Curriculum Changes with ADHD?

[displace]

DS (9, 4th grade, with dyslexia/dysgraphia) has never met the guidelines to diagnose ADHD before, but was always borderline.  According to a Vanderbilt questionnaire I've done this week I think he will meet the criteria now.  We'll get repeat evals in the next month or two to confirm and reeval for other LD.  Mostly, he has all the characteristics for ADHD but didn't quite meet the qualifications because he was not affected by it until more recently.  I think with the higher need to memorize and more multi-step math processes, it's becoming  frustrating.  I also think that it may affect his self-regulation after a bit of research, even with working through zones of regulation.

 

I'm wondering if ADHD is a reason to change curriculum or procedures?  We try to get a nice long walk in twice a day, plus some extra exercise in between study sessions.  I try to keep lessons to less than 30 min before a break, I don't expect a lot of independence yet and help him refocus.  I am considering Singapore to CLE to help with more review but I'm wondering if some programs are better for ADHD.  As I was looking at different curriculum I'm wondering if there are "better" curriculum for ADHD.  Or more procedures to help DS with schoolwork.  OTOH, I think curriculum is too individual to say what is better for anybody.  :)

 

 

 

 

[kbutton]

I am not sure I'd change anything mid-year. I think the transition is likely to kill any benefit you are getting from the change unless it's unusually effective. This is the age where a child with that many issues is going to start struggling regardless of curriculum.

 

OTOH, if you are at all considering meds, doing a trial now when you haven't changed anything could give you a really good chance to see the before and after without clouding a lot of variables. My kids weren't really able to learn and implement EF strategies and self-regulation without meds on board first. They were too out to lunch (one inattentive, the other combined type with mild hyperactivity and major impulsivity).

 

I do think that it's worth considering what could be different next year, but that's very individual. 

[EKS]

My son was diagnosed with ADHD (he also has dyslexia, which is his primary diagnosis).  

 

If you've been homeschooling all along and tailoring his education to his needs, I don't see how having him suddenly tip over into meeting the criteria for a diagnosis should change any of that.  He is still the same kid with the same needs as you have always known.  

 

That said, I found that dry, repetitious programs did not work well for my son.  He focused best on things that seemed novel and challenging.  So, for him, Saxon was lethal, and Singapore, especially the CWP, seemed to cure his attention problems.

 

I also found that taking breaks was bad for attention because it was harder to get him to refocus afterwards.  Instead of breaks, I alternated "hard" and "easy" or "fun" activities and also had a gradation during our lessons that went from desk work (math, grammar, writing) to activity work (hands on science stuff, for example) to couch work (read alouds, videos, etc).  But no breaks.

Edited February 4, 2018 by EKS

[nature girl]

In your case, I'd think it's most important to choose the curricula that best address the dyslexia/dysgraphia. I think any curriculum can work fine for ADHD kids, as long as it's engaging. And looking at your sig line, AAR, RS, MCT and Mystery Science seem perfect, they're typically more "fun" and hands-on than other options. My DD hated Singapore, because it was so repetitious, but we only did up to 2B, so I'm not sure what the later grades look like. For next year, you may want to look at BA, which my daughter has been loving. Critical Thinking has some fun math books as well...

 

I agree with PP's that switching between preferred and non-preferred activities works well, using the preferred activities as rewards.

[displace]

I’m considering overhauling our curriculum for a few reasons. We are off schedule because of when we last left public school. This time of year is a re-evaluation for me.

We are having a lot of school consistency concerns. I changed our schedule to help. But a lot of concern is our working together and self regulation. I’m thinking if the curriculum isn’t right it may be contributing to the problem. I’m wondering if DS needs more independence where possible (prompting the look into CLE), causing issues.

DS is on level or above for all subjects except spelling and writing. He also is struggling with math fluency (another reason math curriculum in general may be a struggle- just the time to complete problems without knowing his facts is lengthy). I need to focus on spelling and writing more, and allow DS free reign or independence with other subjects.

I am considering short acting meds, or maybe caffeine, to see if it helps self regulation. A bad subject can throw off a lot of work for the rest of the day, resulting in too many documentaries and audiobooks. Those things aren’t bad, but if we have skipped spelling and grammar and editing and cursive, they don’t get remediated.

