More and more homeschooling parents have asked me about Attention Deficit Disorder and the best way to homeschool their children who have ADD or ADHD. I found this list of ADD/ADHD resources online, I thought I’d share it with everyone.
“Excerpted from Teaching Strategies: Education of Children with Attention Deficit Disorder.
Effective classroom teaching requires knowledge about attention deficit disorder, a solid grounding in behavioral management, skill in instructional design, and an awareness of the disorder’s medical components. This understanding is enhanced when strong relationships are built between professionals and families.
The following articles outline suggestions and strategies to use when working with students with ADD/ADHD:”
Classroom teachers play a key role in identifying students who are ADD/ADHD. The first step in identification is being clear as to what attention deficit disorder is and what it is not.
A brief description of why schools have teams consisting of qualified professionals, on which medical professionals often serve, to identify students with attention deficit disorder.
Virtual schools, cyber school, online academies. These terms seemed foreign to most Americans ten years ago, but with advancements in technology and the deterioration of the public school system, virtual schools are growing in popularity. The Tucson Citizen documents the growth of virtual schools in Arizona.
Below is what some Arizona students are saying about their virtual school experience:
“I won’t have the distractions of other people in class who don’t want to do their work and who are trying to get me to join them,” said William Huston
“The flexible schedule is great and a lot less stressful,” said Rebekah Devine.
“I’d like to finish high school in three years, so the virtual classes are great. This summer I was able to do what I wanted during the day and do my classes at night,” said Diana Garcia.
Home school combined with Christian online academies is an outstanding way to educate children. Home schooling with online academies has proven to be extremely successful. While virtual schools eliminate the dangers of public schools it does not eliminate students learning about evolution and other fallacies. Instead, Christian home schooling online academies teach home schoolers the truth of the Gospel and allow parents to instill Godly values into their children.
Seventy-eight charter schools have closed in Florida between 1996 and 2006. Ronnie Blair of The Tampa Tribune gives charter schools a mixed report for the first ten years charter schools have operated in Florida. Blair writes that “charter schools are public schools funded by taxpayers but operated by private individuals, organizations or other public entities. They are free from government regulations other than testing, health and safety requirements.”
Most charter schools aren’t significantly different than public schools. While on the surface, some charter schools may appear to be successfully educating students, it only seems successful when comparing it to the abysmal public school system. Since charter schools are less regulated than public schools there is more of a chance for mass cheating, like charter schools in Texas, or other disreputable activities.
Blair notes that failing grades and mismanagement of schools were two big reasons why so many charter schools in Florida were shut down. Too many times people with good intentions, but no business-sense or background in education try to save children from public schools by opening up a charter school. In the end, though, some charter schools end up being worse than public schools.
The most effective alternative to the public school system is homeschooling. A charter school that is recognized as being successful still only offers one-size fits all curriculums. Charter school classrooms are just a little less crammed than those of public schools. Homeschools don’t have to deal with any of these problems and homeschooling delivers higher quality educations too. Homeschooling statistics prove that homeschooling is an all around better alternative to public schools than charter schools.
