Meet my daughter. Shes an 18 year old recent high school graduate, a college freshman and has ADD. Okay, she's not officially diagnosed, but during our family's journey of discovering what ADHD looks like and having 3 brothers and a mom who have gone through the evaluation process, she has been able to recognize common characteristics in herself. The great thing is that she has used this information to understand how things work for her and has taken a positive approach. She embraces her "squirrel moments", can laugh at herself and takes advantage of her ability to hyper focus when it hits her. She is not on any meds, though she has asked to be diagnosed so she can take advantage of medication to help her focus on college work. They say that ADD people have the unique ability to think outside the box, are enormously creative and passion driven. I see these qualities in my daughter. She has been homeschooled through high school and has done well in that environment. In fact, I'll let her speak for herself in a later post.
She is a success story, by God's grace. But I also feel that being able to homeschool her for these 13 years has been part of my success story, too. Homeschooling has probably been one of the most difficult things I have done in my life, but also one of the most rewarding. God used our journey to teach me so much about each of my children and myself. In spite of my lack of organizational skills and feeling like I was juggling too many balls at once, my children did learn to read, write and do math, among many other things.
God has led me away from homeschooling as my daughter has graduated. She is the oldest of 5 and in the past couple of years, I have sent the 4 boys off to public school. I have recognized that as the kids have gotten older, I can be a better mom to them if I am not also their primary teacher. Getting to know myself, recognizing my strengths and weaknesses - and accepting them - has been a healthy thing.
It's so easy to focus on the daily challenges and failures brought on by ADD. However, it's a good practice to consider what is going right. Phil. 4:8 says, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
It's easy to get into a rut and rehearse the negatives in life. I encourage you to stop and consider the successes, the blessings in your life even if you forgot to pick up the dry cleaning, lost your keys for the umpteenth time or got the credit card bill in late-or lost it altogether. Take a moment to thank God when you get dinner on the table on time, actually remember the kids' dentist appointments or watch your daughter graduate high school with a love for learning and a passion for God.
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