I’m not sure if my signature is UTD- we use HWT, BBC typing, mystery science, Singapore math, spelling I’m switching from AAS to ACE word building or sequential spelling but we haven’t started. Lit/reading and grammar/writing I’m starting Lightning literature (language?) but we haven’t started yet. Writing is composition and editing at the moment. Math fluency is ETA Rocket math. And tons of audiobooks and documentaries. He’s gifted so I tend to let him just listen to literature from a Mensa book list, or book shark. And wedo LEGO robotics.

I do have some computer courses for reviewing basics on a hard day (mobymax, but just started), but I prefer more hands on. If he prefers computer then that’s ok. Or if he wants more independence, ok too.

Idk, I’m just rambling and I’m on my phone so I’m sorry for a disjointed post. I’m also in bed ill so I’m doubly excused from making any sense, right? :)

Edited February 5, 2018 by displace

[displace]

I’m stopping MCT for grammar atm. I think I’ll keep some components (Latin roots) and maybe return to it later.

Edited February 4, 2018 by displace

[PeterPan]

Ok, you wanna hear the TRUTH? The truth is unless you drug it out they're gonna have a lot of Mary Poppins days. The data is that meds don't affect statistical outcomes, supposedly, if you believe the studies. The reality is that at SOME point you'll want the meds because he won't hit his top scores on college testing without them. 

 

First psych I ever used with my kids was this amazing cathartic experience for me, this sin eater. I went in saying how hard she was to teach and that I needed explanations. He said ADHD and low processing speed and poor word retrieval. Fine. Sounds like stuff you can control, but at least we had explanations. Then I started going through every single subject in my hyper-detailed way, saying math, I could use this to this to this. And every single time I was showing him I had a range of choices from really formulaic, in the box, predictable, blah blah, to something kind of in the middle (a bit of each), to WAY out of the box, like unit studies and hands-on and way out there.

 

And you know what? Every single time I got to my WAY OUT THERE option, that was what the guy was like yes, go that way.

 

Now I've sent other people to that psych, and they were like oh he's flat and horrible and doesn't talk.  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  I don't know, he talked to me for hours, and that was the jist of what he said. Go as far out of the box as you can, as often as you can, and STOP WORRYING. 

 

His point was that she had a high enough IQ that she was going to learn, no matter what, and that we were either gonna enjoy the ride and have a good time or we weren't. We were either gonna roll with how she really would learn and thrive, or we weren't. Either way, she was going to have high scores, graduate, and do well in college.

 

So what did I do? I went so far off the farm, off the spectrum, that if you knew you'd probably be like OH MY LANDS HOW DID SHE GIVE CREDIT FOR THAT?!?! And you know what? It doesn't matter a flip. My kid had top notch ACT scores, is doing great in 300 level classes as a freshman, is writing her papers, and she's fine.

 

Whether you make this ride rigid or wonderful, he's still going to come out with high scores and be fine. How much fun do you want to have? How far are you willing to bend? He's probably going to learn IN SPITE of you, not because of you. Good teachers figure out that they're there to facilitate. 

 

You either have to medicate for Mary Poppins or plan on them. You're not going to stop them. Caffeine is fine as a trial, if you want. It can help. It's not stable, has a really short half-life, and doesn't affect as many parts of the brain. The easiest thing would be to give him access to the meds and see if he likes them. Or try caffeine first, see how far it gets you, then decide on meds. 

 

The other thing to watch is fatigue. We could go all into it with methylation defects, blah blah, but reality is my dd fatigues very easily. We're talking about something much more complex than a volitional attention process. The dopamine levels are part of the methylation cycle. So no matter what, even with meds, my dd just FATIGUES. And guaranteed you probably have some cycles there, if you were to take data.

 

So plan rest days and plan days off. PLAN it. Once a week would not be crazy. Like plan 4 days of work and day 5 is flex day, his own pursuits. That way it's not rattling you. Or figure out the pattern to his Mary Poppins days. You could decrease the overall daily load to get him to five days a week. With my dd, we had a point where it really helped her to do a little (1-2 hours) on Sunday nights. That transition was really bad to Monday mornings.

