Homeschooling options for kids with ADHD? Anyone BTDT?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I'll be the lone dissenter. Homeschooling went great for one of my kids but not my kid with ADHD. It was daily melt downs and frustration for both of us and caused a big strain on our relationship. My kid does better in a school environment with small class sizes. The schedule and him doing what everyone else was doing helped him more than following my directions.
|
Anonymous
|
Here is History/Social Science
APS teaches Ancient and Medieval History in 5th which is a great topic with lots of resources. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably do that. We aren't doing that because we did it this year with 4th, 6th and 7th. All my 4th and 6th graders did last year for history was read and listen to read alouds or audiobooks. Like the other poster, we used the Story of the World volumes 1 and 2. Story of the World has a tiny bit of Christianity at the beginning of volume 1, but it's a small enough portion that you can just talk about it. There is a book you can buy that goes with SOTW that has maps to color, and suggestions for activities, and lists of novels that go along. We didn't buy it but it gets good reviews. Here's the link for Story of the World https://welltrainedmind.com/c/history-geography/story-of-the-world/volume-1-ancient-times/?v=7516fd43adaa As supplements, we also really liked the Horrible Histories books, and a series called the Story of Science by Joy Hakim. We read those in sequence that matched SOTW, so we'd read a chapter, and then check and see if there were titles or chapters that matched. We also did mythology from around the world for reading, and tried to make that align as well. We also read the first part of the Bible, and talked about it as mythology. Horrible Histories and Story of Science are secular. The mythologies aren't, but we didn't teach them as fact. We taught them as stories that some people believe, other than the Bible where we had some conversations that were kind of confusing to my 4th grader. Anyway, what we're actually doing this year is Early American History, because we already did Ancient/Medieval, and because it's what the 8th graders do in the public schools here, and not taught again in high school I wanted my 8th grader to do it. Again, I'm not up for 3 curricula, so if my 8th grader is doing it, my two younger kids can do it too. We're going to use Build Your Library 5 for both History and Literature. https://buildyourlibrary.com/purchase-level-5-curriculum/ I really like the way that the literature aligns with the history, and I like the diversity of voices in the reading lists. It's pretty inexpensive, so I'm comfortable buying it and only using History and Literature. The curriculum is, at its heart, lists of books to read and prompts for talking and writing about them. They divide the books into History, Literature, and Reading. We'll probably do the history and literature as read alouds with all 3 kids, and then my 5th grader will read the reading books, while I substitute harder books from the same time periods for my older two. I'm also going to have my 8th grader read a text book, but not my two younger ones. If neither of those approaches work for you, I'd also look at Oak Meadow History/English 5, which is also American History. I looked at it but I liked the Build Your Library reading lists better. Oak Meadow would be more "open and go" though. https://www.oakmeadowbookstore.com/K-8-Curriculum/Fifth-Grade/U-S-History-English-5.html |
Anonymous
I'm the one writing the ridiculously long posts (sorry), and I think it's partially about the kids. Different kids need different thing, and going along with the peer group is a powerful motivator for some kids. Some of it is about what the school options are too. There are some kids who might do best in a small in person class, but would still do better with homeschooling or an online school that's designed to be online, than they would in public school distance learning. |
Anonymous
Great, thank you! |
Anonymous
|
Here is English
One of the confusing things about English is that everyone divides it up differently. In my house, for my rising 5th and 7th graders we divide it up this way: Literature: Books that I read aloud and we discuss that align with what we're doing in history. So last year, this was mostly mythology, and some novels that related to the historical periods. We finished history in April, and since we're locked in (one of my kids is very high risk for covid), and kind of bored, we decided to keep doing literature. So, now we're reading the Narnia books together, and looking at how they connect to the Bible. Obviously, that's an exception to our emphasis on secular. For that, we use this book https://cadroncreek.com/shop/further-up-and-further-in/, but we're only doing the Narnia books and the Bible. The book has science and grammar suggestions that we just ignore. It also has writing assignments, and we ignore them too. Next year, we're doing the Build Your Library 5 reading list for Literature. https://buildyourlibrary.com/purchase-level-5-curriculum/ Reading. Books that the kids actually read for themselves. My rising 7th grader is a reader. He loves to read, and listen to audiobooks and he usually picks things that are challenging and high quality. I just let him pick whatever he wants, and I don't monitor it. Sometimes if I'm interested in what he's reading we'll do an audiobook together, and sometimes if I see something I think he might like I show it to him, but he makes all the choices. My rising 5th grader, would rather not read at all, but if I tell him he has to read something he chooses graphic novels, or Sports Illustrated Jr., or the Diary of a Wimpy kid. I want him to read those things, but I don't want them to be the sum total, so we alternate, he chooses something then I choose something I think he'd like but that he wouldn't pick. We've had some wins this year where I choose a book in a series and then he likes it so much he chooses the next book in the series! Usually we read at bedtime, taking turns reading a few pages at a time. I don't make him do anything based on his reading, other than talk a little. I really want this year to be