5 Tips I Used to Homeschool my ADD Elementary Kids

09 April 2013 / Elementary Homeschool, Social Skills, Special Needs / 0 Comment

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Two of my 5 kids were diagnosable ADD when they were young. That was a great reason to homeschool them. We could gear curriculum, format, and schedules around their rhythms (or lack thereof). It was mostly fun...

Here are 5 tips we used in homeschooling our ADD kids:

1) Short lessons

The definition of "short" varied by child (and by day). We worked until frustration built, then took a break to move and play. It stretched the homeschool day out longer but was perfect for my kids.

2) Lots of color

We often wrote spelling words and short papers with markers, crayons, and colored pencils.

3) "What should I be doing now?"

I would set a timer for one of my kids. Whenever it would beep, she would say, "What should I be doing now?" If she was on task, she got a sticker. Ten stickers earned a trip to the Dollar Store.

4) Movement as instruction

In their earliest days, we did addition and subtraction with hopscotch, would memorize Awana verses with homemade songs, and sometimes even do stretches during reading time.

5) Quiet time

For everyone's sake (especially mine), each day included a 30 minute quiet time after lunch. Each person would retire to his/her room and read, draw, build with Legos, or something similar. For 30 minutes, no one was talking to me. *yay*

My kids are grown now and doing just fine. Creative investment in the elementary years helped my homeschoolers to learn well.

What are some tips you can share about homeschooling your ADD kids?

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5 Tips for Homeschooling Kids with Learning Differences

09 October 2012 / Differences, News, Social Skills, Special Needs, Teaching / 1 Comment

Truth be told ALL kids have learning differences. That's because God made each child to be unique. Differences are only problems if they hinder a child's learning process. Here are some tips that have guided homeschooling my own children (I had one child with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, and a bit of childhood ADD-inattentive). (I learned these from my training as a counselor, but mostly from my educational psychologist mother, Dr. Rose Kellermann.)

1) Develop strengths

God made each child to have gifts and a special place in the universe. Homeschool parents have the opportunity to help their children discover and develop these gifts. My son is creative, visual, and loves movies. His strengths are in story-writing, art, silliness, and (as we learned over time) filmmaking. In elementary school, he told and drew stories, he scribbled pictures, he reveled in silliness.

Today, he's an education major at Lancaster Bible College. All his strengths from childhood give him sparkle in his studies.

2) Compensate for weaknesses

My son's dyslexia was a weakness because it hampered his ability to read. We worked on compensating for his weakness by using sight words instead of phonics. (Our favorite books for sight reading areMary Manz Simon's Bible Stories.) We would read these aloud together (me reading just a little louder than him), pointing to each word as we read. We read over and over, for days, until the book (and each individual word in it) was memorized. Simon's books revisit those same words so there is much re-enforcement.

To help with his auditory processing struggles, we found a 1904 diction book that was filled with ditties and rhymes. We memorized and said them daily, enunciating consonants carefully and emphasizing leaving space between words. Here's one of our favorites: Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.

He had just enough ADD to feel awkward in social settings, so I worked with him on 10 basic social skills. (They can be found in our book Social Skills for Children- just $3.99, btw.) This paid off with his ability to employ skills and make friends at church, AWANA, karate, and co-op

3) Use multi-sensory techniques

We did lots multi-sensory learning. We did hands-on work with reading: making letter and word cards of glue and glitter, felt, and sandpaper. We wrote in shaving cream, finger paint, and sand. We rubber banded 4 color-makers together to write multi-colored letters and words. We sang spelling words. (We hopscotched math problems, too.) It took a long time to get the basics down.  But it clicked in around 3rd grade.

4) Have fun

My son specialized in silliness. We made sure to give him plenty of time for fun (this often included interrupted lessons while he and siblings made up noisy conversations between imaginary characters).

5) Pray

Of course. "Nuff said. (But if you'd like some encouragement look at our prayer journals- activities to help expand your prayer life.)

To this day, my son leans into his strengths to enhance his success at college and just to have fun with his friends. Here are 2 of his You Tubes, one from his college lesson on Ralph Waldo Emerson, one with his buddy, Jake, spoofing Lord of the Rings:

5 Tips I Used to Homeschool My ADD Elementary Kids

08 October 2012 / Differences, Elementary Homeschool, News, Special Needs / 2 Comments

Two of my 5 kids were diagnosable ADD when they were young. That was a great reason to homeschool them. We could gear curriculum, format, and schedules around their rhythms (or lack thereof). It was mostly fun...

Here are 5 tips we used in homeschooling our ADD kids:

1) Short lessons

The definition of "short" varied by child (and by day). We worked until frustration built, then took a break to move and play. It stretched the homeschool day out longer but was perfect for my kids.

2) Lots of color

We often wrote spelling words and short papers with markers, crayons, and colored pencils.

3) "What should I be doing now?"

I would set a timer for one of my kids. Whenever it would beep, she would say, "What should I be doing now?" If she was on task, she got a sticker. Ten stickers earned a trip to the Dollar Store.

4) Movement as instruction

In their earliest days, we did addition and subtraction with hopscotch, would memorize Awana verses with homemade songs, and sometimes even do stretches during reading time.

5) Quiet time

For everyone's sake (especially mine), each day included a 30 minute quiet time after lunch. Each person would retire to his/her room and read, draw, build with Legos, or something similar. For 30 minutes, no one was talking to me. *yay*

My kids are grown now and doing just fine. Creative investment in the elementary years helped my homeschoolers to learn well.

What are some tips you can share about homeschooling your ADD kids?

 

5-Minute Friday: Light

06 April 2012 / 5-Minute Fridays, Special Needs, Sports / 2 Comments

On Fridays we link up to Lisa-Jo at www.thegypsymama.com and try a 5-minute post from a prompt word she suggests. No over-thinking. No over-editing. Just let it flow. Writing like breathing.

I like to try to connect Lisa-Jo's prompt word to our theme for the week.

This week we've been looking at Special Needs, and the prompt word today is LIGHT.

Ready-set-go!

There's a light that seems to radiate from people with special needs when they are in the presence of someone who loves them.

One of the loveliest stories in the news in our Delaware area this spring was about Elena Delle Donne, an extraordinarily gifted University of Delaware basketball player. While my husband is the sports-nut and I am the sports-dummy in our house, I found myself riveted every time Elena was on tv this spring, whether she was on the court or off.

Here's a clip from ESPN about her unique story, and her unique sister. If you are pressed for time, just watch from the 5:00 - 8:00 minute marks.

Lord, give me eyes to see the light coming out of the lives of each of your children. Help me see their giftedness, whether the gifts are obvious like Elena's skill and coordination on the basketball court, or harder to see like Lizzie's strength and determination and loving heart.

Give me eyes that see that light of YOU in others, no matter what special needs they may have, and teach me to love them so that my our love may help others to see that light of YOU in us.

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If you have never read the autobiography of Joni Eareckson Tada, you need to! Click here to view excerpts from our new study guide to accompany this extraordinary story of God's power in the life of a young woman paralyzed by a diving accident. Joni's story will change your life!

Equipping Homeschoolers to be Sensitive to Special Needs

03 April 2012 / Autism Spectrum, Differences, Helping Others, Relationships, Special Needs / 2 Comments

Parenting a child with special needs is no easy job, and I have the utmost respect for these parents.  I also have the responsibility to equip my own kids to understand how to appropriately interact with peers with special needs.  Here are some suggestions for helping young people become confident in reaching out to build relationships with peers who may look, sound, communicate, process information or move differently than they do.

*  PRAY.  One of the things we need to pray for our own kids is that they would grow in love for others, and grow in understanding those who may be confusing or frustrating to them in their flesh.  By beginning with prayer (in this endeavor, and in all things) we are going to the Source of all love, and asking Him to enlarge our children's hearts to extend love to all men.

*  TALK AHEAD OF TIME.  Sometimes we fail to talk to our kids about physical disabilities, speech impairments, autism, mental retardation, or the myriad other challenges that are a part of everyday life for many individuals but may not occur in our own immediate world.  Intentionally introduce the subject of ministering in love to people with special needs in your homeschool.  Use video, books, and conversation to honestly and fearlessly explore the topic.

Allow your kids to begin with using whatever words they need to in expressing their feelings when they think about interacting with someone with special needs.  If they say things like "weird," or "scary" or "embarrassing" in this private conversational context, they are not being mean -- they have to be able to honestly articulate how they feel in their flesh in order to recognize that they need something more, something from God, in order to deal with relationships that are out of their comfort zone.  When you make it safe for them to admit that they are intimidated by certain situations, you can then lovingly show them that Christ is our strength in weakness, and that we need to ask Him to equip us to reach out in love, to change our view of people who are different than us, and to teach us to minister to them in His love.

If I wait until a situation is unexpectedly thrust upon my child, I have done him (and the person with special needs) a great disservice.  My child needs to be equipped through conversation and research before the situation is in front of him.

*  BE DIRECT.  Every individual with special needs is just that:  an INDIVIDUAL with special needs.  There is no cookie-cutter that can be applied to a person because of a diagnosis.  The vast majority of people with special needs appreciate direct questions like, "Is there a way that I can help with this, or do you prefer that I stay out of your way?"  Asking the parent of a child with special needs very basic questions like, "What kinds of help may I offer your child?" will do more equipping in a few moments than weeks of fumbling and fearing offense.

If the child or parent is taken aback by your question, don't be offended.  That is simply your answer; this is a person for whom help from strangers or casual acquaintances is not desired.  Typically this type of reaction is NOT what you will get, but sometimes an individual or family is in the process of emotional adjustment to the special needs, and may not be comfortable to talk about it with you.  If you have asked the question in love, you can rest assured that you have not really offended, only offered help and been told that it is not needed at this time.

*  DON'T CRINGE.  If your children are young, they are likely to ask something of a person with special needs (especially visible physical disabilities) that may make you want to cringe.  Of a person with atrophied limbs, "Why do you legs look like that?" is not an insult, it's a genuine request for information.  The person who is dealing with those atrophied limbs every moment of  every day is likely to simply answer the question.  Don't make the situation complicated by jumping in to answer for them unless they seem unwilling to answer for themselves.  Following up with a gentle word of appreciation for the information validates everyone involved.

*  GET SPECIFIC WHEN YOU NEED TO.  An ongoing relationship (a co-op, a Sunday school class, a drama production) with someone with special needs will result in specific challenges where a solution will not be obvious.  Pray, take a deep breath, and deal with them specifically when they arise.  The longer you put off asking the awkward question or suggesting the delicate suggestion the harder it will be for everyone.

A hygiene issue arose in a play I directed in which a teenage student on the autism spectrum was unable to process my instructions to the whole cast about being diligent in using deodorant when we were working up a sweat close to one another onstage.  (Honestly, our church sanctuary where we held rehearsals was beginning to smell like a locker room!)  I had already spoken to the parents to make sure that the student was able to use deodorant, and I knew that the parents had sent a stick in to rehearsal.  But group admonitions like, "Wow, guys, we are really work hard here and it's starting to smell like it!  May I tactfully suggest we all check our deodorant?" were lost.  The response I got was a big smile:  "I made sure I put it on when I got out of the shower!"

What to do?  How to breathe?  The other students were struggling mightily with the situation.  I prayed, I took my student leaders in the cast aside privately and explained the new plan to them, and then I turned the challenge into a new cast-bonding activity.  In a cast meeting, I explained that as we approached opening night the sweat was getting out of control, and we would have to re-apply deodorant whenever I called for it.  Regardless of when you last put it on, it would  be an act of cast solidarity to add a little more when asked to.  My student leaders piped in with encouragement to everyone - "I make sure I shower and put on deodorant before rehearsal, and I STILL am getting smelly by the end of the first hour.  I think re-applying during rehearsal is a good idea."

Guess what?  It worked beautifully!  "RE-APPLY!!" became a rallying cry for the cast.  I would call it out, or one of the student leaders who noticed things "going south" onstage would start it, and before you know it every member of the cast was calling it out in response, marching merrily to their duffle bags to pull out a stick of deodorant.  It was the craziest thing; what could have ostracized a student became a rallying point for everyone in the cast.

*  ADDRESS YOUR OWN FEARS.  Sometimes we struggle to equip our kids to deal appropriately with special needs because we ourselves are uneasy or face fears of our own related to the particular disability or challenge.  Be honest with God first about your fears.  Then find someone with whom you can share honestly about your struggle.  Seek education for yourself via the internet or community resources.  Joni and Friends has fantastic resources for understanding individuals with physical disabilities.  Autism Help offers good information about spectrum disorders.

What has helped you equip yourself and your homeschoolers to minister lovingly to individuals with special needs?

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Have you downloaded our new literature study guide for Joni Eareckson Tada's autobiography, Joni: An Unforgettable Story?  Click here to view excerpts from this study guide with comprehension questions, supplemental resources and answer key for just $3.99.

Autism Spectrum, Asperger's Syndrome and Homeschooling

01 April 2012 / Autism Spectrum, Healthy Living, News, Special Needs / 6 Comments

April is Autism Awareness Month. Of course, if you're homeschooling a child on the autism spectrum, you are ALREADY aware. But for those who are not, please read on so that you can understand the world of our autism spectrum homeschooling families. Here is a lovely infographic from onlinecollege.org.

Austism is a "spectrum disorder". This means that the symptoms that a child experiences vary from child to child. On the continuum, a child with Asperger's Syndrome is on the mild end while a few children on the severe end are extremely impaired. The condition is caused by neurons in the brain doing a faulty job of processing information.

Here are some things to know about children on the autism spectrum. Each child will have different symptoms at various levels:

- They have problems with nonverbal interactions.

They may not make eye contact and their other nonverbal communication may be awkward (gestures, posture, and/or facial expressions may seem off).

- They have difficulty developing age-appropriate friendships.

They tend to miss social cues from others. They often feel uncomfortable around children their age.

- They are not good at social reciprocity.

They do not do well with the give and take of conversation. They might remain silent or talk ceaselessly, not listening or giving others a chance to talk.

- They often have an encompassing interest in one particular topic that is abnormal in intensity or focus.

They get stuck on one thing and have trouble shifting gears. It may be an interest that takes up all their spare time, or can be an addiction- like endlessly playing computer games.

- They might appear rigid in routines and have rituals they perform daily.

They are inflexible in these things and get very upset or stubborn if interrupted.

- They might have motor clumsiness.

The agility needed to climb, run kicking a ball, peddle a bicycle, or open a jar may be missing.

- They may have problems with recognizing their own moods.

They may become angry quickly, may become irritable or contrary, may have depressed mood or anxiety- but be completely unaware.

- Some may have sensory integration problems or hypersensitivity to environment.

Certain lights, sounds, temperatures, or textures may be experienced as distracting or uncomfortable.

- These symptoms cause significant impairment in settings outside the home and often inside the home.

What can you do to help?

If your child has some of these symptoms, here’s the major thought you can think: “I will help my child strengthen his gifts and redeem his weaknesses.”

Specifically, here are some tips:

1- Help him explore his interests

-unless they are unwholesome- 4 hours a day on the computer doing anything is not a good idea for a child.

2- Help her find her gifts

All children have God-given gifts.  Any child will feel better about herself if she knows the things God has instilled in her.

3- Expose him to as many new things as possible

Go on field trips, read books together, play board games

4- Teach her social skills and etiquette

Practice etiquette, conversation, watching social cues together. This should be a daily part of homeschooling curriculum. (Here are the exercises that I find helpful for my clients who experience Asperger's Syndrome.)

5- Keep firm yet loving parenting boundaries

Don’t let your child’s temper tantrums, arguments or anxieties force you to bend or ignore family rules. A good book for parenting these kids is One, Two, Three- Magic for Christian Parents by Thomas Phelan PhD.

6- Help church and youth group leaders understand your child

Explain autism and Aspergers, help them feel comfortable with support and boundary setting for your child.

7- Explore curriculum until you find good fits

This is important for all kids, but it may be more difficult for a child with Asperger Syndrome. (You might have to give up on your beloved sentence diagramming and concentrate on more basic grammar.) What you want is the balance of good education and low frustration levels.

8- Get counseling and medication, if needed (for you or your child)

Sometimes in my counseling office, I work with the mother of an autism-spectrum child because she gets tired, discouraged, and anxious from working so hard with her special homeschooler. Sometimes I work with the child to learn self-awareness and social skills. Sometimes these precious kids need medication for sleeping or anxiety management.

9- Get support for you and your child

Some of my favorite internet resources are OASIS, Parenting Aspergers Community, Special Needs Radio, understandingSPD.com.

Also, Super Single Mom has a lovely poem and her own story (and the cool graphic from Online College).

10- Pray a lot

God doesn’t make mistakes. When He gives us special kids, He is doing so within His plan. Pray for your child to know God and God’s plan for him.

If you are a friend of a parent who is homeschooling an autism-spectrum child, you might want to think about:

1- An occasional respite field trip for the child (or mom).

2- Frequent encouraging words.

3- Inclusion in group activities where appropriate.

What are some ways you invest in autism-spectrum homeschoolers that you know?

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This week we are concentrating of special homeschool situations.

We would like to recommend that teens read Joni: an Unforgettable Story by Joni Earekson Tada. This autobiography tells of Joni's life with disability and God's triumph in and through her.

It is so important for young people to understand the lives of others- and to know that God works in everyone.

Download our Study Guide for Joni for only $3.99 for help with the story, vocabulary, and comprehension questions.