Taking the tedium out of homeschooling?

Question

My 12 year old suffers from dislexia and adhd. This is a big part of the reason I am homeschooling him. He tends not to do nearly as well in a school setting academically as he does at home, with one on one attention. I am finding that the methods that tend to teach him things more effectively are also the most tedious and boring. Repetition seems to be the key to getting info stuck firmly in his head. Every morning we go over the multiplication tables with flashcards. If he has trouble with one we repeat it over and over, and sing it over and over and sometimes I even make him dance with me to the "7 x7 is 49" song. He reads from his story and then writes one page about what he read, at which time I make corrections and he has to write the whole paper over again. If there are still mistakes he writes it over again, or if the handwriting is sloppy. Then, I take whatever words he spelled wrong (at the 1st of the wk), and those are the week's spelling words. If he does a math sheet,...

Answer 1

Well, if its working then you might want to stick with it for the most part, but maybe make occasional modifications to avoid burn-out.

Here are a few things to add interest and shorten some lessons:

Make his reading stories be about things that he is interested in, (for my son that would be motorcycles, race cars, robots, and, believe it or not, flowers.)

Let him do an alternate activity about his story on occasion instead of writing the page.  I don't mean every time, since writing is important, but on occasion to give him a break you might let him draw a picture instead, or build a model, or give an oral review about it, or act it out with action figures.. you get the idea.

Also be sure to include hands on science.  Since he is working so hard in other subjects with reading, writing, memorization, etc.  Let science be a fun subject with lots of hands on stuff and as little writing as possible.  If you are using a curriculum for science do the reading portion by reading out loud to him, and do the questions by letting him tell you the answers while you write them down.

Go on field trips to fun places.

Make his math sheets short if you can, since he has to re-do whatever he misses.  That way he won't spend all day on math.  You can easily have him only do the odd numbered problems or the even numbered problems.  Or you can cross off selected problems from the worksheet, being sure to keep the ones you think he most needs to do.

While it is important to memorize the multiplication tables, you might on occasion just take a break and then come back to do the ones he missed.  And on occasion just do a "fun" review where there is no penalty for mistake.  For instance, let him review flash cards on his own some days, where all he has to do if he misses one is say it one time again.

I also agree with the people who suggested not making him re-do his entire writing paper because of a mistake.  I am a writer by trade, and I still make mistakes.  I have even found mistakes in published books, which means that they made it by both the author and the editor.  Everyone makes mistakes.  Instead of re-doing the whole thing that day, he could either just make his corrections by erasing and fixing what was wrong, or if you really want him to re-do the whole thing he could have the re-write be his assignment for the next day.  If you are requiring perfect penmanship, practice it separately from composition and only have him do one sentence each day, but it must be done as neatly as he can.

I can relate with you.  My son really struggled to learn to read and what actually worked with him was a program that I personally HATED.  It was repetitive, tedious, and time consuming.  The stories were not as interesting as the ones I would have picked.  But my son was learning to read so we continued.  Many people would have said to me not to use that because it wasn't fun and it took too long, but sometimes, especially with a special needs child, you just have to do what works!

Answer 2

Have you tried putting him on fish oil tablets? While not a cure, it can help a lot with dyslexia, and ADD too I think.

Instead of making him re-write his story, perhaps he can type it? While it is a nice thing to have good handwriting, it just isn't going to happen for many of us. I know! My mother made me practise for hours after school, and it never did me a bit of good! I wonder whether handwriting ability is genetic. In this day and age, touch typing is a more used skill. Perhaps for handwriting, send him to calligraphy classes. (I pinched that idea off someone else.) Calligraphy doesn't actually use the same skill as handwriting, so I'm told, so he may be able to learn to do better at that. I don't know, but I'm guessing that you could start off doing calligraphy with a paintbrush, and work down to a pen. I don't know if the skill is transferrable in that way, but it would add a bit of variety, at the least.

I'd also get him into some crafts, they can allow him a break from academia, but he's still learning something useful. Cooking is useful, and teach him to sew or weave. These skills require maths, and boys like to use skills in a practical setting. They also give him a way of making Christmas presents for the family, and it is about time to start thinking of such things!

Good luck :)

Answer 3

The things you are teaching your son are the absolute necessities - math facts and proper basic writing.  So...I don't think that field trips or other unrelated things are going to help him learn these things.  Practice is what he needs.  What you need are ways to practice that are varied and a bit more acceptable.  The person who suggested games is probably right on track, but one thought here - my kids are 12 and 13 and when they were LITTLE I taught MOST new concepts through games, so their preschool - 3rd grade was fun.  However, most curricula get harder in grades 4, 7, & 9, no matter what you choose, and when we had to start spending more time on school, my kids' interest in games waned.  They'd rather do it and get it over with and then pursue their hobbies or go some place or do something active.  So we haven't played a game in I-don't-know-how-many-years in school.  So...I say that to say...make sure that your son has a say in the 'games' thing if it's going to take longer.  Some sort of activity might be better, such as: saying multiplication tables and every time he gives an answer he jumps either backward or forward over a broom or onto a different square of tile or does a jumping jack - things like this would not take any longer and would make things interesting as well as give him some active time, which is something really needed at that age.