 

Now I'll be really specific. When you do Strongs Interest Inventory stuff on my dd, she's 1/3 creative. She really thrived on having time for that. It was a SIGNIFICANT part of our day. I don't know what your ds' strengths and areas are, but he will really NEED that. It's restorative and healthy. No, not a huge fan of CLE. Yes a huge fan of STRUCTURE, but not CLE specifically. It turned my dd's brain off. With her, I tended to use things that were more toward mastery and add in something for spiral (fact review) and something for brain teaser. With my ds, btw, I use a lot of workbooks from places I'm forever listing around here (Teacher Created Resources, Evan Moor, Carson Dellosa, etc.). They have brain teasers, word problems, graphing art, editing, differentiated reading, all kinds of stuff. You could pull the ebooks in, use a pdf editor, and let him type his answers for the reading comprehension stuff. Not sure exactly what curriculum you're needing. It just sounds like your ds has the skill set to be able to work like that and that it would be a normal thing to do. 

 

With my dd, I used Microsoft One Note and made a virtual notebook with tabs for each subject. Then I could put in course syllabii, hyperlinks to videos and websites, pdfs for worksheets and tasks, etc. Yes, yes, yes independent, increasing independence, is appropriate for this age! There's a balance there. It's the right age to be doing it, but you want to be around, having check-ins, seeing that they're on track. You start with high levels of support and fade as they show they're ready to take over. It's not all support or no support. So maybe in 8th we were checking in once in the morning, once in the afternoon, but in younger grades she was checking in every HOUR.

 

My dd always yearned to do unit studies. It really appeals to that creative, let me go fast, go getter side. Bring in those elements. We did some Beautiful Feet stuff, Wordsmith Apprentice. 

 

Lightning Lit isn't age-appropriate, is it? Do you ever wonder if you confuse his giftedness with readiness and make things just plain too hard? If you want someone to do something independently, you have to drop the instructional level.

 

There are more ways to appeal to his giftedness than just having him do curriculum that is 2-3 grades above his age. My dd was like that, where everything constantly seemed off, too easy. I get the tendency. Just don't do it. There's no benefit. Look for things that are more creative, more interesting, more brain tingling, that have interesting APPLICATION of the content and skills, rather than just pushing into harder skills. Like in math they call this going BROAD rather than just going ahead. 

 

I had a book of debate prompts about that age. You seem to like structure, so you could tell him to make a powerpoint presentation for one each week. So now you're getting creative, going multi-media, working on typing, etc. and you're making him THINK and debate.

 

Does he keep up with news and current events? That was about the age I had my dd receiving God's World News and Muse magazine. There's a Time Magazine for kids that you can view online at various reading/age levels. He could read those, pick one to read more about by googling, and then come prepared to discuss at a weekly tea. 

 

Apply more, don't just plow ahead into harder material. It's not really going to be hard anyway, only tedious. That's what I finally had to realize, that my dd was constantly working HERSELF at a much harder level than any curriculum was. Advancing didn't make a difference. Later, when she was in high school, I had her read through essay collections, the Nancy Pearson books, things that would make her think. Around 8th she was reading through the high school TOG philosophy books. With those I would read ahead the chapters and make her study guides myself. Once she hit high school, I had ds and was overwhelmed. I just had her read and keep a response journal. That drove her crazy, but she later realized WHY when she got into college classes and was being told to keep one.  :lol:

 

Don't get in the way of his education with too much stuff. Figure out what his brain is trying to do and make time in the day for it. Figure out what his brain ISN'T getting done, and make a plan for it. Try to do more application, more creativity, more thinking, not just more content. Go farther out of the box and don't be afraid.

 

I paid $2k for that advice.

 

PS. I totally, totally respect moms who have a really structured approach. Like I read what Heathermomster gets done and it's very WOW. My ds, I think, will respond to that really clear, consistent structure. He does now, so I expect it to continue. What I do with my ds is NOT what I did with my dd. My dd was that really typical Mary Poppins, ADHD-inattentive, and what I listed above is what I did with her. Like in high school, I bought her books on costume history. Piles of books, $50 a pop books. And she would sit and read them and compare and design and think and make connections. She did a study of ballerina tutus and stuff that to me is a bunch of stupidity, honestly. We made sure she had TIME for that. She had required stuff, stuff with a syllabus, but she had enough time to pursue these other things that HER brain wanted to do. It was fine. The skills she learned with her pursuits are skills she has to carry over to other things now and be successful. She had to learn how she learns and she did it by learning. She already had strong skills to do blatant things like go through a textbook. We were doing high school texts in junior high. They just weren't interesting, thought provoking. Advancement isn't as good as THOUGHT. I tried to make sure she was thinking and analyzing, no matter what she was doing. That has held up well for her.

