This is a photograph of our Jet. he has already perfected the art of homeschoolers hair!
Jethro is in Grade 4 at one of our local schools in Cape Town . He is a bright boy who is thirsty to learn and great fun to be with.
He has ADHD.
Distracted in his thinking continuously and always unless something grabs his interest and of course the faithful old friend of ADHD people - BOREDOM!
When ever I say this I am aware that people may misunderstand ADHD boredom. It is not that he is so super clever that the work is beneath his ability nor is it that the actual work IS boring. ADHD boredom is about interest being grabbed and held. If something is super interesting for the kid, then he or she is spellbound and it is easier on and off Ritalin to pay attention. However, if the work is not grabbing and especially if it is repetition, well then the kid is lost to an inner world of fantastic distraction.
This is our Jet.
The path we are on with him has lead us to the door of homeschooling. You can read this in my blog post here.
After gathering enough information from people who already home school and who have been very helpful, I took some time out yesterday to visit the Internet sites for myself.
One of the difficulties in taking a child out of school to home school, is in navigating the level of the child in an area of learning. It is tricky beyond tricky and as all things books cost money, I would like us not to make a mistake!
So the online journey has begun.
I began with South African sites that offer different options for English, ,maths and history as an example.
The most helpful thing they offer is an assessment to gauge the level of learning. Yipeeee. stress reliever!
Now to look at what is on offer. For the most part, especially all the wonderful reading material that is linked to the lessons, I am desperate to begin - ( not only for Jet but for me too)
There is a wealth of choice and fabulous reading material to choose from. The options seem really exciting.
It is so thrilling to be embarking on this journey with this kiddo. When I explained the process thus far to him last night , his little eyes gleamed. This morning his announced, " I wish the year would go faster so we can homeschool soon."
Neither he or I really know what this is going to look like in reality, but at least we can "kind of" see a fun way forward!
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