Another thought for the math facts is...both my kids have known all their facts for years, but are TOO SLOW at them.  I didn't want to use flashcards so I got those cards with the long combinations on them from A Beka.  They are WONDERFUL.  I think it is called 'Rapid Calculations.'  You get 100 cards, with 7 LONG combinations on each.  The combinations are things like, "2 + 14 divided by 4...." with about 15 things there.  I do them with my kids each day, separately, and if the kid needs more time he raises his hand and I slow down, and if the kid gets the answer wrong we just go redo it.  We just started on these a couple of weeks ago and they are really great. It is a way of reviewing that encourages quick thinking, PLUS my kids can do flashcards LICKETY-SPLIT, but when other things are introduced, their basic math facts get too slow.

For his daily writing, I would suggest possibly doing it on computer.  You could then point out the mistakes and have him correct them, rather than having him rewrite the whole paper.  Or, if you wanted him to hand write it for penmanship practice, maybe you could have him hand write the 'draft,' and you two could correct it, then he could type it up.  

I don't know exactly what you are doing for math, but for my kids when they miss a problem on the daily worksheet, we do the problems together on a separate sheet of paper, then the child redoes it himself on his worksheet.  They do have to show their work.  If they only miss one or two, then we will do the problem on a separate sheet of paper but I will substitute different #'s, so there isn't a problem with them remembering the answer.

Also, your attitude is really important - if you are doing something that you consider repetitious, but it is something that HAS to be done that way, then do it while being very pleasant and cheerful, and that will go a long way towards your son not feeling bored.

Feel free to email me if you want to chat some more!

Answer 4

I have a child with ADD and dyslexia (10) and one with ADHD (12). I homeschool both. I think you probably are boring him to death! :P Instead of doing the flash cards...show him why 7x7 is 49. Get beans out and put 7 rows of 7 and then have him count them. Show him that if you add 7 seven times you get 49. This is what we did with my children and it helped so much...the idea behind why you multiply can be a great tool. Sloppy handwriting at that age is normal. Don't punish him for sloppy handwriting but encourage him with small rewards for good handwriting at the end of the week. My children get to go pick out a movie at the end of the week if they get good handwriting all week. I look at my own handwriting and sometimes it's not all that great....when you write all day long you tend to get worse as the day goes on! Why does he have to write the whole paper over again??? Start teaching him proofreading and rewriting until the final draft...teach him to go over his own papers and learn how to correct the mistakes. Math can be done by cooking also which is lots of fun...cut recipes in half or double or multiply by 3. Good luck....

Answer 5

Homeschooling and school at home are two different things.  I would have games galore for this child, lots of hand's on activities and science experiments, computer programs, and allow him to follow his interests. The idea is to fit learning into his interests not try to force his interest into learning.

For math, find something he likes to do to make money.  Raise chickens and sell eggs, collect baseball cards, mow lawns.  Whatever it is.  Use his interest and the earned cash as an incentive to work with numbers. Make games out of the mult facts similar to the songs.  Maybe make the flashcards and play war. Each person flips a card and the higher product gets a penny.  Tie his allowance to these games.  There are other math programs that are great for learning resistant kids like Miquon or Singapore that use visual cues to aid in learning.

There is a wonderful spelling program for dyslexic children, in fact all children called AVKO.  Find it and use it.  It is amazing. I got mine on ebay for about $10, so it doesn't have to be expensive.

My only other advice would be to stay far away from the rote programs or accelerated programs like CLASS, AO, or Abeka or even BJU.  Think out of the box.  Consider Konos, Hewitt, Moore, or even the Prairie Primer, etc.

Answer 6

Field trips can be a great way to educate and a break from the rote learning.  Being at home, you are much freer to do this.  I wouldn't worry so much about the method you are using, as long as you give him breaks from doing it.  And one important thing I think is to get him involved somehow socially with kids his own age.  When he's older he can probably be in band or whatever at the local school.  But even a little league team would be good for him.  A big part of school is social learning.

Answer 7

Why dont you take him shopping with you and have him keep track of the expenses? This way he can see the application of multiplication tables and that they have a use in real life. It's easier to mutiply 5x0.50 then to add it. My son had ADD too and it helped him see applications. Made it more interesting.

Answer 8

Building on Petra's answer, there are some great math options for his age...  We used a workbook called Grocery Cart Math by: Jaye Hansen, but the concepts can be found online with a search for "Grocery store Math". It applies all those numbers, comparisons, adding, subtracting, multiplication and division. There are also computer games to help build those multiplication facts.  Variety will help spice things up... how about timed tests with a goal to improve each time...  (this week he got 7 multiplication problems right.. goal is 8 or better for next week! He even has the specific multiplication problems he needs to study.) Remember too that he may always be slow in the multiplication tables.. thankfully there are calculators and those skills need to be developed too. Some are just NOT great mathematicians.

http://www.multiplication.com/activities...

http://www.aplusmath.com/games/matho/Mul...

http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/alta/games...

As for handwriting.. I think you are going a little heavy on that.. I expect the papers to be legible but not perfect. Most writings (in higher ed and in the workplace) are done on the computer. His writings can be done on a word processor program for quicker editing and improving typing skills.  

Overall, relax!  Let him ENJOY learning and a develop a willingness to learn. With the constant repeat.. you probably are boring him and taking away that desire and willingness to learn.