Edited February 4, 2018 by PeterPan

[PeterPan]

It also worked out well for my dd to have STRETCH situations. Like some summers she did online classes, some school years a full year class. These were good exposures, because it brought out her competitive side and gave her a reason to WANT to use the time management and executive function strategies and tools I was giving her. Definitely give them chances to stretch.

 

The other thing the stretch classes did was let her get used to self-advocating and using her ADA rights. I was told the biggest problem in college is not whether they have access to the services but whether the kids will even USE them. If the kids won't use them, the access and opportunities won't matter. So I made a big deal out of saying this is what you need, let's ask for this, don't be afraid to use it. She realized that teachers were happy to oblige when they knew what she needed. She learned that she could actually be MORE functional than kids with no disability if she was willing to work hard and use her tools. So she was usually the kid they would come to for answers about what the assignment was, etc., which is totally hilarious and convoluted when you think about it.  :lol:

 

Kids are all different. Maybe make your own goals about what skills would serve him well and have a plan to develop them. That was a goal I had, that she be comfortable in her own skin. There was NO DISPUTE about her label, so for her the only way to win was to be very comfortable about saying this is what I need. 

 

The other thing that was tranformational with how I worked with her was Dyslexic Advantage because it helped me realize what the connectors were in why she was good at certain things. Then I started BRINGING OUT those aspects in other subjects. I stopped and thought ok, I know adults like her, people who are into history, people who are into narrative, people who are narrative thinkers, and these are people who are lifelong learners of science and other subjects. So I asked myself how THEY intersected with those materials and what they found interesting about them. I realized that her coming out a lifelong learner was actually a really important goal. Maybe it's not for the next dc. I can totally see where for some kids it's like no, build a foundation, they need to be ready to go into Chem because they're going engineering, blah blah. Fine. That's your kid. I'm saying DA unlocked MY kid, and once I understood what was connecting all of life for her, I realized that I could bring it out. So I looked for narrative in math, narrative in history, narrative in science, narrative in literature. There are other things you can emphasize in science, for instance, but I emphasized that there was NARRATIVE, because narrative is what she connects with. And you know what? She's taking a 200 level something of science class this semester. And I'm like dude, what gives? It WORKED. I found how she would be able to connect with that subject, how she could earn the credit by approaching it from the angle her brain thinks about.

[PeterPan]

With my dd's schedules I tended to alternate hard/easy. It was a LoriD scheduling tip. :D  It let her recover and rest. For her, everything was preferred, so it was more like what is wearing out her brain and what is creative and relaxing and letting her recover.

 

I agree with the others that you might not need SO many changes. With my dd, sometimes it was one thing or maybe two that were locking us up. We'd fix that one thing and then the whole day was good again. I tried to have checkins before every semester, so three times a year. We also did a May Term with something unusual, often a unit study or hitting one thing. 

[PeterPan]

What behaviors is he having? Are you using timers for yourself? I assume you use a list? You might try shortening things, providing more variety, flexing more. 

 

Honestly, my straight ADHD dc was, in some ways, much harder to teach than my ASD with SLDs kid. You expect them to be able to do so much that it's just astonishing. You could get the meds and see what you think. He's a good age for them. Or try the super low dose caffeine. 

 

Does he have a lot of positions to work in? Like can he rotate and be in a bean bag, then at a standing table, then on something that wobbles, then in a swing then on the floor? Do you have a single line swing for sensory input? And are his reflexes integrated? Reflexes are the one thing that I'm like must work on those. They affect behavior so much. 

 

I just think it's a little odd to say it wasn't apparent. I don't know, my dd was obvious always. Like you talk with people and they just tell stories about her. It was ALWAYS obvious she had ADHD. We just didn't know what we were seeing, lol. But people would say oh THAT IS WHY... and they'd tell stories about their memories of her. She was always like this. 

 

Has he had any computerized tap tap tests like the TOVA or Quotient? I'm pretty keen on the Quotient these days. Peds can run it. Personally, I wouldn't start meds without doing computerized testing first and actually having it demonstrate it. My ds was in that weird, don't know what to think category, and he passes the tap tap tests. People can have their explanations for it, but reality is he passes them. He's a pain in the butt because he's on the spectrum. He's either engaged or he's not. He attends just fine, unless he's not even with you.