about building a love of reading. Phonics. We aren't doing this. He was in a K-8 school that taught a lot of phonics, before I pulled him out, and I really think he's solid on it. I also think that for him the overemphasis on phonics instruction is maybe why he doesn't love reading. So, we don't do it. If I had a kid who I thought needed phonics, but didn't have a reading disability. Either a kid who just hadn't been taught phonics, or maybe their ADHD had kept them from paying attention when it was taught, then I absolutely agree with the Rewards suggestion above. Their stuff is here: https://www.voyagersopris.com/literacy/rewards/overview If I had a kid with dyslexia who read below grade level, and I was pulling them out for 5th, I'd outsource for intensive phonics from someone else. Not because I think you have to be an expert, but because in my experience as someone who has taught many of those kids, remedial phonics for kids with dyslexia is a slog. It's hard work, and painful, and I don't want that dynamic in my parent-child relationship. If I'd homeschooled from the beginning, I might feel differently, but not in this situation. Ironically, other people pay me to teach their dyslexic kids phonics, so I'd keep doing that and pay someone else to do it with my kid. Grammar and Writing I use curriculum that combine these two. Some people buy separate curriculums. I'll start by saying that I've heard wonderful things about the IEW curriculum that someone suggested above. It's supposed to be very structured and clear, which is great for ADHD kids. It's also got video lessons that some people find very handy. I looked at it and decided it wasn't for my particular kids. My 5th grader's writing is like his reading, it's technically good, and not something he does by choice. I give both the credit and the blame to his elementary school which pushed hard on grammar and mechanics. I felt like IEW targeted the things that he was already good at, and wouldn't improve his enjoyment. If you're starting a 5th grader in IEW they suggest you start at Structure and Style for Students Level A which is here: https://iew.com/shop/shop-grade-level/level-grades-3-5 and maybe supplement with Fix It Grammar which is here: https://iew.com/taxonomy/term/7/?f%5B0%5D=im_field_category%3A17 For my kid, this year we are going to Treasured Conversations, which I found a little gentler than IEW. It's got both grammar and writing in it. https://treasuredconversations.wpcomstaging.com/store/ We're going to skip the first 1/3 of the book which is parts of speech, which he knows, so hopefully we'll have time to do the second half of The Creative Writer, which is poetry. https://welltrainedmind.com/p/creative-writer-level-one/?v=7516fd43adaa My rising 7th grader and I did the first half, which is fiction, this year and really liked it. Another, totally different, option for writing would be the online classes at Bravewriter. https://bravewriter.com/ I liked the look of them, but I also like teaching writing, so I decided not to outsource it. They don't have grammar, but I think there's room for disagreement as to whether 5th graders even need grammar. If you wanted to do Bravewriter and grammar, you could combine this with the Fix It Above. For one more option, there's Voyages in English.[u] We did the 4th grade version this year. It was fine, but not exciting, which is why we're switching. https://www.voyagesinenglish.com/grades-3-8-overview Spelling I have taught AVKO sequential spelling for years, and loved it, so that's what we'll do. There's an online version here: https://www.sequentialspelling.com/index2.php The other option, would be to do an all in one English. My 8th grader did Oak Meadow this year and it worked well for him. In 5th grade English is combined with History, so you could do just the one thing, and then even sign up for their online school so someone else can set the deadlines and correct the work. https://www.oakmeadowbookstore.com/K-8-Curriculum/Fifth-Grade/U-S-History-English-5.html |
Anonymous
|
OK, here's my last novel! It's about electives.
I'm kind of a depth over breadth person, and I think the point of electives is to discover things you love. So, each of my kids picked a few things they want to study in depth this year. My rising 5th grader chose taekwondo, which he'll do online because of covid, woodworking which he does with Dad (no curriculum), and cooking which he does we me (no curriculum) My rising 7th grader chose learning to code in python which he'll do independently with this book https://www.amazon.com/Python-Programming-Absolute-Beginner-Third-ebook-dp-B00B7RE628/dp/B00B7RE628/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid= and chess, and competition math which he does with a tutor My rising 8th grader chose taekwondo which he'll do online, fitness which he'll do with Dad (no curriculum) and music which he'll do with private instrument and theory classes online. Ordinarily, I'd have my middle schoolers do Spanish, but both my 7th and 8th graders have special needs that eat into their time in different ways, and something had to give. My 5th grader doesn't, and I thought about doing Homeschool Spanish Academy with him, which is online and highly recommended by people I know, but we decided to wait and start in 6th. https://www.spanish.academy/ I think lots of homeschool families either teach a language that they have a connection to (e.g. the parents' native language) or Latin. But I don't have resources for those. If I taught a language it would be Spanish, and so that all I researched. |
Anonymous
| NP— Thank you for all the information and the time it took you to post this, it’s very much appreciated. |
Anonymous
| OP here - thank you so much!! |
Anonymous
