ABOUT THE EXPERT BEHIND THE GUIDANCE

Special education experience, grounded in real homeschool life.

Suzie Dalien, M.Ed., is a certified special education teacher who taught in middle- and high-school classrooms. For more than a decade, her work has focused on learning and emotional disabilities. She co-founded Special Ed Resource and now brings both professional experience and lived experience as a homeschool mother supporting a child with complex learning needs.

Special education teacher and homeschool parent reviewing a child-centered learning plan

Why this site exists

Families often leave a difficult school experience with a thick folder of records but no practical system for educating at home. SpecialEdHomeschooling.com exists to help parents turn complex questions into manageable next steps—without pretending that one curriculum, schedule, or service fits every child.

Our editorial promise

  • We separate educational planning from legal, medical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and funding decisions.
  • We use official sources when rules, services, or public funding may change.
  • We identify when self-directed tools are appropriate and when a qualified professional is the better next step.
  • We protect family privacy and do not ask parents to submit student records through general marketing forms.
  • We revise guidance when better evidence or current program information becomes available.

How our support options differ

Homeschool Momentum supports families actively educating at home. IEP Momentum is a separate resource for families whose children remain in public school and are navigating an IEP. Special Ed Resource tutoring provides direct academic instruction when a child needs more than parent planning tools.

What expert review means here

Expert review does not mean that an article can diagnose a child, interpret a family’s state law, approve a scholarship purchase, or replace an individualized professional evaluation. It means the educational guidance has been checked for clarity, practical usefulness, respectful language, and appropriate boundaries by someone with relevant classroom and homeschool experience.

When a page discusses changing rules or public programs, it should link to the responsible agency and show when the source was last checked. When a page discusses learning needs, it should distinguish a parent support strategy from medical or therapeutic treatment.

The principle behind the work

A label can help explain a support need, but it should not define a child’s future. Children learn in different ways, at different rates, and with different access needs. The job of a useful homeschool plan is to make learning more reachable while preserving dignity, curiosity, and family capacity.

That commitment also means being honest about limits. Some families need a planning tool. Others need an evaluator, therapist, physician, attorney, program administrator, or skilled instructor. Useful guidance helps a parent recognize the difference and reach the right source sooner.

Start with the parent guide