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(thanks Fasttalkingmom)

Have any of our parent/members had success with homeschooling an AD/HDer? Please share some of your experiences!

I never noticed this post!
I'd love to talk about homeschooling. I hope there are other homeschoolers on this forum.
I started regularly homeschooling my son when he was 3.
I knew he was a tough egg, so I wanted him to know it as a way of life, (doing math, reading and writing)He likes to learn, what and when he wants, and it wasn't the basics, so my plan was to get the basics over with as soon as possible. So he would be able to be resourcefull. Also so in case I couldn't control him when he was older we would have basic reading writing, math and some other skills covered (musician). I think it's working. My son is free to go to conventional school if he chooses.
I hope someday he will try it on his own free will so he can have the experience. I am just glad we know we have the choice.
Reg school didn't work for any of my siblings in my family. We all dropped out, one brother with a genius IQ quit in 5th grade. What a waste of time it is for some ADDers. I have a very high regard for the teaching profression too. Just not classrooms full of distractions and one way of learning. So I homeschool. It works, my kid spends an hour actually doing curriculum a day. The rest off the day he does incredible educational things and adventures. Along with playing with the neighborhood kids. The other great thing about homeschooling is....Our schedule is our own. We homeschool through summer. And take time off when it suits us. Which isn't often as I hate when he forgets things he just learned. He gets the days he changes homes Dads home to Moms home (twice a week) and visa versa off. And of corse most trips to relatives. We never fall behind because it's our pace. Whatever that is at the moment.
I would love to hear anyone elses homeschooling adventures ideas and reasons.

Sometimes I think I would like to homeschool my grandson so he could have more one on one but I don't know if my daughter would agree. Also I don't know if I would be able to handle getting him to work for me. He does needs some one on one with someone who is patient. Don' know much about homeschooling though and he I know enough to help him. He is a great grandson just is so hyper and inattentive. Also he gets angry sometimes and he needs to learn how to deal with his anger. Not to throw things and tear something up. I just not sure about the right approach, my daughter thinks I baby him too much and maybe I do. I just see him struggling and some of the things he comes up with to ask me about I have no idea how to answer.

I envy people that have the ability and are able to homeschool.

I homeschooled my son for a short time this winter. It was ok. He would not do any work unless I was right there by his side all day. He could do the work, just wanted me there. I sent him back to school after he was diagnosed with ADD. He wanted to go back. Said I was tougher than his teacher. LOL I did 5-6 subjects a day. Where his teacher only does 3-4 and sometimes only 2. I kinda regret sending him back to school. He was learning alot more at home, but he wants to be with his friends and where it is easier for him.

My husband wanted me to send him back to school because I never had time for him. If I wasn't teaching our son, I was getting the next days work ready for him. It was tough but kinda fun. I may do it again. Depends on where they go to school next year. Our school is closing this year. There are only 6 kids in the classroom right now in grades 3-5 (multiclassroom). I think this is kind of tough for my son because there are more distractions. When she is not teaching grade 5, she is teaching another grade. I would rather homeschool him than public school, he learns more at home, but it is his choice.

I taught similar to school. Somewhat followed their curriculum and used the schools books, but added some things also.

I can see the value of home schooling for a child who can't get the kind of attention he needs in a regular school setting. I'm not sure I have the discipline to home school, but as I think over the things I did today I realize that I almost am. He tends not to really "get" things presented by the teacher to the whole class, so we work at home a bit. (He got a new digital watch today, which was a good motivator for working on numbers, which he normally hates.) He has a speech delay, so we practice his "target" sounds throughout the day. I seek out certain kinds of physical activity for him, as advised by his O.T. and his pediatric optometrist, to encourage binocular vision, better tracking, gross motor skills, and to provide vestibular input. What is it the school does, again....? ;)

I have add and obsesive compulsive disorder and homeschooled my add daughter all through her school career. She is now in College and is on the Deans list and is a very people person. She is in leadership in a huge Group of college students, RUF, reformed university fellowship. She is also involved with leadership with the youth group at our church. She has been to mission trips to Peru, Ukraine, Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans. She was fortunate to be able to go to Rotary Club with her Dad for years and every one was able to watch her grow and are amazed how much she is like her Dad. When he was killed in a car crash in April, 2003, at the memorial they had for him at Rotary, they asked her to introduce all of family and friends that attended. She was very poised. She also spoke at the funeral. I'm saying all this because homeschooling can be done even with ADD. It wasn't easy but it sure was worth it.

Hey all, I was homeschooled throughout high school and it was one of the greatest things I ever did. I think I did so much better in homeschool than public or other private schools. I learned so much more, what I wanted to learn (well, there was that math and Spanish I had to take...ick..) and got to go at my own pace. I did so many things that were educational that were not in books or classrooms and I think it was much better for me being ADHD. It took me longer to finish, but I wouldn't take it back ever. I learned a lot, most importantly, to love learning. I am definitely doing it with my kids, especially if they're ADHD!