I wrote the above post and I wanted to add that I really emphasized QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. He was the type of kid who did just enough so he wouldn't miss recess or the teacher would make him re-do his work (which almost never happened even if he just scribbled)! I bought a pack of the white latex erasers and sat there and anytime he copied incorrectly, was messy, didn't capitalized, I erased and made him re-do (within reason). I told him I didn't expect him to do that much in comparison to a normal public school day that ended at 3, BUT I expected him to do quality work. We also took some trips Thursday night through Sat morning so we had all day Friday at fun places. We went to Orlando for a week at the end of September. Costa Rica mid- January. The poster who is writing the long posts is doing a fantastic job of summarizing what many homeschool parents are using that are quality programs. Look at her list as well to find what you need. Many of them can be bought through Rainbow resources- a huge homeschool company. I also should add that after doing Reward Reading secondary, which took about 8 weeks to finish, we moved on to focus on spelling doing Apples and Pears Spelling books B and C. His spelling was awful. He isn't good at visually imprinting how to spell words even though he reads well. I think what exacerbated his awful spelling was that teachers NEVER corrected spelling. Once he misspelled words like because, where, they're, doesn't, couldn't, sure, etc. literally hundreds of times I think the misspellings just start looking correct. https://www.soundfoundations.co.uk/en_US/learning-to-spell/ I really didn't worry about other subjects like history and science because we go to museums, zoos, we watch non-fiction videos, etc. It also isn't something I stressed about because I realized by allowing no independent screen time between 1 and 3 he often came up with his own projects. He built a salt water aquarium after watching youtube videos in the evenings and learned about salinity of water, characteristics of fish, etc. We rented chickens and a coop for fun. https://www.rentacoop.com/ He didn't really consider it part of school, it was just fun for him but he really was learning about science. Just worry at first about getting in reading, writing, grammar, and math. We spent a lot of time on those subjects. 9-10 was IEW and Fix it Grammar, 15 minute break 10-11:15 was math (sometimes it took and hour and sometimes 90 minutes, depending on topic- if 90 minutes he took a quick break after 45 minutes) 11:15 to 11:30 break 11:30 to 12:15ish Rewards reading or apples and pears spelling or sometimes Reading Detective LUNCH 1 pm to 3 Listen to Story of the World, Read Aloud, Science Activity, sometimes meet up with other homeschoolers we met, sometimes there was a fun morning homeschool activity so then worked got pushed to afternoon. I can't say enough how much his attitude toward school changed and his self-concept. I didn't realize some of the snarky comments teachers and other kids made to him. He never told me when he was in public school but working with him at home he started telling me stories. He had friends at school and wasn't disliked (I think because he is good at sports) but I had not idea some kids would roll their eyes or say outloud they didn't want to work with him, or his teacher would hold up his work and say this is how NOT to do a paper. Some days the first month were hard because he tested whether he really had to do the work. Booking the Disney trip late September was helpful to motivate him because I told him if he didn't finish doing all his work we wouldn't go. It got him into a good habit of trying. I pulled back if he was really frustrated some days or if it was a tricky topic in math we went slower. I would try it because worse case scenario you just send him back to public school. |
Anonymous
| Another option would be just to ask the school to give you the materials for your tutor to work with as an accommodation. |
Anonymous
|
Wow- this might be my favorite post ever! I feel like it should be cross-posted in the homeschool section too. I am still on the fence about whether we middle through with DL or switch to homeschool completely.
Have any of you experienced folks used the Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding content? https://outskirtspress.com/BFSU1/ My adhd/ dysgraphic/ gifted child has desperately missed science education. We have done all of the Mel science kits as a stop gap, but I need to be prepared to do more. I was looking at some of the Great Courses, but I think they are too much plus they are expensive. Thanks for any additional advice you can share! |
Anonymous
I'm the PP with the ridiculously long posts (sorry). I looked at BFSU and decided against it but can not, for the life of me, remember why. What grade is your kid in? Does he have a particular type of science he wants to learn about? My 7th grader is my science lover, and is also a gifted kid with multiple disabilities (3E is that a thing?). I can make suggestions for things he loved. I didn't put all the things he did because I thought they would be too much for a 5th grader. You can get some of the Great Courses on Audible. They are way cheaper that way. |
Anonymous
PP here- my sone is a rising 5th grader who reads at college level and writes at 2nd grade level (4th grade with a scribe). He loves any science areas, but right now is most interested in chemistry, physics, aerobatics, botany, and geology. He is not into audiobooks and prefers some visuals along with his content so we have been watching documentaries together. Given how diverse his science interest are, I was thinking BFSU would be a solid foundation across areas. I am also planning to try to address the writing anxiety by doing something fun (night zookeeper) for a while and then go back into something more structured like IEW to learn both note taking and writing. I really appreciate the time you’ve take to respond. I also have a rising 8th grader who is dyslexic and remediated above grade level so I am studying all of your suggestions. |
Anonymous
| My son is a rising 6th grader with ADHD. Reading is normal (used to need tutoring but now fine) but writing is problematic. Homeschooling has been ok because I have had my dad supervise him. Any other adult would work fine - a paid college kid etc. He just needs someone to tell him what the work is and sit over him to keep him on task. |
Anonymous
| Are any of these programs for writing ok for a riding 3rd grader? My adhd son needs serious help in writing and I’m afraid another year of homeschool will set him back even further. I couldn’t even on focus on it too much because he was crying constantly and our relationship was getting damaged. G |