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How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
http://forum.homeschoolchristian.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5587		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  PennyMom07 [ Mon Jun 22, 2015 1:41 pm ]
Post subject:  How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
Hi, my name is Penny, and I have been homeschooling my son since I pulled him out of 1st grade. He will be in 3rd grade this coming year. I am a single parent, and he is my one and only. He has been mostly on target with his skills, and his grades have been fair, but with his ADD, we tend to have a battle of the wills on most days. He gets frustrated easily with new topics, repetitive practice of all kinds, competition, being timed, and does NOT like cursive writing practice or regular writing exercises. Cursive writing practice and creative writing are our 2 biggest battles. We follow the Abeka Homeschool program- on DVD. There are a LOT of pages to copy for handwriting and many creative writing assignments. Honestly, though, I think he just doesn't like to write at all! Does anyone have ideas/advice on motivating young homeschoolers who are reluctant/bored in the areas of cursive writing and/or creative writing? I did have one idea I found in a book- to make cursive writing practice a little more fun: having him make a book of jokes (clean ones) from a printed list, on lined paper glued to different colored construction paper, using his best cursive writing. Any thoughts on that one, or other ideas???
Author:  Tory [ Mon Jun 22, 2015 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
How about a pen-pal? My two boys (twins) were VERY reluctant writers and they began to exchange simple letters with an online friend's two sons who were close to their own age.
We (the other mom and I) didn't require anything of them other than they write "something" that made sense and that the other boy would enjoy reading about.

They loved getting something in the mail and they were motivated to write back. (we'd also allow them to include stickers, pictures, etc.)
Author:  Tory [ Mon Jun 22, 2015 7:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
PS: I'm also a single mom. Welcome to HSC!!
:D
Author:  PennyMom07 [ Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
Sounds like a good idea! I want to try that! Thanks and God Bless!
Author:  LisaTX [ Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
My kids also have ADD and struggle with getting their thoughts on paper. That is just the tip of their learning disability iceberg, but the lack of organization is mostly due to the ADD, I believe. It takes good executive function to go through the process of writing and that is usually a huge weakness with ADD. I have not started doing this yet, but I've heard graphic organizers are a big help. You can just google "graphic organizer" and find a whole bunch of links to free printables.

If your son doesn't struggle with that, maybe the workload is too much for him or he needs frequent breaks. I have tweaked our curriculum to meet the kid's individual needs and that often means throwing out or shortening some assignments. I also don't time them on anything. I've long given up on the mindset of "Well, this is what the curriculum says to do and this is what "normal" kids are doing, so we just have to do it." If it doesn't work for us, it gets tossed.

Which leads me to cursive. It didn't work for us, so it got tossed. At least for now, but we may pick it back up someday if the kids want. I tried teaching my daughter cursive first and she rejected it and taught herself print. She was very against cursive. They struggle so much with everything else, that cursive is on the bottom of our priority list. Maybe your son just doesn't like that particular cursive program or maybe he is not ready for it and can come back to it later. I really don't know how you make it fun. I never liked cursive, myself, and it was just something I got through.
Author:  Martha R. [ Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
I wouldn't worry about it at all at this young age! Kids frequently don't have the fine motor skills to write easily at this age. Honestly, I'd get a typing program/game and let him learn how to type. Then he could get his thoughts down without the aggravation. He'll probably think typing is fun, and the skill will be very useful in the future!
Author:  Sis [ Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
I agree with the typing and the cursive thing. I taught cursive as an art rather than a language arts skill. I showed the kids different ways you can write in cursive and told them the point is to be legible but it can be fun, too.
Author:  PennyMom07 [ Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?- Update
I have really thought about all your responses, and thank you for your thoughts and ideas so far.
For cursive writing instruction, I am planning on only having my son do 2 of the 5 or more weekly worksheets, spreading out the workload throughout 4 days of the week, and giving him just a few minutes of hands-on instruction in cursive writing per day (5 minutes maybe). I plan to let him do his worksheets in colored pencil, giving him a little perk. On one day of the week, I would like to make cursive writing more like art in that I will have him copy (a his own pace, over the course of the year) the Pledge of Allegiance, several prayers (including the Our Father), etc., on lined paper pasted to construction paper, with pictures. I plan to post each in our new display area (the front of the classroom door). I put up a colorful sign with the words "Awesome Art" and plan to display his artful cursive writing, art projects, and literary works of art (stories, poems, book reports, etc.) there.
I am already in the process of finding a penpal for my son. I am joining the Yahoo Group: Christian-Homeschool-Penpals. This group is restricted for the safety of the children, and all messages are monitored individually. I will let you know how it goes.
For the regular creative writing projects/book reports, I will not be overly concerned with his handwriting, as long as it is pretty much legible. He has started doing BBC's Dance Mat Typing online this summer. It is a great typing game/program, full of funny sounds, animations, and songs. Not only does he have a lot of fun practicing, but he is learning typing rather quickly. As soon as he masters typing well enough, I will allow him to type his stories/reports on the computer.
Thank you all again. Any other thoughts, ideas, or constructive criticism about my plans will be more than welcome!!!
Author:  Martha R. [ Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How do I motivate my ADD child to write?
Your plans sound good! Here's another thing to consider. Many of the cursive programs have the student writing in large letters. You are better off having him write in a realistic size -- like normal adult handwriting. It takes less time (and that's good for any child's attention span!) and less work. :0)
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