[Tsuga]

DS (9, 4th grade, with dyslexia/dysgraphia) has never met the guidelines to diagnose ADHD before, but was always borderline.  According to a Vanderbilt questionnaire I've done this week I think he will meet the criteria now.  We'll get repeat evals in the next month or two to confirm and reeval for other LD.  Mostly, he has all the characteristics for ADHD but didn't quite meet the qualifications because he was not affected by it until more recently.  I think with the higher need to memorize and more multi-step math processes, it's becoming  frustrating.  I also think that it may affect his self-regulation after a bit of research, even with working through zones of regulation.

 

I'm wondering if ADHD is a reason to change curriculum or procedures?  We try to get a nice long walk in twice a day, plus some extra exercise in between study sessions.  I try to keep lessons to less than 30 min before a break, I don't expect a lot of independence yet and help him refocus.  I am considering Singapore to CLE to help with more review but I'm wondering if some programs are better for ADHD.  As I was looking at different curriculum I'm wondering if there are "better" curriculum for ADHD.  Or more procedures to help DS with schoolwork.  OTOH, I think curriculum is too individual to say what is better for anybody.  :)

 

That questionnaire (Vanderbilt) is partly sponsored by a drug company. I would consider, if you're worried about ADHD, seeing a psychologist who is highly regarded.

 

In addition, two recesses and 30 minute lessons would be standard in our schools for kids who aren't ADHD, so if you are looking for modification I would say yes, definitely: shorter study times and more breaks.

 

I'd focus your curricular searches to adapt to dyslexia and dysgraphia however. Those will require much different pedagogical methods than typical learners required.

[nature girl]

Good suggestions above! I ended up incorporating stories into our math lessons, in order to keep DD's attention. If she'd been old enough for BA at the time, it would have been perfect for her. (We actually use it now on weekends when she's not on medication, and it's puzzle-y enough to hold her attention.) BA is also good for independent work, if that's what you're looking for.

 

Online math is another option for independent work...Prodigy is super fun, free, and great for math skills, including drilling math facts. It goes up to 8th grade, I believe. (We have to limit DD's screen time or she'd be on Prodigy for hours...)

Edited February 4, 2018 by nature girl

[Storygirl]

I'm actually a fan of CLE. And I liked it for my one child who, emotionally, seemed better able to work independently than how he responded to receiving a lot of direction instruction from me. (That's DS12, whose NP report said "inattentive" so many times, but didn't give an ADHD diagnosis). He really just disliked working with me, and, looking back, I think it is because I TALK so much, and he couldn't take it in. Being able to learn something without Mom having to talk about it was great for him (we did go over the lessons to correct mistakes together, after he completed them).

 

With that said, CLE was not ideal for DD12, who has dyslexia, problems with numeration, and likely undiagnosed ADHD. It was OK. But she had a habit of rushing through just to get done, and so she would miss details and make mistakes. With math, she can understand concepts, but she has trouble with remembering math facts and overall number sense. She was not meticulous enough to work through a CLE lesson on her own and do it well.

 

DD12 now attends a dyslexia school, where they work outside the box to teach math. Their approach resembles what Peter Pan describes much more than it resembles CLE. Okay, it does not resemble CLE at all. The classes are interactive and collaborative, where the students spend a portion of the time working together to solve problems. In middle school, they are allowed to use calculators while doing math, but the school still does give them regular practice in numeration skills. They want to keep improving those areas, even though they honestly aren't expecting them to ever be GOOD at it. The expectation is that they know and use tools, such as calculators and multiplication charts. They teach them unusual things, such as how to use the multiplication chart to reduce fractions.

 

I am not a math person at all, so going outside the box to teach it is past my comfort zone. CLE was comfortable for me when we were homeschooling :), and it worked well enough. It's just that the approach her school uses is better for her. 

 

I think you could use CLE if you think that he would be able to work through a lesson (or half? maybe half in the morning and half in the afternoon?) with care. Let him use the CLE laminated math sheet, plus a multiplication chart, plus a calculator. Give him all the tools to work the concepts without having to also work out the math facts. Then provide separate math fact practice at another time of day for a short period.

