibility, even remotely, you'll want to look into what colleges require for entrance. Although there is some variation, much of it is the same from one college to another.

Then you can set up a flexible plan for the coming four years (if your child struggles or has setbacks, you can take more than four years if you need it).

Now I'd like to ask if you'd like to help out here, if you have blind or visually impaired children getting ready for high school, in high school, or having graduated from high school. Could you share in the comments section a little about what your plans are or what's worked for you? It can be as short or as long as you'd like. Thanks so much.

The Month of June

My plan for this blog had been to post at least once weekly. In June this just didn't happen. And that meant that I had started writing about curriculum planning and then left you hanging on that; I'm sorry. I hope to get back to the curriculum subject very soon.

June was a busy month. We had our newly-blind college son Paul here for a visit from Kentucky. Getting him here was a challenge because our flight got delayed, and in order to get him back my husband finally decided to drive. If you're interested, you can read about Paul's visit here:
http://margmary.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-about-trip-to-pick-up-paul.html
http://margmary.blogspot.com/2007/06/getting-paul-home.html

I've been rather anxious about him getting services, but it looks like it's finally going to happen:
http://margmary.blogspot.com/2007/06/mcdowell-rehabilitation-center.html

After Paul got back home, I had a Catholic homeschool conference to prepare for, where I had volunteered to be on a panel for homeschooling special needs - hoping there would be parents of blind or visually impaired children present to talk with. Although there might not be, I still wanted to be prepared. The speaker coordinator had told me she'd like me to help, regardless, since I know how to homeschool while overcoming obstacles...like you, probably, if you're reading this. So I gave a brief "You can do it" introduction of myself and then helped answer questions.

All of this, along with some concerns for my father who lives across the country, have meant that blogging here just didn't happen. Please bear with me and I will try to post on more curriculum topics soon.

Planning Curriculum - Science

For high school science, I am so happy that the textbook series we love offers many of their books read orally on MP3 CD's for an additional $15.00. An MP3 CD is different from the MP3 that you might normally think of. It's a disc, just like a CD, but it holds more and can be tracked more easily from chapter to chapter. Some CD players can play an MP3 CD (but not all can). When we were last in the market for a new one, an MP3 CD player was not all that expensive. However, you can also simply play an MP3 CD on your computer's CD Rom drive. The high school science series that works for us is a teachable, creationist set of textbooks written specifically for homeschool families by Dr. Jay Wile. I see that Dr. Wile has also written books for 7th and 8th grade now. You can learn more about all of these books at the Apologia Press website:
http://apologia.securesites.net/store/

The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired offers a number of science resources at their website: http://www.tsbvi.edu/Education/index.htm#Subject

For elementary age students there are a number of textbooks on the homeschool market. But alternatively we might read good science books from the library (and have our child listen to tapes from the Library of Congress, National Library Service).

Nature walks and home science experiments are particularly good for capturing the interest of children, who usually learn better about the real world around them than just from reading a book. They can feel the textures of different leaves, feel the different textures under their feet, hear the sounds of nature.

Thanks to the TSBVI site, I discovered a website which gives a number of ideas for learning to appreciate science with other senses than visual. This includes a neat page where you can play the sound of different types of birds, each one identified and described. I highly recommend exploring this website: http://www.nhest.org/nonvis.html

You can download a free Teacher's Manual for Adapting Science Experiments for Blind and Visually Impaired Students, by going here: http://www.tsbvi.edu/Education/Manual2.doc