Is there anyone eles here that homeschool a child with ADHD?

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by Hsmom2bz, Dec 8, 2010.

  1. Hsmom2bz

    Hsmom2bz New Member

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    My son that is 11 years old is ADHD and I was wondering if there is other familys here with a child or children with ADHD. I would like to hear what you all do to get your child to focuse on lessons or deal with his/her out bursts.
     
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  3. TeacherMom

    TeacherMom New Member

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    Hsmom, my friend did, for several years he is now in mainstream school... ps.
    He is every letter you can add, she would make him run laps of the block, or do push ups when he was antsy needing the activity for disciplining etc. He is now in high school and is on a sport team that takes that energy and works it. Very bright child, still has his things to deal with though.
    Another friend hs her adhd child in ps, they give him an excersise ball to sit on while he works on book work. He can bounceit as we works and that helps a lot to keep him focused.
    One more thing I tried with my son who some thing he could be borderline , but I refuse to accept it its so mild if so, I gave him a cup of coffee with cream and sweetener. This focuses him warm cafine works, cold does not though so no sodas or iced tea! Just warm!
    It is amazing how well it works!
    I have to remember and try that today as we are so messed up with our schedule this week he may need some focus time!
     
  4. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    And be sure to visit www.HeadsUpNow.com I've plugged this site again and again, every time someone new comes along with ADHD issues. She's a homeschooling mom of three, two of whom are ADHD/ADD. I've heard her speak at workshops; she's a personal friend of my cousin. She's free with her advice, and has all kinds of products for sale that will make life easier. (But her advice is free, regardless of whether or not you buy anything!!!)
     
  5. ChelC

    ChelC New Member

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    Not ADHD, but we have a child who is extremely hyperactive (think manic) and doesn't even go to sleep without melatonin. He can concentrate when he wants to.

    His outbursts are violent, so we try our best to avoid them! We make sure he does some active outside play everyday, no matter the weather. I try to break up what we're doing... Some on the computer, some typical seat work, couch time, exercise time... So that no one stretch is the same for too long. We also give him a lighter load.

    Beyond that, we're struggling so I look forward to hearing more suggestions.
     
  6. Countrygal

    Countrygal New Member

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    Have schooled one with ADHD, especially the distractibility and outburst issues. Possibly ODD.

    We used Ritalin and it was a Godsend for us! However, when he turned 14 he stopped taking it - would hide it, fake it, etc. Of course, we could tell by behavior, but how do you force someone to physically do something they refuse to do?

    All you can do for anyone is give them the option to learn. The actual learning is their job.

    As to other helpful ideas - I guess the main thing I would say is don't let him become bored. Not too much paperwork. As much hands on with active involvement as is humanly possible. Be very creative! I used to have my son use a sand table to do his spelling, or a chalk board, and vary it every day. Sometimes we'd write in dirt outside or in cookie dough! I'd have him use magnetic letters, whatever we hadn't done lately in order to keep boredom at bay.

    I think that is my best suggestion based on the experience of having "been there, done that, got the tee-shirt!"
     
  7. jill

    jill New Member

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    Hi!
    I have an ADHD 13 yo girl. I'm learning that not all ADHD is the same so it's alot of trial and error. Definately use hands on as much as possible for learning. As far as the outbursts, ignore as much as you can. They are easily escalated. These kids take everything personally. They deal with self esteem issues too (imagine ~ with a teenage girl it's compounded) so the more success they feel, the better.
    Know that ADHD can be a gift. These kids are often very bright, caring, "out of the box" creative, and passionate about their interests. See if you can tap into something that really interests him and use that as a springboard for your studies.
    They are often visual learners, so we use alot of educational videos and field trips.
    The biggest thing for me was learning to have patience and understand that she didn't skip brushing her teeth to be defiant, she really just forgot!
    Best wishes!
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2010
  8. bikerchick1498

    bikerchick1498 New Member

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    Other disabilities

    My daughter doesnt have ADHD but she does have epilepsy and her meds make it harder for her to concentrate in a regular classroom, ive noticed we have been able to adapt her day to fit her moods, and level of energy.
     
  9. MomtoFred

    MomtoFred New Member

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    I meant to respond to this earlier and lost track of it...

    My son is ADD. We take lots of breaks. I let him dance around or play with little toys while I read or while he does math if we can do it orally. As long as he can keep telling me back the story or recite off his facts he can keep playing.

    History and Social studies has to be either short or hands on or both, and I was very surprised to find that drawing out the lesson or coloring a corrisponding coloring page helped him stay focused as well.