 

I think if you are a mathy person who can teach concepts creatively and not overwhelm him by being right there, present as the teacher all the time, using Peter Pan's suggestions would be great. If you really, really need math to be more independent, because working with you doesn't go so well, and you need to use your time together for other remediation, I think you can make CLE work. It would have worked better for us if I'd been able to tweak it more, but at that stage, I just needed to be able to get math done each day. My kids didn't object to CLE (I mean, it was not something they groaned about and hated, even though they would have preferred not to do math at all ;) ).

[PeterPan]

Math is the hardest thing to fit, always.

[Heathermomster]

Has your child completed OT yet? Are any motor issues still present? My DS was given the ADHD label with the 3rd np, but the child psych we later used believes the np was wrong.

 

I worked with DS fulltime the 2nd half of 5th grade, and I tomato staked him. I parked myself beside him and did not move. I kept a very tight schedule because I knew DS would be returning to school in the 6th grade. I feel like we were a mix of OkBud and EKS. Breaks for DS involved rotating the laundry, checking the mail, and pouring himself a drink. Subjects were taught by time spent, and we rotated locations in the house and taught using mutiple modalities.

 

My DS has dyscalculia. We sat together at the kitchen table with two dry erase boards and solved problems together, over and over. When he was wrong, I didn’t make a huge production over it. We just started again until he got things right. I used multiple approaches. Math curriculum is really just problem sets with a scope and sequence that guided me, but I’m not married to it. After about 25 minutes we stopped. Honestly, I consider the math a long term issue. I managed my expectations and paced myself.

 

DS wrote BMEs and completed project/poster board type assignments. We rotated history and science. Two weeks of science and maybe 3 weeks of history. Those subjects were hands on, and I typed up notes. When school was over, I walked away. DS cooked up ideas and pursued interests that were awesome and totally his own.

 

Once DS came home again in 7th grade, I tomato staked him and slowly backed off whenever he demonstrated that he could work independently. My stepping back has taken years, and I still step in with subjects and review writing and physics. Training these kids is just hard.

 

Eta: The one advantage to teaching a gifted is that you can use harder materials that appeal to you, and then crank back to where the student can manage.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Heathermomster

[PeterPan]

Heather what's a BME?

[Heathermomster]

Heather what's a BME?

Beginning, middle, and ends...3 sentence plot summaries. We write those after reading a chapter or portion of a book. We also used mind maps for story elements. Edited February 5, 2018 by Heathermomster

[displace]

I'm still uncertain (re: curriculum).  I backed off CLE for Math.  I think the review will be too much.  Placement was at least into the 400s, and he was correctly figuring out decimals though we haven't covered it yet.  I disliked the lack of discussion from what I saw in the samples.  I'm going to attempt BJU as I liked the explanations well enough, but it also seemed to have enough review.  I can incorporate daily fact drills, but I need a program with earlier review incorporated. 

 

Lightning literature is a one semester course of fourth grade level books with grammar and creative writing.  I may incorporate REWARDS depending on higher level mistakes in reading aloud that we come across.  DS's reading level is between 1-4 grades above, likely still not at IQ but enough that reading grade level books should be ok.

 

OT outsourcing has been mediocre here.  We remediated upper body and fine motor strength sufficiently (and have been through other therapies as well), but we have been through many therapists who have not really helped with the dysgraphia/dyspraxia.  I'm getting ready to start the rounds again.  We continue on with extracurriculars to assist with dyspraxia, and at home activities for fine motor and upper body. 

 

I need more open-and-go routine curriculum, as best as able for a subject or two.  I need to focus on therapies and remediations that require my attention, plus give some lagging attention to strengths.  There are other issues at play necessitating an easier-for-mom-for-now curriculum.  Having multiple teacher intensive curricula is failing us both, no matter how awesome they are.  

 

 

[Heathermomster]

Maybe check out Math Minutes for review.

https://www.amazon.com/Math-Minutes-Grade-Alaska-Hults/dp/1574718150/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517875607&sr=8-2&keywords=math+minutes+4th+grade

[PeterPan]

BJU puts their review in the tm, and then they have printables on the included cd. What gets people is when they use the workbook without doing the whole lesson.

[displace]

BJU puts their review in the tm, and then they have printables on the included cd. What gets people is when they use the workbook without doing the whole lesson.

