Hope's Story: Home Schooling and ADHD

Our second oldest, Hope Christine, was born June 26, 2001: the easiest birth of all! She popped out after 10 pushes (about 15 minutes) and has been going strong ever since! We have since learned to enjoy our trials when they come and Hope has helped us to do it!

See, she has ADHD, and a touch of dyslexia. This is Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. Dyslexia is a reading disorder where the brain confuses and jumbles up the letters in words and it affects reading. This comes out beautifully in Hope, as she is an energetic, generous, forgiving, enormously creative child who also doesn't know how to sit down! She loves to help you in most any task, as long as she gets to move while doing it. Just don't expect her to maintain any concentration for more than a few seconds because she gets hopelessly distracted by anything and everything in her path. It requires the patience of Job to get her to complete any home-school work. Life around her becomes such a complete source of amusement and wonder... that is, except for her assignments. :)

We teach her at home partly because it went so badly for her in kindergarten. She just couldn't get with their program. For instance, she kept insisting that she was a "tom-boy" and so shouldn't have to go into the girls' bathroom. Haha! True, she didn't like wearing dresses, and at that stage that is normal. But she made quite a fuss about it, disrupting class and such. Outbursts were common, as well as talking out of turn. The "Good Citizenship Award" would definately not go to Hope that year. She at least needed another year to mature, at least as far as social skills were concerned.

Oh, but for her creative talents! She could draw circles around the other kids, and had the energy to draw and color and paint and glue and make messes, enough for the whole class! One summer, during art camp, she painted a traffic light pole that had arms and legs, but since that wasn't "the assignment", and she had great difficulty following directions, well, she did not get a scholarship to continue to following year. I think they missed out on a budding artist.

Anyway, we pulled her out of public school and started teaching her at home. Hope, while part of our home-school plan, has not had her creativity stifled, nor her strengths ignored. She gets the one-on-one attention she so desperately needs, and no, it isn't always easy. She still struggles with reading, but excels at handwriting. She doesn't know what she is writing half the time! And she loves counting and numbers, but has to work hard at coins and telling time.

See, things take time and patience, more so with some than with others. And little bit by little bit, my wife and I have seen improvement. I believe if she were still in a typical, public school classroom situation she might be considered a failure, or at least a difficult child, a problem child. I don't want her labeled like that, because I see her overcoming these obstacles. With us on her side, and daily, hourly by her side, I know she is trying her best and achieving more than ever.

I remember I was a slow learner. I had un-diagnosed ADD (without the H). In fact, I remember that I learned virtually nothing in school my first 5 years. I learned how to read and write from my father and math from my brother, at home. I turned out okay, I think, and see alot of myself in her.

My success began in the fifth grade when I took the clarinet. The desire to master this instrument (and others later on) required me to develop an ability to concentrate. I had to motivate my will to focus and eventually succeeded at it. Hope will too! We will be with her every step of the way!

We have recieved much help from a support group that meets monthly, provides babysitters (yes!), discussion and advice about our concerns. Sometimes, even icecream! :) Much of this is from parents who have been there, done that, and got the T-shirt! They have been through these trials before and faced these issues. This has been a God-send for us. Thank you to all who been there for us and helped us and helped Hope. For this we are truly greatful.