In a recent write-up (9/22/10) in Time Magazine’s Healthland, entitled ADHD: Global Epidemic or Just a Bunch of Fidgety Youngsters? John Cloud asks if dosing youngsters with stimulants like Ritalin may possibly be an overreaction to straightforward fidgeting. Almost 3% of U.S. schoolchildren now take stimulant drugs like Ritalin, most of them boys between the ages of 6 and 14. Removing your kids from the classroom (and hence the want to sit still) to homeschool them may possibly be a viable answer. And of all subjects, math may benefit most from a homeschool curriculum.
Cloud says, “The rise in ADHD diagnoses amongst children indicates one of two things: either young children are much more fidgety and much less able to focus these days, or parents and doctors have grow to be less patient with the squirms and jiggles of childhood. Almost certainly both points are accurate: there’s much more to distract youngsters right now… and parents have a solution to fidgety children not open to their grandparents: diagnose them with ADHD and treat them with Ritalin.”
Possibly many diverse but related problems have come together to generate this crisis. 1) The proliferation of distracting toys, electronic and otherwise, severely hampers students’ innate capability to pay attention and stay on task. two) The standardization and rigidity of curriculum in the mainstream school system curtails teacher flexibility and creativity, and outcomes in increasingly dry and boring lessons. 3) The cutbacks in non-academic subjects contribute to the widespread lack of interest and creativity. 4) Less and less parent involvement in all phases of child rearing.
Homeschooling puts you, the parent, back in the driver’s seat. All of the issues listed above are addressed by schooling at property. Parents can provide fascinating, imaginative, creative, and engaging homeschool curriculum, whilst augmenting their academic programs with enrichment like art, music, sports… the possibilities are endless. A homeschooling parent’s involvement is a necessary and welcome factor that strengthens each child’s general wellbeing and confidence.
Cloud cites ADHD investigation from the University of Central Florida that suggests that “acting hyperkinetic… is not usually a sign that a child is distracted and not understanding. According to psychologist Mark Rapport of UCF, squirming and fidgeting can be a way kids maintain their cortical arousal – specifically their working memory – when faced with a dull job. Rapport has discovered that children with ADHD who are told to sit still perform worse on tests than those who are allowed to move around naturally.” Once again, essential factors to consider homeschooling.
Math is possibly the most difficult subject to teach kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. There is so much much less room to be creative and interesting, so much temptation to teach math in a no-frills, all-drill format. This can be a recipe for failure with a child predisposed to inattention and boredom. A nicely-constructed homeschool math curriculum can be just the remedy.
Your homeschool math curriculum enables you, the parent-teacher, the flexibility to adjust the curriculum to suit your children’s wants. Here are some basic, typical sense suggestions that can improve and enable any student’s (but particularly ADD/ADHD students) success with math:
1) Use color to differentiate the 4 processes (i.e., green=addition, blue=subtraction, red=division, and yellow=multiplication).
2) Permit the use of charts to help with calculation, specifically multiplication.
3) Supply manipulatives for both teaching and math practice.
four) Have students use graph paper (or use lined paper vertically) to assist with location value and number alignment.
5) Offer models of sample troubles.
6) Teach all steps required to solve problems and list the steps clearly.
7) Use art as a tool to support with visualization and to improve creativity and interest.
Supply handy, concise card sets that delineate important rules and concepts.
9) Use games for drills and practice.
10) Teach finger tricks for the far more challenging multiplication tables.
11) Have students function in groups or teams.
12) Advocate active math. Add movement to all drills and practice.
Math By Hand functions all of the above and much more. Hands-on, experiential studying is the panacea for several of the ills facing our beleaguered students, classrooms, teachers, and schools. Consider homeschooling, and contemplate applying all of the above suggestions to your homeschool math curriculum. You and your healthier, happier, effective student(s) will see initial hand that indeed, ADD + Homeschool Math = Success!