Thanks for the tip. I got the whole package and can follow instructions if included. :)

[displace]

Maybe check out Math Minutes for review.

https://www.amazon.com/Math-Minutes-Grade-Alaska-Hults/dp/1574718150/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517875607&sr=8-2&keywords=math+minutes+4th+grade

Thanks, I’ll look into it. I was perusing 180 days of math which has a lot of good basic review.

 

Homeschooling is hard, y’all!

[PeterPan]

I'll be interested to hear how BJU goes for you. They rewrote all the grade levels over the last few years, and they were a major jump. I used the older editions (prior to the BIG JUMP a few years ago) with dd, and it was good stuff. We had been coming from RightStart, which was a great foundation conceptually. BJU too had some good emphases conceptually, but it was the kind of thing where teachers who didn't understand could skip it or undermine it. I don't know really what they've done. But it was good stuff if you were of a mind to embrace the goodness.

 

The deal with BJU philosophically, like from the ground floor of the Press up, is that the teacher is not optional. It's always meant to include the teacher and be more than what the student will do just by reading the textbook and doing the workbook. So with BJU the lesson in the tm is an integral part. They want the teacher to bring something to the table. The other nice thing, something unusual in typical homeschool-generated materials, is that it's going to address multiple modalities of learning. So every lesson will have something for visual students, something for narrative learners, something for more kinesthetic kids, etc. It might not be to the MAX on that, but I really appreciated that. It was just this really solid, middle of the road choice that was actually possible to make work for a lot of kids.

 

My ds, I don't know. I don't know if I could get it to work. I just continue with our very eclectic mix. I don't think doing *one thing* will work with him because of his autism. It affects generalization, so he needs to do the concept or task so many other ways and locations for it to generalize. He'll know it in one setting and not the next. It's kind of infuriating, lol. 

 

But yeah, if you want to know, BJU with my dd (straight ADHD, no SLDs) was my secret lust, the one that I was always like wow I wish I could just put her in this straight. But she was so advanced in some ways that we couldn't. Sometimes the tedium would be hard but the skills/content were just way too easy. So then even bumping it up 1-2 grades in a subject didn't solve the problem. So when I say in the earlier posts that we used textbooks, those were usually BJU. We used some of the BJU junior high lit, high school history, that kind of thing. But we had to flex it really hard because it was so hard to get it to fit for her. The math was great for her when I could actually teach it to her. Once ds started taking a lot of my time, that was over. Then we were looking at independent options, which really were never as good. They were *ok* and we did finally get in a groove. She learned some good skills slogging through math independently, sure, but if I could have kept working with her myself, teaching her myself, using the BJU math, that would have been best. Even though it felt like a crunchy wicked fit (because of her low processing speed, because...), just saying the BJU taught by me (out of the box, flexed, brought alive, changing all the problems to LOTR stories, etc.) that was her best intersection. TT was sorta ok but MUS was her best fit for learning independently. But if I could have continued teaching her myself, BJU was the best. It's way better than some of the bland options people talk about like Lials, etc. bleh.

[exercise_guru]

There is a program that they do in my sons school called PROBE Its acronym stands for "project research on basically everything" and it is very well suited for the adhd mind because they can pick a topic on anything they are interested in learning more about. So far my son has done national park he wants to visit, an animal he is interested in, a science project, mythology. How it works is they come up with  a topic and then 4 open ended research questions. Then they take notes on each question and eventually turn it into a summary page paragraph with a graphic. Then they add two sentences covering information that was additionally learned. This would be ideal for science, history or just personal research writing. This would be ideal with both computer research and library research. 

 

With math if you can find a good online program that interacts with worksheets and demonstrations it would probably keep him more engaged. Also with science. The more he can self motivate and self direct the better. The challenge isn't the rigor of content it is more the motivation to learn and the discipline to stay engaged. There are some very good Webinars on this and other good topics at additude magazine that might be worth your time. 

[PeterPan]

There is a program that they do in my sons school called PROBE Its acronym stands for "project research on basically everything" and it is very well suited for the adhd mind because they can pick a topic on anything they are interested in learning more about. So far my son has done national park he wants to visit, an animal he is interested in, a science project, mythology. How it works is they come up with  a topic and then 4 open ended research questions. Then they take notes on each question and eventually turn it into a summary page paragraph with a graphic. Then they add two sentences covering information that was additionally learned. This would be ideal for science, history or just personal research writing. This would be ideal with both computer research and library research. 

 

LOVE this. My dd was so in that vein, and I think my ds could be.