Homeschooling LD/ADD Children: Great Idea or Big Mistake? To these families, home education is the last resort – something to be considered only after all other options have failed. It's as though something suddenly snaps. The family may have quietly endured years of IEPs, long conferences, tears from the child, notes from the teacher, promises from the administrators, and bad report cards in spite of all the energy they put into running a nightly study hall. They may have come to think of it as normal to feel trapped and helpless. But one day, in a sudden moment of clarity, they realize that their child's curiosity has disappeared, that he no longer has the impish zest for living that used to be such a charming part of his personality. When that moment of truth arrives, parents have no trouble severing their ties with the schools with just one word: Enough. But in the hands of the right kind of family, it can prevent many painful and destructive situations from developing and can bring healing to children who have been all but crushed by the system. Homeschooling LD and ADHD children is not as hard as helping them with their homework. Homework is always tackled at the end of the day when the child has already had all he can stand of teachers and books and frustrations. It's usually conducted by a parent who is tired from a long, hard day of responsibilities. As often as not, the parent and the child both resent the fact that they have to get enmeshed in assignments that are inappropriate, with directions that are not clearly understood, in books that are too difficult. There's almost always more work than can be accomplished in a reasonable length of time, and half the time, the necessary book gets left at school. How does homeschooling work? Others imagine homeschooling to be an excuse to let children run wild with no discipline, no formal instruction, and no prospects for success in the future. To the unfamiliar, educating children at home is thought of as second best- an option chosen by religious fanatics, antisocial bigots, and those who live so far from civilization that normal educational opportunities are unavailable. They make it their business to get the training and guidance they need to provide a strong background in the basic skills, while also nurturing and developing special interests and talents in their youngsters. Through conferences, book fairs, catalogs, and support groups, homeschooling parents make it a point to determine which materials are best suited to their children. Through workshops, seminars, consultants, college courses, and a variety of homeschool support services, they receive the special training they need to master the instructional methods most appropriate for their children. With the first one, it took some experimentation before she found a method that worked. Once she established a routine combining effective techniques with the right materials, she believed she had . In order to get her number- two son reading, she had to go through a whole new process of exploring materials and trying out alternative methods. By the time the second child was learning successfully, number three was ready to start. Neither of the approaches she had so carefully developed brought the desired results for the newest first- grader. It was back to the catalogs. As with the siblings who had gone before, a completely customized reading program had to be created just for this one little beginner. It was labor- intensive and quite expensive, but the results were outstanding. One by one, each of the six LD children in the family entered the regular neighborhood school in the third grade, fully functional at grade level in all subject areas. The practice has helped produce outstanding adults in many fields. Among United States presidents, George Washington, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Woodrow Wilson, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt benefited from homeschooling. Other well- known statesmen with similar schooling were William Penn, Winston Churchill, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin. Are you considering a homeschool curriculum for ADHD? If one program isn't working for your child. What Is the Best Spanish Homeschool Curriculum? Cathy Duffy has been reviewing curriculum for the homeschooling community since 1984. Want To Know The 102 Best Products In The Homeschool Market? Homeschooling Attention Deficit. Here is one homeschool mother's story of homeschooling ADD/ADHD and her search for ADD homeschool. ADHD symptoms, diagnosis, and. When Traditional Schools Fail: Homeschooling May Be a. How Does Your ADHD Child Learn? The number of homeschool. Purchase the homeschool program that best fits. Best Homeschool For Adhd. It can be hard to find a good program for homeschooling a child with ADHD. Here are a few tips for choosing the best ADHD homeschool. Many great military leaders received some homeschooling, among them Robert E. Lee, George Patton, and Douglas Mac. Arthur. Many successful composers, writers, and artists were given homeschooling: Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Irving Berlin, Hans Christian Andersen, Pearl Buck, Noel Coward, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Helen Keller, George Bernard Shaw, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Claude Monet, and Andrew Wyeth. Great innovators and inventors have benefited from homeschooling: Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington