Hawaiian Schefflera is in need of help

[joyjean2000]

A friend at work gave me a Hawaiian Schefflera and it's not doing so well.
I have temporarily moved into my mom's house while waiting for my house to close. I had it in her office and after a week of that, the green leaves started falling off like crazy. I also have some black spots on some of the leaves and the new growth is drooping. I have placed it outside now that it's warmed up. It gets indirect light for most of the day with a few hours of more direct sun in the late afternoon. I've been keeping a check on the soil so I don't under or over water it. I believe the correct way is wait until there's about 1/4" of dry soil before watering, is this right?
I live in SW Virginia, in the mountains. We just started staying warm at night and it's been in the high 80's to low 90's everyday this past week.
I have some pics but am not sure how to post here or if I am even able to.