Our 6th grade son was recently diagnosed with ADD. Beginning to homeschool him again I now wonder about some of the curriculum's I am considering. To give you a little information about him, he could be on the computer 24 hours a day as well as play any hand held game for the same amount of time. He is an excellent speller, but falls behind in the area of comprehension. He drifts when he is sometimes challenged academically or otherwise, and does not grasp or retain new math concepts easily. We are leaning towards more computer base programs, but would like to use books for Math and Language arts. Anyone with experience with an ADD child that could provide input as to what programs works/worked with your son/daughter is appreciated. Thanks!
For ADD/ADHD, it is best to hold off on the computer work until after the other work is done. It has to do with the way the brain reacts to the light flickers of the monitor and screens and such. No TV before school. In fact, thing involving a light going at his eyes (tv, computer monitors) should happen after all other work is done. This will reduce his symptoms. Then of course, the reward of doing the computer stuff will be waiting for when he is done with the first part and that will help him get through the morning.
Great advice. When I had hs'ed before the kids had Bible an LA before they were able to use the computer based programs, I had no idea this was a better approach then letting them on the cpu first. This makes really good sense. Thanks!
You sound like you've read up on the topic. Do you have a good source (book/website) with other tips for reducing the symptoms of ADD?
Just the other day I mentioned www.headsupnow.com Anyone with a special needs child can benefit from this site, especially one with ADD/ADHD. And she's a homeschooler, so she knows how to make it relate to homeschooling moms.
Jackie, Thank you for sharing that site! My 8 year old son is ADHD & I'm sure that site will be helpful. Oh & I'm also taking a look around your site...interesting stuff!
Thanks! It's very much a work in progress. Unfortunately, I really don't have time to develop it properly!
Both my kids, Kinder & 6th grade, have ADHD. My dh & I also have it. For Math: We love Teaching Textbooks We also liked the Key To... series. The Key To series has workbook sets for each topic - Measurement, Metric Measurement, Decimals, Fractions, Percents, Algebra & Geometry. They're for 4th-12th grade. My dd is advanced in Math, did 2 of the workbooks at the end of 3rd, then did all the rest (except Algebra & Geometry) in 4th. We decided we wanted to go with something else for Algebra & Geometry, so we switched to Teaching Textboks Pre-Algebra in 5th. Having workbooks for each topic means it's less overwhelming for the child. Instead of this big, thick textbook, there's thin workbooks that they get to work through at their own pace. Also, they get to spend more time on a concept, meaning more chance of mastery. The workbooks are black & white - no colorful pictures to distract the easily distracted child. For Language Arts: We don't do regular Spelling/Vocab - where they get a list & test each week. We tried that with dd for a while, but it didn't work for us. She'd do great on the assignments & ace the test, but when using the words in writing assignments the next week she'd misspell or misuse the words. Now, We have a notebook. On the top of each page is written a Greek or Latin root or prefix. Each day, she's given one word. She has to look the word up, write the definition & part of speech in her notebook dictionary (under the correct root/prefix), and use the word as much as possible in conversation & writing. This seems to be working better for us. We use Writing Strands for Writing. It tells her what her assignment is each day, breaking each assignment into smaller chunks. I let her do her writing on the computer, because she does better with it that way. Writing is her weak point. It's very common for people with ADHD to have difficulty with writing because of the way our minds work. There's so much going on up there that it's hard to put it all down on paper & have it in an order that makes sense to other people. Using the computer is faster (meaning it keeps up with the brain better), and is easier to make corrections, rearrange words, etc. This year for Grammar, we're using Power Basics Basic English (6th-12th). I don't have any problems with it so far. Power Basics textbooks are pretty streamlined. They don't have excessive examples or unneccessary info. They're very straight to the point, which makes them easier to use with my dd. For reading, well I've never really used a reading program with dd. She was reading before she went to ps kinder, so I just continued to nurture her love of reading. I let her read pretty much whatever she wants. Each school year I have a few books I want her to read - either because they're related to what we're studying or their classics I think she should read. To keep her from getting moody about the required reading thing, she gets to read a book of her choosing in between the required reading reading books. To show comprehension, she gets to choose a project to do for each book. The projects could be pretty much anything - a book report, a book review, a comic strip based on a scence from the book, a news report or newspaper article about an event that happened in the book, a letter written from one of character to another, a poem or song about the book or an event or charcter from the book, a diarama of a scene in the book, etc. I also create study guides for her to do with some of the books. Giving her the option of what to do for comprehension allows her to have some control, to use her creativity, use her strengths, have fun with it, all while showing me that she really did understand the book. We also like to watch a movie based on the book, after reading the book, to compare the movie to the book. That also helps show comprehension. Some basic tips/hints on hsing with ADHD: Find the study environment that works best for him. Some people need silence, some need noise; some need to be sitting at a table or desk, some work better curled up on the couch; some need brightly lit room, some prefer it a little darker. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to this, find what works best for him. Allow breaks for him to move around. Let him go play in the yard for 15-20 minutes between subjects. Have him do a chore between subjects. Just let him get up & move around to use that energy. Do hands-on projects & experiments. Nothing makes school more boring for a child with ADHD than having all work be textbook/workbooks. School was most interesting to me when I was in grade school & we did stuff like perfom skits; dissect owl pellets; dissect a cow eye; dissect a pig heart; use kleenex, a drinking straw, and tape to create something we could use to drop a raw egg from the top floor of the building without it breaking, etc. I'm sure I'll come up with more when I have a few minutes to think about it. I hope this helps.