    We also watch what he eats. He is sensitive to certain foods. Mostly it's sugary, colored, or chocolately foods that really set him off. But even other lesser junk foods like white pasta and overly processed foods have an effect. We did an exclusion diet to find a couple things and then just kept a food diary.

    Then there are days, like today, that are maybe affected by yesterdays candy from Grandma and a christmas cookie he might have snuck, that he can't focus to save his life no matter what and if someone where to see him they'd think he didn't have a brain in his head... so we muddle through school as best we can and save the rest for tomorrow.
     
  10. MamaToHerRoo

    MamaToHerRoo New Member

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    I have homeschooled my gifted/ADHD 10 year old daughter for 4 years. There are a couple of things we do to help our day run smoothly. If we hit a lesson or subject she is not going to focus on, we don't bang our heads against that wall. We move on to something different. Sometimes that means we do science....all day, every day, for 3 days. Some days we do a single lesson in a subject and move on. Our core curriculum is Time4Learning, which is online, so we move as fast as we need to. We take short breaks and plan the break before actually taking it. "After this lesson, you will have 10 minutes, what do you want to do in that time?" I don't know about your child, but mine hates surprises, and hates for the plan to change. If I tell her she is going to get 15 minutes break, and it turns out to be only 10, this will be a battle for the next hour! I guess the most important thing is boredom is your enemy. For those of us who don't have ADHD it is hard to imagine needing something to fill every available second. We jokingly say my daughter is like a border collie, give her a job and keep her occupied, because if you don't she is going to start digging holes in the yard...sometimes literally! I hope some of this helps:)
    I'm Linda, and I'm just trying to keep up with my kid!
     
  11. mom24boys!

    mom24boys! New Member

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    I guess we are different here, because my DS with ADHD can't take breaks or he never gets back on task. If he does school from 8:30-9:00 and then takes even a 10 min. break, we might as well stop schoool for the day. He has to stay on task and focused or it's all over. He is about the only ADHD kid I have heard of like this.
     
  12. Countrygal

    Countrygal New Member

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    I remember one other thing that I used all the time and seemed to help a LOT. A timer. I would assign him a certain amount of questions (what I thought would be a good 10 or 15 min workout) and set the timer. I either used 10 or 15 min increments - I did not vary them, but increased as he became better at focusing. Ds's whole day was broken into 10 or 15 min increments. It really helped him to stay on task, for some reason. I have seen this method suggested on other sites. It worked for us! :)
     
  13. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    I know the timer worked for Faythe. I don't know if she is "officially" ADD/ADHD or not, but she did have some tendencies that way. She has REALLY improved as she got older. Another thing that has helped her is to be able to listen to music while she works.
     
  14. Brenda

    Brenda Active Member

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    All of my boys are ADHD, Andrew is ADHD/ODD and is the one I homeschooled for a couple of years. I learned very early into our homeschooling days that he is not a textbook learner. Ha! I thought I could sit down with him and teach from a textbook - I wasn't long learning otherwise. If I offered any advice at all... let your child teach you how they learn. They may learn from hands on activities as opposed to books.

    For Andrew's social studies unit (because we followed the provincial curriculum guidelines), we exchanged post cards from teachers/classes all across the United States (maybe even some homeschool families as well - I don't remember now) and Andrew sent out post cards from various places in Canada (the post card company I contacted was amazing at helping me when I emailed them with my request and why we were doing it). As he received a new post card, he would color the state on a map and then he put it into a scrap book writing down the key points given to him on the post card. Before he sent out his post card, he had to learn about the area the post card was from (ie Ottawa, Vancouver, Banff, etc). He really enjoyed this activity. He also had a penpal in which he played "teacher". The goal of that activity was to 'convince' the other child they really needed to come visit area and told them what kinds of things they would find around here. Another activity he relly enjoyed.

    Break down your teaching times if it's too difficult to maintain focus for lengthy periods of time. If we set aside 30 minutes for math, he earned "X" numer of minutes to do what he wanted to do and then back at it. He tried to kick it a couple times early into it, but he learned the hard way that the more goofing off he did, the later his school day was going to be. His brothers were in PS and were home shortly after 3. If Andrew didn't accomplish what I had set out for him to do (which wasn't a tremendous amount of work) by the end of their school day, he worked away until it was done (he only ever had that happen a hand full of times before he learned to buckle in and get it done).

    You probably already know that teaching one on one you can accomplish more than you do in a public school classroom and before the end of the school year, you will accomplish what you've set out to teach. Take your time, allowing your child to teach you and you'll do great.
     
  15. Hsmom2bz

    Hsmom2bz New Member

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    Thank you lady's for all your help and idea's. I loved reading all of them and I am still reading them. But keep them coming so I will have more to read.
     

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