My Experience on Hospital Homebound

Hospital homebound is a program most, if not all, schools have for when a student is too sick to attend class for an extended period of time. I have been on hospital homebound twice, once in third grade and and again my senior year of high school.

In third grade, I had my life-saving spinal surgery and could not go back to school for a long period of time. In fact, I could not really get in my wheelchair much, and spent most of my time in my bed. Since this was a planned surgery, the homebound was planned and everyone was prepared. I bought a Nickelodeon slime design HP computer and was told how I would do school work from home. A paraprofessional would come out to my house two or three times a week (I cannot remember which) and would teach me the same thing my peers were learning, except I would be in my bed. The paraprofessional would also leave me work to get done by the next time she comes to the house. I do not know exactly how long I was on hospital homebound for this time, because I was young and had so much going on.

My senior year of high school, I had to go on hospital homebound again. However, this time it was unexpected. I became sick and missed about a week and a half or two week before my doctor suggested hospital homebound. During that time, I was going to my high school after school ended and picking up work. I believe I had pneumonia and since my disability makes me weaker, I was too weak to recover. So, unexpectedly, I began having a paraprofessional come to my house two days a week. Luckily, the classes I had were easy, so I did everything ahead of schedule. The paraprofessional would essentially be there to proof read my essays and monitor me while I do a test. At one point, once I was feeling some better, I went to the school to talk with my teachers directly and one was very rude - a long story that I may tell on Instagram one day! I will say, however, my paraprofessional got onto him as soon as I told her! She was not going to let it slide!

Overall, I am very grateful that this program is in place for students who do not want to fail, but are too sick to be in-person. I imagine that going virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic made things easier for those on hospital homebound now.

Have you ever heard of Hospital Homebound?