This week, The 4 Moms are writing about homeschooling a child with learning differences. Be sure to see what each one has to say on the topic:
I have never had any of my children diagnosed with a learning disability, but I suspect a couple of them would labeled with attention deficit disorder and dyslexia/dysgraphia if they were in public schools.
Here are the ways I have dealt with homeschooling these children:
Research the symptoms.
After lots of reading, I am certain that dysgraphia is the reason for difficulty in writing for one of my children. Google is your friend. Type in the keywords that describe your child’s difficulty and see what comes up.
Find out all you can about how to teach a child with a learning difference.
After you have researched the symptoms, find out how others have successfully taught children with learning differences. Talk to other mothers who have the same issue. Look online and at the library. I gained a LOT of useful information from The Gift of Dyslexia.
No need to make the child miserable doing a task that is difficult for him if he is able to learn the lesson a different way. See this example of tactile spelling practice.
If the child has difficulty with keeping still, why not let him do the work standing up or interspersed with jumping jacks? Keep the lessons short (15 minutes) and focused if this is an issue.
Remember the goal.
I want my children to be life long learners; to understand and explore the world. Forcing them to complete every last page of their handwriting workbook may not be necessary in reaching this goal, and may actually be a painful hindrance to them.