I would like some advice. I have a son in 8th grade who has ADD.
This year, as every year, he is having problems. He doesn’t seem to have much interest in school and his self esteem has been damaged over the years. I am considering homeschooling him. I work full time and can not quit my job to do this. Are there any of you who have homeschooled your children and worked full time too? Is their anyone who could give me advice on where to look for materials to teach my son? Some of his grading scores are not up to 8th grade levels. Would you send for material to teach him at a lower level or strictly 8th grade level? ….Help!
Re: Advice on homeschooling an ADD child
Dear Ms. Tonya,
Since you did not mention it, has an IEP being completed by the school district?
As with other learning disabilities, your son may very well has another learning problem (undiagnosed).
More and more studies show that medication alone is not the answer; a behavior modification therapy needs to be implemented.
Is he going to counseling? Are both of you going to counseling?
Does he have reading problems? If he does, let me recommend The Wilson Program.You can request it to the school.
You can always request an intervention meeting.Usually the school counselor, the homeroom teacher and any other teacher will be present in such
a meeting. The school psychologist and the special education teacher do not get involve until an IEP is underway.
I am currently homeschooling my younger son and my oldest one is in HS. Let me tell you something that others may not tell you
right away. HOMESCHOOLING REQUIRES A LOT OF PREPARATION AND PLANNING. Considering the age of your son
and his ADD, being alone at home while you are working sounds like a risky idea. But, if you would like to explore it, contact your local
homeschool association and talk to them. Sometimes there are families who have joined together to homeschool and may accept a student
for a fee. Also, contact your local ADD support group.
Do not get discourage! Seek and you shall find!
Peace to you in Christ,
wanda
I haven’t homeschooled in this situation, but others have. I think there is a bulletin board specifically for this situation over at http://www.vegsource.com (you have to scroll down to find the homeschooling area).
As for curriculum materials, what works best is to hand-pick them for where your child is now and work from there. A lot of homeschooling is trial-and-error on curriculum materials, because what works great for one child or family may not work for another.
My daughter is not ADD, but dyslexic (probably with some resulting symptoms of ADD). What I have found works to create efficient learning are (1) keeping lessons short, requiring her in return to pay 100% attention, and (2) finding exactly the right curriculum materials.
For what it’s worth (my dd is in 5th grade, so don’t know how much will apply to 8th grade), the following have worked really well for us:
Easy Grammar (not Daily Grams) at http://www.easygrammar.com
Megawords (vocabulary, reading fluency, spelling)
Sequential Spelling (and have heard their keyboarding program is good also) from http://www.avko.org
Singapore Math from http://www.singaporemath.com
I would also recommend going to http://www.rainbowresource.com and emailing them for a copy of their printed catalog. This is a goldmine of curriculum resources for homeschooling, and their prices are among the best available (I get Megawords from them).
There are also free curriculum websites. http://www.migrant.org is one of them. A student can work through these curriculums on the computer. You can find out more by asking on the vegsource bulletin boards.
Mary