My homeschooled son is only taking two outside once-a-week co-op classes, one of them a writing composition class. Before he started taking this class I could not get him to write very much. I would sometimes peek at the answers he wrote when people asked video game or computer related questions online and I could see that he was good at that kind of writing, and people often rated his answers "best answer" but I didn't know if he could do creative writing. When he was younger he verbally told me some pretty good stories that he made up, but I didn't know if he would ever get to the point where he could get them on paper. He can, if he types. I think he likes this class even though he complains that his teacher assigns too much work. She identifies herself as a nerd and said she loved to read dictionaries as a child, just like my son. I feel we are very lucky to have found this teacher.
I do think his dad's interest in his writing helps my son get through late nights when he is finishing papers that must be turned in the next morning. A little problem with procrastination and several days of migraine headaches make it more difficult for him to meet deadlines, but he is doing it and he is motivated to earn that A or A+. He has not made anything less than an A since the class started even though he was diagnosed with dysgraphia and dyspraxia and migraines and the scoliosis brace he has to wear causes pain. I sometimes let him take it off before he goes to this class so he can concentrate. He is also going through more tests to see what is causing his mild muscle weakness and foot pain, so he is dealing with some anxiety also. On days when he has a doctor's appointment he doesn't get anything done because he has trouble concentrating. His next test is an EMG and some people say it is painful, some people say it is not and he has always been more sensitive to pain.
My husband reads every night, and then talks about what he read the next day. He encourages my son to tell him about the books he is reading. He sometimes asks our son history questions, vocabulary questions, math questions and my husband seems happy when our son knows the answer. I think this is probably a big motivator for my son.
I don't know how successful my son would be in all day public school even with parental involvement. He would have to miss a lot of school. The brace would be a big problem. The migraines would be very difficult.
He recently had to write a paper for his composition class titled The Best Mistake I Ever Made. He wrote that his best mistake was not taking the time to color in the lines in kindergarten because it is the reason we started homeschooling and he went on to describe why homeschooling was so much better than public school for him. He got an A on the paper and his teacher's comment was "Interesting!"
