I plan on homeschooling my newly-diagnosed ADHD 10YO son for the 2012/2013 school year. I will be soliciting advice regarding curricula. Thanks!
I recommend following along Ambleside Online for curriculum. I love Charlotte Mason's methods of teaching. She recommends short lessons for each subject. That works really well with my 10 year old son... here's the link to the website www.AmblesideOnline.org
Welcome aboard! I always point newbies first to the HSLDA website and then to google about learning styles. For my likely-ADD kiddo, the hardest subjects are language arts. We've found that mostly oral subjects are helpful, visual aids included, with a bit of tactile thrown in there (since he isn't an auditory learner). Short lessons - I agree, look up Charlotte Mason for "short lesson" info! Also, spelling on a trampoline. Lessons not in a chair but possibly on an exercise ball, or even upside-down on the couch - it's OKAY!!! Give them something in their hands to do while they listen to reading lessons, etc. All I can think of off the top of my head, and just general advice there. Can't wait to get to know you!
Thanks everyone! Right now I'm just looking for math. My son is great in LA. He struggled in math this past year, and had a really horrible teacher. He learned very little this year, so I want to remediate him a bit this summer to get him caught up. He can work for about 15 minutes or so, and then he's ready to move onto something physical. He needs a lot of redirection. He actually asked to be homeschooled this year, so I hope we're successful. I interviewed our charter school (through the county board of education), and they're supportive and want parents to have a lot of choice. They provide weekly enrichment on site for all of the homeschoolers in their program. We have an extra bedroom that can be used as a schoolroom. My husband will make us a dry-erase board. My son has a behavioral modification plan, and homeschooling will enable me to maintain continuity between home and 'school.'
Welcome to the spot! Buy math manipulatives! I also 2nd HSLDA-it's more than worth the $10/mo membership! And my advice is research several different educational approaches before you buy any curriculum. There are so many other options than traditional texbook/school-at-home. If you're pulling your child out of PS becuase PS isnt' working, don't try to recreate a PS classroom in your home! PS wasn't a good fit for my son and I tried to do school-at-home for all of 2 seconds before I realized that was silly! LOL We unschooled, did a few unit studies and lapbooks and this year we're using AmblesideOnline cause I agree with a lot of what Charlotte Mason had to say about children and education.
We use MEP for our math. It's free and online. http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm We make each lesson as long or as short as needed.
