| As homeschool parents, there are many options | | | | parents, you can create an assignment book that |
| for teaching our children. I have found the variety | | | | links Time4Learning assignments to the skills they |
| out there to actually be overwhelming, but few | | | | were supposed to learn. I use this to record his |
| resources actually meet my needs. My son is | | | | grades for the school board to review each year. |
| gifted, but has ADHD. As a clinician and a | | | | I have found customer service to be very |
| professor, I hated seeing him struggle in school. | | | | receptive to suggestions, they are regularly adding |
| Each day he would tell me he had "Carnitors" | | | | new features and their customer support is |
| (T-Rex's for the rest of us) in his tummy. After | | | | prompt and courteous. |
| meeting with his teacher several times, it became | | | | A third resource is This site has TONS of ideas, |
| clear that the school was unable/unwilling to meet | | | | printable worksheets and activities. Since kids with |
| his needs to my satisfaction. Kids with ADD | | | | ADD/ADHD have difficulty switching tasks, it is |
| ADHD need a place with few distractions, short | | | | often preferable to have one "subject" per day |
| bursts of learning followed by physical activity, | | | | and present it in a variety of formats (reading |
| structure and learning materials tailored to how | | | | about it, watching a movie about it, applying it). |
| they learn and learning times scheduled around | | | | Other resources include: |
| when they learn best. | | | | Discovery School: |
| After spending several months and several hours | | | | ABC Teach: |
| each day creating his lessons piece-meal, I found | | | | FunBrain: |
| a couple of wonderful resources. The first is AOL | | | | SuperKids: |
| at school: There is an amazing amount of | | | | Everything4Kids: (This is geared to the older or |
| information, links to complete online textbooks | | | | advanced student) |
| and more. This is where I go when he finds a | | | | KidsKnowIt: |
| topic of interest and he wants to know more. | | | | These last resources do not have a syllabus or |
| (Remember when we had to get our parents to | | | | curriculum, but they are FUN. For the child with |
| take us to the library?) One of the benefits here | | | | ADD/ADHD this is especially important. Some |
| is that it is FREE! The textbooks range from | | | | days they are too stressed, tired or focused on |
| kindergarten all the way through high school and | | | | something else to concentrate on "the basics." As |
| cover most topics. | | | | long as this does not happen too often, it is fine |
| The second resource I found serves as the | | | | to let your child do an off-topic educational |
| foundation for our homeschooling curriculum: | | | | activity that he or she is interested in. In our |
| Time4Learning provides a multimedia, interactive | | | | house it is usually wildlife ( dinosaurs(KidsKnowIt) |
| experience for kids covering all basic subject | | | | or space (NASA). |
| areas. For children with ADD/ADHD, you can | | | | One suggestion is to set kid's profiles up with |
| break it down into snippets of 10 minute lessons. | | | | icons on their desktops to only the 5-10 sites |
| Additionally, many of the lessons combine | | | | they are supposed to go to. My children will often |
| subjects. That is, the "Language Arts" lessons are | | | | stay on the coputer for hours if they can. Children |
| often on topics of health, science and history. This | | | | with ADD get overwhelmed if they have too |
| helps ease my mind considerably, because I can | | | | many choices and things to look at. This helps limit |
| know he is learning educational material when he | | | | their distractions. |
| reads. (Many of the so called reading books from | | | | Sean went from a child who would look at a page |
| his public school were no more than See Spot | | | | in a book and say "Far too many words" to a |
| Run). The other advantage with Time4Learning is | | | | child who reads to me and asks "Was I reading |
| that they set your child up at his/her grade level. | | | | fluently Mommy?" I have gotten the time back in |
| As I said, despite the ADHD, my son is gifted. He | | | | my day to start working part-time again. |
| is set up to do 2nd grade work (he is in first | | | | Between these all of these resources most any |
| grade), but he can progress as fast as he can | | | | child and/or homeschool family can find what they |
| and still master the material, or he can have easy | | | | are looking for. |
| review days and do grade-level work. For | | | | |