We've reached the point in our lives where our kids finally truly enjoy giving as well as receiving gifts. This year, we were relieved that this even applied to our son Joe. His ship had been on a training mission, and we weren't sure when he would come home for Christmas. But one night, just as we sat down to eat stuffed grape leaves, Joe walked in the door. "I would have been here earlier, but I had to go Christmas shopping." He was beside himself with excitement. He had bought for everyone - including my parents. He took Ron aside and told him what he got his dad and me. Then he and Ash … [Read more...]
Virtual Cookie Exchange – Amazing Apricot Cookies
December 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I like to cook, and judging by the numbers of people that eat at our house, I must not be too bad at it. But I'm not much of a baker. Our favorite brownie recipe (although it gets rave reviews) is the Food Lion with walnut mix. So when I was invited to be part of a virtual cookie exchange, I initially dismissed the idea. But then I remembered all of my Facebook friends, and put out a request for help! And sure enough, I got a recipe that sounds absolutely delicious. So I'm in! I sort of feel like I've cheated just a bit and brought my next door neighbor's cookies, but you're probably … [Read more...]
Three Tips For Managing Homework Headaches
December 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment
After the post about Ron and his college homework, you're probably ready for some positive hints on homework...and thanks to Alana Morales - here they are: Three Tips For Managing Homework Headaches! In my neck of the woods (or desert, as it is), we are gearing up for the second quarter of school. This semester, I have experienced teacher battles, homework nightmares and medication debacles. All in all, a pretty normal school year for an ADHD family, wouldn't you say? One of the things that I have found myself doing is reevaluating my homework processes and making changes based on the … [Read more...]
College Homework and ADHD
December 9, 2009 By 2 Comments
Recently, our oldest came home from college for a weekend, homework in tow. I know the child is 23 years old, but I was happy that he was able to find the assignment (okay, so it was online, but still). I was even happier that he had the correct book. Ron's homework was to write a comprehensive summary of three chapters in one of his business textbooks. Talk about boring. He's pretty interested in it, though. He explained enough to show me he had a good grasp of the subject, although for the life of me I can't remember what it was. We had a good discussion about how hard it is for him to … [Read more...]
A Homework Nightmare
October 21, 2009 By 2 Comments
Last week in the newsletter, I mentioned that all of our kids had come home for the weekend - Ron with college homework in tow. While he was taking a break, I read him an article I wrote back when he was in the tenth grade. Read, it, multiply it by four, and you'll understand why I'm able to write stuff like Waking Up from the Homework Nightmare and Focus Pocus! "Did you wash jeans? My Algebra assignments were in my pocket." Sure enough, crumpled up in the trash was a freshly laundered yellow sticky note, with penciled assignments too faded to read. So he pored through the Algebra II … [Read more...]
Three Tips for … Surviving Math Homework – by Alana Morales
October 20, 2009 By 1 Comment
Don't let the headline get to you. For some kids, math comes easy to them. Then there are the rest of us. Not to be stereotypical, but math can pose some special difficulties for our ADHD kids. ADHD kids have a tendency to have difficulties with math facts, processing word problems and even following the order of operations. Special skills can help ease these troubles. Here are three tips to help your kids survive and thrive math this year. 1. Make it fun. I know I keep saying this, but make the math fun. Despite common belief, you can make it fun. Let them do math facts online. … [Read more...]
Five Focusing Hints – A Preview
October 18, 2009 By 5 Comments
Here are some of the helpful hints from Focus Pocus - 100 Ways to Help Your Child Pay Attention. 7. For multi-step tasks, have kids pair a task to a finger. If you want your son to pick up the bathroom, empty the trash, feed the dog, then sweep the front porch, have him ‘put’ one task on each of his fingers. Then have him count back to you – as he holds up the first finger, he says, “Pick up the bathroom.” On second finger, he should say, “Empty the trash.” This will help him remind himself, and ensure that he heard you in the first place. 13. Pick your fidgety child to be … [Read more...]
Focus Pocus – 100 Ways to Help Your Child Pay Attention
October 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder all have one thing in common - the inability to sustain and focus attention. But every child - ADHD or not - occasionally has problems staying on task and avoiding distraction. As parents and teachers - we try to conjure up ways to help them focus. As if they were magical spells, we say such things as, “Listen!” “Pay attention!” “Stop daydreaming!” “Think!” “FOCUS!” But the spells rarely work. To complicate things, once we find a trick that works, the magic wears off, and the clock strikes twelve. As a result, we … [Read more...]
How to Learn Math
October 2, 2009 By 1 Comment
The most important concept my boys learned about math was the fact families. Go here to get a template for making fact family cards - with lots of activity ideas. At some point, our kids have to graduate from the rote memorization of math facts to understanding what the numbers and facts represent. A cool book to foster this understanding is The Grapes of Math. (I love the title!) In it, the author asks riddles that make kids use what they know in new ways. One of my absolute favorite resources is called Fun With Figures. This fascinating book will teach your child - and you - to do mental … [Read more...]
Handwriting on the Desk and Other Random Parenting Hints
September 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
If your child is in elementary school and keeps forgetting the same things, type up a "to do" list and tape it to their desk. When one of our sons was in fourth grade, the teacher had encouraged her children children to do this - not just ADHD kids. I saw 'how to label a paper', 'what to pack for home', 'what to unpack in the morning', and 'before I speak'. (I'm not saying whose that was!) It's a life skill to make lists, so all children should learn how. If in the chaos of changing classes, your middle schooler can't remember what's needed for each class, here's a hint for you. It was sent … [Read more...]
