homeschooling ADD/LD kids

Nancy,

We’ve been homeschooling for several years now, and overall the experience has been wonderful. That does not mean that things always go smoothly or that the kids always cheerfully do what I ask, but even if the school two blocks from our house was perfect, I think we’d keep homeschooling.

Developing a working relationship with your child is critical for homeschooling success, and if your daughter is strong willed, that may take extra effort on your part. Of course, you won’t be able to help her with homework, science projects, etc. without a working relationship, so this isn’t just a homeschooling issue. You’re job may be doubly difficult because she’s likely to filter everything through those messages she’s been getting for a while. No child likes to be told “This is harder than I realized- I think we’d better do some more practice with double digit multiplication tomorrow”, but she’s likely to interperet that as just one more message that she’s not good enough.

The good news is that homeschooling provides you a great opportunity to help her start to honestly accept both her strengths and weaknesses, to discover how to use her strengths, and still put some effort into improving weaker areas. If she works better by taking a short break to stretch and move around every 15 minutes, then she can do that. If handwriting is a struggle, then you can spend a short time each day working on handwriting (or even just fine motor skills), and do most of the rest of your work orally. Even if you are using a workbook, there’s no law that says she has to fill in all the answers in her own handwriting. Later, when her handwriting and motor skills are up to the challenge, she can gradually take on more and more written work.

The first step in developing a good working relationship is to talk with her and find out what she really likes or dislikes. You can also tell her what things you want her to work on, then you can work out a tentative plan. Try it for 4 weeks, then decide what changes you want to make. We usually follow a schedule, but it changes on a regular basis as our needs change. If you want to try out homeschooling this summer, then I’d suggest doing a unit study on a subject she is especially interested in. Read aloud from short books on the subject, do a couple of hands on projects, watch a video, go on a field trip. Just try it for 2 or 3 weeks, but set aside a regular time each day to do your unit study. This should give both of you an idea of what homeschooling will be like, and help you decide if you think you will be able to work together day in and day out.

Hope this helps.

Jean

Thanks so much for your thoughts. It gives me more to think about.

YOu’ve gotten great advice :) There are some links and articles about homeschooling LD/ADHD kids on my site at www.resourceroom.net, including links to parents’ sites.

Nancy, I’ve been home schooling my add/ld child for 2 yrs. He has grown emotionally and academically. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible for him to have learned so much in 2 yrs. If you can find your child’s gifts and teach to her gift, she will like school and learn much more readily. I cna’t imagine my child back in ps. He would probably be failing when in fact he is doing 2-3 grade levels above his grade. That is another Plus about homeshooling. You can give them the work they are ready for and to heck with the grade. Don’t let your daughter get caught in the trap of ps. They will always insist that she WRITE— Oral doesn’t get in school! We have our ups and downs but Michael realizes how much more he is accomplishing by home schooling. E mail me if you need a shoulder or if you just need some help. Jan

Nancy - I struggled with the should we, shouldn’t we homeschool issue for years, all the while cleaning up the damage caused to my son by “well meaning” public servants. My son was on meds through elementary, yet at every meeting I pointed out (his teachers in agreement) that meds never helped improve his writing, speed or organization. Meds kept him still. What homeschooling has confirmed is that my son needs to move or at least tap, shift, etc. in order to learn most comfortably and effectively. He also is better reclining or laying when he thinks and writes. This is fine with me. He practices keyboarding 15 minutes a day and is required to write his name and date on top of all papers. He’s free to tell me what he knows and we modify all his written work unless he wants to complete it in full. Some of these accommodations were recommended by school occupational therapists and the good folks at Kennedy Krieger where he was evaluated for LD. I am confident now this is the best possible learning environment for him. I am also confident that he will find his way in the adult world and will find a job and lifestyle that is suited to his strengths and weaknesses.

Thank you all so much for your input and resources. It helps a lot.

Just to add some reinforcement. My homeschooling mentor just learned her son is ADD. He’s in graduate school, and a brilliant conductor. He found he was having trouble memorizing all the piano pieces he needed to. Was finally diagnosed as ADD. Began taking meds which helped and which he’s been able to cut down after about 6 mos. The kicker is since she homeschooled him and let him learn the way he did best (Which usually involved becoming obsessed with one topic doing it nonstop until he’d mastered it and then going on to somthing else- she said it was like watching a puppy worrying a slipper until it’s in tatters.) no one knew he had a problem until he was well into the academic world. He found his own way.