Carver, Pierre Curie, Leonardo da. Vinci, Thomas Edison, Cyrus Mc. Cormick, Andrew Carnegie, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Albert Einstein, and Charlie Chaplin. Two particularly well- known women who received homeschooling were Florence Nightingale and Eleanor Roosevelt. The explorers Lewis and Clark were both homeschooled. They truly believe they can arrange for or provide such an education themselves, at home and in conjunction with resources available in their community. In most cases, their belief in their ability is well founded. He had major roles in at least five or six productions every year. He took dance lessons, guitar lessons, voice lessons, gymnastics, art lessons, and acting classes. He was also interested in video and made dozens of productions in his basement studio. But Cal had a severe learning disability, along with a troublesome Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder. It would have taken a highly specialized (and extremely expensive) LD school to create classes where he could be successful. Through homeschooling, the boy's parents provided him the advantages of a school of the arts combined with a specially modified academic curriculum to accommodate his learning difficulties. No amount of money could have purchased an education more appropriate for this particular student. By educating their gifted son at home, Cal's family created the ideal program to fit his unique strengths and weaknesses. Few children are so fortunate. Contact with school. Many homeschoolers maintain a connection with the schools their children might otherwise attend. Whether parochial, public, Christian, or independent, if approached creatively, most educational institutions will develop a cooperative, helpful relationship with homeschooling families and make parts of their programs and facilities available to part- time students who do the bulk of their work at home or on some other campus. Twice a week, the youth commuted to classes. The boy also took an advanced electronics course at the local community college. And he had art and an advanced- placement history course at the local high school, where he was captain of the football team. As for homeschooling, his mom was his instructor and partner for world literature and foreign language. The two of them were finishing up the fourth year of their mail- order Spanish course. For their literary studies, they were reading the works of contemporary Central and South American authors in the original. In addition to the book learning, they spent half an hour a day stretching their vocabulary by working in the garden or cleaning up the kitchen with no English allowed. Once a month, they spent the day with a group of Hispanics. Every summer, they went to Central America on a two- week mission for their church. These two became very skilled at using their foreign language. No nearby school offered training any better than what they were getting at home. This young man had it all! Using professionals. Other homeschoolers use professionals to do some of the teaching. No matter how remote the area, there is almost always somebody available to provide instruction in the subjects in which the mother feels inadequate. LD specialists in private practice can do therapy with homeschooled youngsters or coach and instruct teaching mom. High- level math courses, advanced lab sciences, art, music, and foreign language are commonly taught by professionals. Sometimes, a group of homeschoolers bans together and hires a certified instructor to teach a whole class of students. Homeschooling is generally done any way the family finds appropriate. It's just a matter of dreaming up what is ideal for a particular child, then making it happen. That instruction was provided by the parents, who were both English teachers. The young scholar matured into an internationally recognized poet when still in his twenties! Judging from the outcome, the energy invested paid off well. Flexibility. One of the beauties of teaching children at home is the flexibility that allows families to design their own schedule. There are no fixed rules. Many ADHD youngsters are . Even when they don't stay up as late as they like, it's extremely difficult to get them out of bed at the crack of dawn in order to dive into the books. Their brains just don't perk up until the middle of the day. For them, a school day that starts around ten in the morning (or after lunch) makes more sense. With older children who have a job or talented youngsters who need the daylight hours to practice music or sports, academics can easily be postponed until late in the day. And for those who really want to be free from the restrictions imposed by schedules, there's nothing to say that homeschooling has to be done at home. One California mother takes her three students to the beach twice a week. She says their best discussions take place during the commute. Children with a learning disability have all their assignments tailored to fit their abilities and needs. Under the watchful eye of a truly dedicated teacher, students with a low tolerance for frustration can avoid the aggravations that lead to tears and outbursts of temper. Thus, by making it possible for children to work at full capacity and at top speed, most homeschooled LD/ADHD students get all their work done in three to four hours a day. Gathering around the kitchen or dining room table is popular.
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