Any ADHD parents out there?

[YaelAldrich]

I am asking on behalf of an acquaintance of mine who is considering HSing because their family cannot afford to send their children to private Jewish schools (in the Orthodox Jewish community, schools are basically non-negotiable for every child and they run $6-20,000 a year per child). Now bear with me that this reason alone is not the ideal reason to start HSing, but this is where she is at.

 

Now, she has a daughter (I think about 8yo) who is super sociable and doesn't want to HS because she would apart from her friends, but she would try to HS the younger child.

 

The mother says she is pretty severely ADHD and has a very hard time organizing, setting a schedule, etc. I do not think she is on any medications nor on therapies either. Is this crazy? She would have to teach both secular studies and Jewish studies unless she farmed some of it out. She heard about K12 and is interested since it would be scheduled for her. Advice, suggestions? I know too little about the topic to be helpful.

 

Yael

[cindergretta]

I am ADD and not on meds for it as they make my heart race.

 

I won't lie to you - it is a constant challenge. I feel like I work twice as hard for half the result. :glare: It takes a lot of support from dh. It takes a lot of encouragement from my hs'ing friends. Heck, even my non - hs'ing friends!

 

It can be done but as an untreated ADD sufferer, I do feel like we need a little more support than the average hs'er.

[Love_to_Read]

How much accountability is in your state? It's a hassle, but it can actually be helpful to be forced to create a plan or records of what you're doing.

 

There's so much curricula available if she needs help with structure. I don't think it's impossible, particularly for just one child. Children have a way of reminding you that they exist and cannot be left idle, as long as you know what's next and don't need a ton of prep for a given activity.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Love_to_Read

[YaelAldrich]

She's in NY. Rather high accountability. There are many curricula for secular stuff, not at all for Jewish stuff (those of us who do this, cobble lots of stuff together or make up our own). I think having her child being bored is her real worry.

[YaelAldrich]

She's in NY state - rather high amount of accountability. She's worried about her children being bored...

[Love_to_Read]

Well, for NY, you have to submit a plan as to which books you'll be using, right? That means that she will have to sit down and cobble together a list in advance. What works for us is to just press on with "Do the next chapter." Or next subject of the day, or next book. Planning what she wants to do besides read is a bit tricky, but we usually settle into a good routine...these books lend themselves to narration, these for notetaking, this is how we study vocabulary. Routine like that is good for ADHD...it alllows one to notice that the child is idle and ask, "Have you done the next thing yet?" It can be hard to keep up with gathering materials for experiments, and grading work, and other details, but the main parts get done because a bored child usually calls attention to herself, at least if she's the only one. If she has a long list of resources before she begins, then when her child is done with the main bookwork, she can pull out a video, or game, or historical fiction, or music, or directions for a lapbook, etc., etc. to fill the time. The danger is when an ADHD parent hasn't thought far enough ahead to have enough to keep the child busy, but if she has to prepare a list for NY, she can simply note all the extras as she's writing it down, and pull them out each time they near the end of a topic.

 

Quarterly reports could be a little rough if she allows herself to procrastinate. If she can get in the habit of blogging, or having them keep notebooks, or jotting down a daily log of what progress was made...things like that would help her to write the reports.

[WishboneDawn]

I'm ADD and not on meds because I'm pregnant at the moment.

 

What helps:

 

Open and go curriculum

My organizing system in my siggy

 

Open and go works because I get to bogged down when there are too many components or much planning. The dish racks and nightstands in the links help because they keep the homeschooling contained and manageable and let the books pretty much organize themselves.

 

I think the most important thing for me is to schedule just enough. That means I only really plan out our work a week at a time. That keeps things together for 5 days but if life interrupts it's not so dire and schedule-disrupting that I lose my head over it.

 

My most powerful tools though are honestly a good night's sleep, a good protein-filled breakfast, exercise, meds (usually) and a very predictable routine every day.

 

I'd encourage you friends to join us here. We can certainly offer tips and tricks to help her through.

[Renee in NC]

I'm ADD and not on meds because I'm pregnant at the moment.

 

What helps:

 

Open and go curriculum

My organizing system in my siggy

 

Open and go works because I get to bogged down when there are too many components or much planning. The dish racks and nightstands in the links help because they keep the homeschooling contained and manageable and let the books pretty much organize themselves.

 

I think the most important thing for me is to schedule just enough. That means I only really plan out our work a week at a time. That keeps things together for 5 days but if life interrupts it's not so dire and schedule-disrupting that I lose my head over it.

 

My most powerful tools though are honestly a good night's sleep, a good protein-filled breakfast, exercise, meds (usually) and a very predictable routine every day.

 

I'd encourage you friends to join us here. We can certainly offer tips and tricks to help her through.

 

EXACTLY what Dawn said - open and go, simple organizing system, regular routine/schedule. Without these, we just don't get stuff done.

 

Oh yeah - staying off the internet helps, too.:lol::tongue_smilie: