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I have had limited success with my son, sometimes good, sometimes fair, and want to find a way to
homeschool.
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Question:
I am a parent with adhd, severe, and want to explore
homeschooling. The only thing maybe I've done "right" is caring for my so
far, undiagnosed with adhd, child. I was diagnosed with adhd 4 yrs. ago,
began meds 1 yr ago, after much soul searching. I have had limited success
with meds, sometimes good, sometimes fair, and want to find a way to
homeschool.
Reasons: desire for better education can't afford private school
extremely concerned about child's physical safety in public schools
concerned about moral and spiritual development vs. peer pressure
want to avoid religious indoctrination of religious private schools
personally have trouble communicating with administrati in any institution
personally have trouble being on time (I know, I know, I'm a societal failure, worthless, hopeless and not worthy)
personally challenged by deadlines
personally unable to complete forms, the simpler they are, the more difficult for me
I AM extremely motivated to be the best parent I can be.
That's why I am still taking the meds.
Please, if you know of any other single adhd parents who also have
homeschooled, or even adhd married parents who have homeschooled, please
could you have them either e-mail me, or tell me how to check the website
for their postings? I know of several adhd websites, but am exploring this
website because I saw some subject headings related to adhd parents and
homeschooling.
Again, I'm new to websites postings, not sure if this is the internet, or what,
or what the etiquette is, know I don't want to be flamed or have 250 e-mails
a day, am I in the right place.
Answer:
- First off, yes you are in the right place. There are a few flame-baiters
in the group, but they will be readily apparent.
Second, yes, it is possible to be single and homeschool. Yes it is
possible to have ADD and homeschool. Either is very difficult. Both? I
can't say. I don't want to discourage you, but I do want to give you some
realities to check w/.
I am married (to a probable ADD'er), and I have ADD myself, as well as
having at least one child w/ ADD (and probably five total, since that's how
many kids we have.) We began homeschooling before it even occurred to
us that anyone of us had ADD. I was interested for many of the same
reasons as you (except that I wanted to be sure to indoctrinate them in
religion); since I also had studied to be a teacher, and seem to have a
knack for one on one teaching, I figured that it would work.
And it has, in spite of all my failings. Even though the timing and
scheduling is up to us, we still need some sort of a routine to the day in
order to get everything done. W/o it, assignments pile up, and it becomes
difficult to meet the state requirements (which, btw, do vary from state to
state). The year before last, we wound up homeschooling all through the
summer because we'd gotten so far behind. This year, we pretty much stayed
on track-- but then this year, I've been medicated and so has our son who
is diagnosed ADD.
I'm guessing you're having a hard time staying in meds for financial
reasons? Sorry if I presume too much, but if that is the case, I highly
recommend cutting anything you can from your expenditures and put it toward
meds. W/ the right meds at the right dosage (something I'm still not sure
I've got), your ADD won't even be a problem.
What type of job do you have? Can you accomodate your work schedule plus
x-number of hours / day teaching your child? In our state, we are required
to have our child do school work four hours a day for homeschooling. Now,
we can stretch it a bit-- taking our child grocery shopping and having him
help out can count as home ec. ;-) but it is still a chunk of time. If you
are working a 9 hour day, plus 4 hours of homeschooling, plus 7 hours of
sleep, that leaves you 4 hours leeway-- which trust me, isn't a whole lot.
I'm not saying it can't be done; I am saying that, unless you have some
special skills in teaching, or work at home, or your schedule somehow
otherwise leaves you w/ the time to teach (and don't forget the time it
takes to prepare lessons-- sometimes three or four hours a week right
there), it will be extremely difficult.
I think that there are some homeschooling websites-- you might be able to
check those for feed back from single parents who homeschool.
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