ADHD Homeschooling: Hacks, Tricks, and Tips for Making It Work

Beautiful in His Time is a participant in multiple affiliate marketing programs. The author of this blog may receive commission for purchases or clicks made through links on this website.

We’ve been homeschooling for 16 months now. While that hardly makes me an expert, I feel like I’ve learned a lot. I know my kids have learned a lot. What I’d like to do is share some things about ADHD homeschooling that have helped us a lot in a blog series over the next few months.

If you are new to this blog and our family, let me give a brief introduction. We are homeschooling 1) our 10-year-old, 4th-grade (kinda) boy Ezra, who has ADHD, anxiety, sensory issues, and a mood disorder 2) our 5-year-old, transitional kindergartener “Little Brother,” who has no official diagnosis but also shows signs of ADHD, anxiety, and perfectionism.

When people ask how homeschooling is going, I usually reply, “It’s going so great. I mean…it’s messy and chaotic and loud and frustrating and most of the time I want to pull my hair out. But it’s the best decision we ever made.”

I also very much relate to this video of “pandas just being pandas while a zookeeper desperately tries to rake leaves.” It’s basically a metaphor for ADHD homeschooling.

I’ve found out what works. I’ve found out what doesn’t. I’ve found out that this changes constantly. Here’s some other things we are going to be covering:

The need for consistency vs. the need for variety and stimulation
Homeschooling with the weather and the calendar: a look at year-round homeschooling
How we keep the boys occupied during read-aloud time
Incorporating chores and responsibilities into the curriculum
My love-hate relationship with the necessary manipulatives
Using music in math
School of the Dining Room Table: schooling during meals
Navigating medication fluctuations and crashes during the school day
A perfect pairing: spelling & exercise
Using the floor
Giving the child control of his school day
Ideas for schooling at the end of the day
The beauty of audiobooks and our favorite resources for building our library
The importance of visual schedules, lists, and timers
The best toys for open-ended play (because it’s an important part of school)
Screen time resources
Managing sibling distractions

This page will serve as the landing page for the blog series. I will be updating the above list once posts go live and get published! Also, feel free to subscribe (on the sidebar) to receive posts via email or follow our Pinterest boards Special Needs Survival, Special Education, and ADHD.