Homeschooling ADHD Children
Homeschooling ADHD children is an excellent solution for many families. Homeschooling ADD and ADHD children provides the one on one attention that will help them thrive. You will probably even find that ADHD home schooling is not as difficult as you may think.
The ADHD child has unique needs. Therefore disciplining and teaching an ADHD child does require more structure and attention than what many homeschool families typically provide.
Parents of the ADHD child sometimes are often already overwhelmed by dealing with all the activity and lack of focus of the child. These families may require additional resources in order to home school ADHD children.
When parents of children with Attention Deficit Disorder consult me there is a long list of why, how, when, who and more that they ask about. Other than questions about medications (which are by far the most often asked questions), the possibility of homeschooling ADD and ADHD children is also frequently brought up.
Generally ADHD symptoms begin in these children between 3-5 years of age (pre-school age), which is a natural time to begin homeschooling.
Homeschooling an ADHD child will add stress to your life. Unlike other children, he needs more time, more effort, more patience and more attention to focus on simple things such as teaching a child how to brush their hair.
An ADHD child can be extremely demanding of your time and resources. Homeschooling ADHD kids requires a special temperament. Here are few ideas for parents, teachers and nannies to help with homeschooling ADHD children.
1. Be Patient:
An ADHD child is an Attention Deficit Hyperactive Child, but you already knew that. So be mentally prepared for someone who has difficulty sitting still and focusing while you are teaching.
But you should not forget that it’s not his fault. As you gain experience with teaching ADHD children, you will learn what your child's learning style is and when to be flexible in your approach to homeschooling him. And you are doing this effort for his benefit. Now hold your breath and get started.
2. Pre Teaching Extravaganza
What is this? It’s fun. First give him a good meal for ADHD children, let him play for an hour, take him to wash room . When everything is done and he has no excuses left, tell him now it’s time to study.
3. What to Teach Him First
When home schooling ADHD children it is best to teach him the things he dislikes the most first. I know he dislikes everything regarding study but I said “dislikes the most”. So by the end when he is about to run, he knows that a better thing is right around the corner and have more self control.
One of the keys to dealing with ADHD and homeschooling is routine. At first your child may fight the difficult subjects. However, after several days of the routing they will realize that they cannot get out of it, and will want to get to difficult subjects completed so that the can go on to something they enjoy more.
4. First Work on Oral Study Skills
Many children with ADHD also suffer with dyslexia and other learning disorders. They confuse between similar looking letters like b, d, p, q, l, t, m, n. So first teach them orally and when they are good at it, then teach them to write.
5. Use Unconventional Methods
A copy, pencil, rubber, sharpener and a book often won’t work here. Try using educational blocks, white boards, markers, crayons, plaster chine, play dough, game tiles and coloring books.
To home school ADHD children, try learning about the medium your child loves most. Teach him mathematics with practical things like grains for addition and subtraction. Balls, fruits, color pencils, anything that is countable.
6. Don’t Forget to Provide Daily Rewards
A prize, a gift or a reward in any form is always appreciated by everyone. This is especially true for ADHD home schooling. You will be amazed at how this will motivate a child to study on his own. He won’t run away that frequently. And please…. no false promises or all your effort will be gone.
Homeschooling ADHD and ADD children is incredibly effective. Your children will be raise by you rather than by their peers so that they will not pick up much of the anti social and anti learning attitudes that are so prevalent among children with ADHD.
Our teaching ADHD students page has other helpful information that can be used in the classroom as well as for ADHD homeschooling.
Herbal and mineral supplements have been shown to help improve behavior and performance for ADHD students. They work by helping relax the hyperactive child while improving brain activity. Get More Information on natural products that have been shown to help with the symptoms of ADHD.
More than Homeschooling ADHD on our raising ADHD child page.