With about six weeks of school left, it has become apparent that my teenage daughter, Lyn, cannot possibly pass four of her fourth grade classes. She has special needs that include a learning disability, fetal alcohol, ADD, and verbal Apraxia. There cannot be any benefit to her education or her self-esteem to continue to fail for the rest of the school year. If she were in public school, instead of homeschooling, there wouldn’t be any choice. She would have to finish out the current school year before starting summer school. What a waste of time and energy. However,... more

What about other homework hassles? One blog addresses a child’s outright refusal to do homework. Is it really possible for even the PARENTS to finally say no more? I think so! Among the comments on that blog, Kelly addresses a recommendation given to her by a therapist that the teacher handle school issues and the parent handle... more

What sounds like a minor problem can often turn into quite a large homework issue. The problem is how do we help a child who constantly wanders or has difficulty sitting still to do homework? In particular, how can we help an adopted child who may have special issues to work around?(The following suggestions can work well a child with ADHD or a child without ADHD.)

If the child is wandering because he has a case of “wiggles”, it can help if mom offers an additional homework “assignment” of getting the wiggles out. For example, ask... more

So, you have the routine set up in a way that should work for your particular children and family. What do you do when your child resists the routine?? With over two-thirds of my children having an actual diagnosis of RAD (reactive attachment disorder) and/or ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), resistance is the norm at our house rather than the exception. Here are some ways we’ve handled this, at least as far as their resistance impacts their homework.

As discussed in the previous... more

In reading through the Adoption.com forum topics, I noticed a recurrence of threads on the subject of homework hassles. What parent has not ever faced homework hassles?? I’d venture to say that every parent of a school aged child has encountered the subject more than once! I have 26 children, including 20 still at home and 18 of those being school aged. You can imagine that homework is no small issue here. I am often asked how I handle homework issues,... more