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