What home school curriculum are yall using?
Do yall do the DVD forms of the programs or the books and notebook forms or both?

I have thought of trying this with our son whos in 7th grade and having some difficultys in school. I am just not sure what the best program is. Any ideas or thoughts on this would be great!

Thanks,
Sonya

I just used textbooks and workbooks, with audio tapes for my foreign language (grrrr). That's all! I didn't use videos or anything, thought I would get bored fast, plus, at least back then, they were really expensive. I liked my books a lot though, easy to read. I went to Christian Liberty Academy which was awesome and got to pick almost all of my own curriculum. Great for me!

Have any of our parent/members had success with homeschooling an AD/HDer? Please share some of your experiences!
Our oldest (now almost 19) is not ADD and was a breeze to homeschool. Very independent, responsible, self motivated etc. She's a soph. at the community college, has a good GPA and hopes to transfer to a 4 yr school in the fall.

Child #2 is now 17 and was diagnosed ADD about a year ago. He did not want to take meds. He was homeschooled until 16, when he started taking a couple of community college courses. It was awful. He would forget to look at his syllabus and fail quizzes he didn't know he had. His notebooks were a mess and he didn't want to study. When his dad (also ADD) gets after him and makes him study he can get good grades. The day will come, however, when we won't sit on him and we'll see what happens. That day will probably be after he officially graduates from high school. He is on meds during the school year and says they do help him pay attention in class.

Child #3 is almost 14 and also ADD on meds. She says they help her concentrate and remember things. She's homeschooled full time. If she's ready for the community college at 16, she'll go the same path as her siblings. We'll see.

I'm very glad we chose homeschooling. It's been great for us. When the kids were younger we could travel with dh on business and take vacations in the winter. Now that the older 2 are at the comm coll, we live by a school schedule. (Not fun after all these years of freedom) I also think it's been good for the ADD. We could do short lessons, take lots of breaks etc. When they were younger they took tae kwon do twice a week at lunchtime. (all 3 are black belts) I'm sure that was a help, too.

I'm all for discussing homeschooling here. I attended one CHADD meeting last spring. Nice people, good speaker, but the topic kept creeping back to dealing with the schools. Not really what I needed.

I suppose even home schoolers get around to similar issues faced by those with kids in public school. It depends which state you live in and what county as to how much you have to deal with the board of education, etc. Our county makes home schooling easy. I haven't needed any help from them yet, though, so we'll see.

As an ADDer home schooling I am consistantly struggling with consistancy. Just doing school daily is a challenge of focus and interest. Now it's become a necessity like brushing my teeth before bed. Home schooling a child with ADD is starting off slowly. Even in kindergarten I can see N's strengths and keeping him moving is very important. But he's second in line and often the time he needs isn't the time he gets spent with me.

I like Singapore Math. For me and my oldest (he's in 2nd grade now) it keeps both our attention, I can do as many or as few excercises as I need to for the day, and I don't have trouble following it. Lots of visual aids which my son needs as much as I do. The rest of my "curriculum" is PBS, library books of interest, and those "teachable moments" that crop up daily. I have little ones, though. At 7, 5 and 4 I'm just trying to instill in them a love of learning and encourage their interests while building character, values and personal health/hygiene lessons into the day. Knowing how to make your bed, sweep and share is more important than writing the alphabet perfectly. My son without ADD has trouble with writing and my son with it even more so. So I have different priorities than the public education system.

I think finding that outlet, that special something that really piques their interest, whether it's drama, music or sports or something in between can make the schooling years so much more pleasant. I already see a keen interest in music "moving" my ADDer and the skills and accomplishments he's made in his self-defense course has rounded out his school year, it's making it more enjoyable for him.

I'm home schooling my first grader too. I was doing a lot better with it in kindergarten than I am now. I was an older mother (see last child born a month before I turned 42), so when I weened her at 2, perimenopause hit almost immediately, so for the last year I've been really struggling to get my act together as my ADHD swung back up into high gear (I only figured out what was going on a couple of months ago). I empathize because even though I was a pretty good school teacher for 12 years, now I'm really struggling with consistency,lesson plans, and other such things. We're talking about putting our daughter in private school next year, but I don't know with the ADHD. I wish I could pull it together and really give her the best that homeschool has to offer. If meds will help me do that, maybe I'll need to go that route. Diet changes have helped, but only so much. I've even wondered about hiring a coach to help me get off to start in the right direction. I think homeschooling done right is just fantastic -- hats off to you. Sounds like you're really working things out!

Scattered