Having a child with ADHD is interesting, to say the least. I'm always looking for new and creative ways to make learning 'fun' and 'appealing'. Here are a few things that have worked for us:
Reading: I learned quite quickly that Nicholas greatly disliked reading. His lack of interest was a good hint, but his being vocal about the fact was present daily. Having bought books that were on grade level, and knowing that his reading level was not quite up to par (info via the public school system), we decided to team-read. I read the title of the book, as well as the author to him. Then, I read the first page. At this point, Nicholas can decide (out of the next two pages) which one he wants to read. Most of the time he will count the lines and choose the page with the least amount of words (I assumed this when we began reading in this manner); however, there are days when he chooses to read the page with the most words. There are even days when it's his choice to do all of the reading. Having said that, when it comes to reading... it's NEVER an option for me to do all of it!!
Read-alouds: We usually do one 'planned' read-aloud per week. This is always a chapter book!! We read other books throughout the week, as well, but the 'planned' one is required. With Nicholas' attention span not being what it should, I always give him a choice of something to do with his hands during this time. Playdough, silly putty, legos, puzzles, and drawing are his favorites. Then, there are days when he asks if he can practice doing headstands or forward rolls while I'm reading to him... Whatever works!!
Grammar: When we started homeschooling Nicholas, I wanted to incorporate some type of grammar... don't ask why. He was 7... now 8 years old. I began with him writing all of the answers in the workbook. He was bored. Then we went to doing grammar aloud. My goal was to make sure he could use the English language properly... did/do, have/got, etc. Needless to say, we've put the grammar away for the rest of the school year, and will pick up something different in the fall. This is not something that is a priority at the moment.
Math: This is my baby misfit's favorite subject!! He's good at it. He understands it. He even excels at it! The only issue I'm having with the chosen curriculum is that it is quite repetitive. This is boring him! We skip around a lot... if he's not learning something new, then his mind wonders and the complaining starts. We do drill every other day... usually three days per week. He seems to like this. Sometimes it oral, and sometimes written. We play games with money and dice. We play Uno and blackjack (now... before I get a lot of comments on this one, let me explain... it's addition). We play many other card games, as well. He does graphing with different objects, makes charts, and we play store (his new favorite 'game'). We also have tangrams... these are fabulous for all ages;)
Spelling: I didn't want to have a set schedule for spelling (Monday-write words, Tuesday-use in sentences, Wednesday-write definitions... you get the point). It seems a bit redundant, even for me!! And boring... who wants that?! We do have two days that are 'the same' from week to week. Our spelling schedule is as follows:
~Monday - type spelling words and print two copies (one for me, and one that he hangs by a magnet in his bedroom).
~Tuesday - fun spell day.
~Wednesday - creative writing
~Thursday - this used to be test day, but Nic has requested a second fun spell day;).
~Friday - test.
(The days in bold are the only days that are 'routine'. The others vary with creativity.)
Fun spell days may include any of the following: Writing words in shaving cream on the kitchen table. Writing them in salt or sand. Painting words on large butcher paper. Writing words with a white crayon on a white piece of paper, and then painting with watercolors. Magnet letters. Writing words on notecards and putting in alphabetical order. Find the missing letter (use notecards and place a small piece of black construction paper over any letter).
Creative writing days are similar to fun spell days. The only difference is that the words are handwritten. Some activities may include: Writing words with crayons, using different colors (rainbow words). Use each word in a sentence. Put words in ABC order... or reverse order. Use all of the words in a story.
There are many, many activities to use to spice up your spelling words... just google it;)
History/Science: For these areas of study, we read lots and lots of 'real' books, and do many, many projects. I alternate subject areas, so far, so that we can dive into them as far as we'd like. And, I'm trying to keep it easy... and, this is easy for me;)
In addition to the about subject areas, Nicholas does handwriting daily... no ditto sheets or workbooks. He writes letters, postcards, stories, etc. Whatever he'd like, really. I encourage him to use his best handwriting in all that he does... we discuss, daily, how we can respect others by making our writing legible. It works for now, so we're sticking with it;)
I've addressed the areas of bible study, character study, and nature study in the below previous post. I want to also add that we are planning to incorporate artist studies and composer studies into our school day beginning next year.
Next up... YOU SCHOOL WHERE???
To be continued...
cw
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