Five years ago, I was deep in my doctoral dissertation, when it became increasingly obvious that the traditional school environment was not working for my daughter.
“How could I be so committed to education when my own daughter was not thriving?”
I felt like a hypocrite trying to help everyone else’s kids when my own child was miserable. I was spending 2 hours a day, literally re-teaching her everything she was supposed to be learning in class, but because of how ADHD/dyslexic brain was wired, she simply could not retain the skills… and it was at 7-9pm, when she and I were both exhausted. We were not thriving: I knew we had to make a change. Click here for more about our homeschooling story.
The process of becoming a home educator was overwhelming even as a professional educator with doctoral level training – sifting through the multitudes of curriculums and programs on top of balancing a small tutoring business. I felt like we tried so many curriculums that simply did not work for my daughter’s learning profile. At that point, even as a seasoned teacher, I didn’t even know what her profile was exactly. It was not until I did a full psychoeducational evaluation through The Center for Health Learning and Achievement when I felt I truly understand how much child learned. And, in time, we found what worked for her and helped her thrive thanks to the guidance from the specialists at the CHLA.
A few months into homeschooling, my graduate school shut down unexpectedly then the following month, the world shut down due to Covid. Friends knew I had just recently gone through the homeschooling decision, and my daughter was thriving again. They turned to me to help them through the decisions and processes. That’s how Deborah Kline Consulting started.
Since 2020, I have grown to absolutely love helping parents and educators better understand and navigate each child’s unique learning journey, equipping and empowering them to be their child’s number one advocate and educational facilitator!
Professionally, I was inspired by the ever-changing needs of learners with neurological differences (ASD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Gifted, etc) as a young teacher which led to over a decade of graduate work and personal practice – researching best practices and developing practical instructional and behavioral strategies. I earned my M.Ed. in Teaching and Learning and an Ed.S. in Instructional Leadership focused on teaching neurodiverse students. Currently, I am earning another Ed.S. at UCF, this time for a School Psychologist license to provide comprehensive evaluations for learning difference diagnosis as well as guidance for my clients!
I am actively training in as many evaluations and resources as I can provide to equip parent educators with the information, tools, programs they need for their child(ren)’s successful learning!
With over 20 years of experience teaching a wide variety of learners (ages 3-adult) in multifarious venues (classroom, tutoring, children’s ministry, and homeschooling), – in addition to my intimate experiences of teaching my own beautiful children diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, and a myriad of other disorders – I offer support and practical tools for improving learning environments both in home and classroom education.
For home educators: As a Florida state-certified K-12 multi-subject teacher, I am a Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) and Personalized Education Plan (PEP) direct-pay provider annual portfolio and/or norm-referenced test evaluator.
Testimonials…
“Before talking to Deborah, I talked to friends and family from the public education world and homeschooling world and got such a dizzying variety of opinions, philosophies, and advice. Good advice but a lot to hold together. It was at this point I consulted Deborah. I was able to talk to her about our unique goals of our family and how we can navigate this year… Deborah gave us different options of how to treat curriculums that could be used for all three girls and how we might best individualize this for the learning styles of each child. I was also given references to work with during the year as guideposts for our goal of readying them for the next school year in public school. It was a consultation that very much equipped me for our next steps in this homeschooling journey. It was a relief to have her to talk to. She was able to speak pragmatically about both public school and homeschooling. I’m planning on keeping Deborah on my resource list as we encounter new challenges down the road.”
~Caroline, home educator
“I used Deborah Kline recently for our first ever homeschool evaluation. She was very responsive and easy to work with. She is very knowledgeable about homeschooling and her passion for what she does was evident.”
~Tania, home educator
“This is my first time homeschooling and also being evaluated. Deborah was really kind to us, on time, genuinely interested in those great memories in our homeschooling journey. Right after the evaluation she was very quick to email me the next steps to submit the evaluation. A couple of days later she followed up with me via email and shared many more great suggestions for our next year. I definitely recommend her and will use her services again.”
~Alexis, home educator
“Mrs. Kline has consistently been an advocate for me and my growth as a teacher. Her unique experiences with children of differing learning abilities, her innovative uses of technology to teach virtually, and her entrepreneurial spirit mix with her initiative, care, and devotion create an unmatchable combination beneficial to the successes of her students, family, and colleagues.”
~Jaci, Music Educator
“I am completely new to the world of home schooling. My initial impression was overwhelm and fear of the unknown. Through my educator advocate, Deb was referred to me to help explore the best options for my son to finish third grade – 12 weeks left in the school year. Deb has been a comforting sounding board during this unexpected major transition from private schools to home schooling. Deb is a wealth of knowledge and resources. Deb is very attentive and detailed oriented. She is a wonderful source of best practices and advice. I immediately felt a weight lifted after our initial conversation. I highly recommend Deb to anyone who is considering homeschooling or who is curiously to learn more.”
~Sandra, home educator
Deborah Kline, EdS 