We're Baaack!!!

It has been six months since the last post. In the very first post of this blog, I spoke of the blog becoming another unfinished pile in my ADD life of piles. And, yep... But, that's the beauty of a blog. Who is it for anyway? Why, the blog is for the blogger (that would be me). If the blogger gets bloggees (rhymes with devotees and groupies), that's super! Hey, I have a bloggee (that would be my husband), so it's all good, eh?

So, I remind myself that this blog is about homeschooling an ADHD boy. Specifically, an ADD mom (that would be me again) homeschooling an ADHD boy. The good Lord help us. We get a late start due to a long September camping trip with a group of good friends. I am able to justify that one by reminding myself that teachers in the public schools take about that long to get their groove on, if not longer. The great thing about this year for us is that we have been fumbling and bumbling through this long enough to be just about ready to get our groove on as never before.

We sat down yesterday and fleshed out our schedule and our curriculum. Of course, I had done quite some thinking about all of this prior to yesterday but I find that a good schedule requires some nitty gritty logistics and involving David in the process is imperative. We scheduled the week by day, assigned time values to each subject, worked in a nice lunch/recess break and determined policy about homework and snow days. Things that we have worked out in the past - the check list and our now familiar planners - moved right into place and are functional and operational instantaneously.

The curriculum is as follows:

• Bible studies and service 
• Saxon math 
• Hope College homeschool physics - 2 semesters 
• Winston Grammar 
• Piano lessons 
• Penmanship - learn cursive to take better notes 
• World History all year as a unit study 
• Literature - The Yearling, poetry and journaling
• Independent reading 
• Gymnastics and trampoline as a carrot for successful checklist completion 
• Life skills ie. chores 
• Electives - cooking and organizing our personal library, for starters 
• Member of the local rock club

It's a fabulous plan! I will have him tested about halfway through the school year. At this point, I feel more relaxed and confident about what we're doing than I ever have. We've planned our work (ADDers are great at planning) and now we just have to work our plan (ADDers are great at blowing off the plan). The good Lord help us...

Best regards,

leapinlily