Well, I try to home school my daughter, but it’s tougher this year as we’re dealing with high school transcripts and so many other crazy issues! I’m struggling with the decision of continuing to home school or choose public school next year for her. I suffer tremendously myself as does my daughter with add, so it’s been just like the blind leading the blind for us unfortunately! There are great websites and tons of curriculum and home school groups out there. It’s becoming a popular alternative to public school education! If you can do, then it will be extremely rewarding for you! Go on your states education website, and look for home school resources. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at all you will discover! Good luck! Hope it works out for you! http://www.hslda.com

We pulled our son out last year at this time.  In many ways it is much less stressful…at least we don’t have to deal with the school calling us all of the time, or see him stress over the thought of going back into a situation he just could not handle.  There are so many great curricula…if you are starting out and want a lot of structure like we did, you should look into Calvert or Sonlight. We have enjoyed Calverts program, which is thorough and accessible.  I would try to school in the morning if possible. It is not easy for us, but MUCH better than school in terms of family stress.

This is our first yr HS and we are loving it! My family is so much more peaceful now. Gone are the morning battles, the homework battles and all the battles at the school. We are very relaxed in our schooling and my kids love it! Good luck to you. I know it’s a tough decision to make.

You are definitely not alone!  We pulled our daughter last year halfway through Kindergarten.  She was failing because she couldn’t focus long enough to be successful.  We used the K12 program, which I could not recommend more.  It is fantastic, and totally free.  They provide you with all of the materials, including a computer while your child is enrolled with them.  Our daughter went from failing to all A’s.  The stress level was soooo much better.  She is currently trying the local public school to put our feelers out and see how she’s doing now.  We are ready to pull her and bring her back home as soon as we feel it’s time.  Homeschooling is very rewarding.  Good luck!!

I am very happy to hear of all of your successes, but as a teacher and a parent of an ADDer, I have two big questions that can be overlooked when a child is home schooled.  First, structure.  Kids thrive on structure and that’s especially the case for so many ADDers.  With home lessons on home time, there may be that ease of doing the work whenever and not at daily scheduled time slots.  The second, even bigger, is socialization.  With ADDers being behind in social development than their average peers, they need (numerous) opportunities to socialize with kids their age.  If they aren’t in school, a natural venue to be with other kids, parents have to be very active to create those opportunities.  I salute your efforts to think out of the box to help your child and encourage their growth.

As a self-diagnosed ADD Woman who has homeschooled her 2 possibly ADD/ ADHD children from the get-go, I would like to respond to Boyscout’s post.
My kids have always been allowed to learn at their own pace: “get it-got it-move on” and “don’t get it-keep working on it until you do no matter how long”.  My 5th grade daughter follows her schedule that I give to her each Monday with very little assistance from me other than helping her with homework.  Yes, we do assign homework so that they’re accountable for completing work on their own time outside of normal school hours (which happen to be 8:30 to noon-ish M-F).  Most of her work is at a 6th grade level or higher.  She is one who would daydream her way through public school if given the opportunity (like I did - Chatty Cathy and poor follow-through on assignments).  My 2nd grade son is not so much hyperactive as he just can’t focus without CONSTANT supervision.  He also gets a weekly schedule broken down into individual days for him to see what he has already done throughout the day and week as well as what he still has to do.  He’s already half a grade ahead of where he’d be in traditional school where they would have forced me to medicate him or hold him back a year.  By starting school at 8:30 my kids have the opportunity to sleep the needed 10 to 11 hours each night which helps them to sleep better and think better.
Homeschooling has allowed my kids to flourish academically without having their morale crushed by traditional school.
When kids socialize in traditional school they get reprimanded for talking out of turn or acting out in class.  ADD/ ADHD kids are more likely to run with the “bad crowd” at traditional schools since there is no one actively helping them with their impulse control.  ADD girls are more likely to be bullied by the “mean girls” and ADHD boys are either labeled as “retards” or become bullies themselves.  My kids play in small, medium and large groups of mixed-age homeschooled kids in excess of 20 hours a week, they attend 6 hours of church activities with traditionally-schooled kids each week, and attend several “adult” activities with either one of us parents each week where they are expected to interact on an adult level.  They are consistently complimented by adults on their good manners and ability to express themselves verbally.  They are surrounded by traditionally-schooled kids who want to play with them even though their ADD personalities would normally cause those same kids to not play with them.  My son leads younger kids well, follows older kids but isn’t afraid to speak up when they’re going to do something wrong, and totally blows it all every time he hangs out with only kids his same age.  Where in the “Real World” other than at traditional school are people forced to interact with ONLY people their exact age?