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Using Bouncy Bands for Kids with ADHD

Using Bouncy Bands for Kids with ADHD

August 24, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Can we talk about wiggle worms for a minute? As I’ve mentioned extensively on the blog, we’re homeschooling multiple children with ADHD, which means that wiggly kids are an everyday occurrence around here.

Using a simple fidget is a proven way to help kids with ADHD improve attention span and executive functioning. And, since attention span is important for successful homeschooling, fidgets are pretty much a necessity in our family.

But, a lot of fidgets are rather…distracting. They go around the finger or the hand and are designed to be moved with the other hand. Which means that my other kids are staring at my fidgety kid fidgeting with his or her fidget. Not ideal. 🙂

So I was thrilled to try Bouncy Bands! These inconspicuous fidgets are awesome for keeping kids attentive without attracting too much attention. Read on to learn more about this great product!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Using Bouncy Bands for Kids with ADHD

What are Bouncy Bands?

Bouncy Bands are simple resistance band fidgets for kids’ feet. They’re designed to go around the legs of a desk or chair, so that kids can rest their feet on them and move them whenever they feel like it.

Bouncy Bands Logo

Here’s a look at the chair model.

Bouncy Bands Desk Model

And the desk model – which is particularly good for older kids who might have longer legs.

Bouncy Bands Desk Model

When you buy a set of Bouncy Bands, you can expect to receive a box like this.

Bouncy Bands Packaging

Inside are the band, the support pipes (which come in blue or black), and a simple instruction sheet.

Bouncy Bands Unboxing

Assembly couldn’t be easier. Just wrap the band’s left and right holes around the tops of the support pipes. Done!

Bouncy Bands Assembly

However, here is the issue we faced: The band’s pipes wouldn’t fit around our dining room table legs. And the dining room is where we homeschool.

So I bought a simple stackable school chair. But then I discovered that the support pipes STILL wouldn’t fit around the legs. (The legs of this chair are kind of oblong-shaped.)

Using Bouncy Bands Without Support Pipes

Eureka! I just removed the support pipes and the band fit just fine.

BTW, if you want to get a chair that these pipes are sure to work with, try this model. If you want to try the desk version, this school desk should do the trick.

Using Bouncy Bands for Kids with ADHD

Our seven-year-old is, by far, the most active of our kids. He’s basically in constant motion. So he was the best tester in our family for Bouncy Bands.

Using Bouncy Bands for a Chair

I had him sit in a chair and read a book while using the band as a fidget. Guess what?

How Bouncy Bands Work

It worked!

I thought he would bounce his legs like a maniac and get even more worked up. But he didn’t. He just bounced them occasionally – very gently – and kept his eyes on his book. I was thoroughly impressed.

Using Bouncy Bands for Reading

Want to see Bouncy Bands in action? Check out my video review from my YouTube channel!

To learn more about Bouncy Bands, visit the product website for details about assembly and to read more reviews! Plus, keep up with Bouncy Bands on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook for more!

Need more tips for homeschooling kids with ADHD? Follow my ADHD Tips board on Pinterest!

Don’t miss my Homeschooling with ADHD ebook! It’s packed with tips and suggestions to make this special homeschooling journey a success!

DHD eBook @ Look! We're Learning!

How I Teach Fine Arts to My Kids with ADHD

January 17, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for the final post of our winter hopscotch on ADHD Learning! We’re ending the week with a look at how we teach fine arts to our kids with ADHD. If you’ve been following along for the past few days, you probably already know what’s coming: unit studies, activity, and field trips. 🙂

Kids Art Activities

Fine Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

I cannot say enough about the value of letting kids experience art at an early age. I didn’t really paint or draw or use clay much as a child and, as a result, I didn’t think much about having our kids do so either. I would buy art supplies, but then they would just sit there because I didn’t want to deal with the mess of cleaning it up afterward. Eventually Jay said “Just put down newspaper and then teach them to clean up.” Problem solved.

Now it’s true that playing with Play-Doh or making flour clay does not qualify as “fine art”, but I feel like fine artists all started somewhere and that kids can always get structured art lessons as they get older. We don’t want to make them feel that “fine art” is something that is out of their reach, so we encourage them to explore art mediums and experiences whenever we can.

Fine Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

One way we encourage the kids to experiment with art is to paint with various items. We’ve used finger paint, paint brushes, and even kitchen sponges to create art. It’s been interesting for them (and us) to see that art can be made into anything with just about anything!

Unit Studies

Fine Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Yes, unit studies are making yet another appearance here…lol. When we cover a unit, we attempt to include at least one artistic activity – such as painting, drawing, coloring, or music. We got the chance to focus on transportation activities last summer and we created train wall art with pastels as a family. That idea was sparked by something we liked on Pinterest, so don’t discount the Internet when it comes to art inspiration!

Field Trips

Fine Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Looking at the work of other artists is a superb way to help children (and adults) appreciate the power and flexibility of fine arts. It’s fascinating for them to see that, unlike many other subjects, fine arts can serve as an expression of anything. There are no rules to it at all, which makes it a great diversion from our more structured subjects.

At the same time, we notice and appreciate the skill levels of accomplished artists who dedicate themselves to improving their craft. It’s an interesting balance between freedom and discipline, which makes it a good metaphor for kids who want the independence of adulthood with the security of childhood. (We’re entering that phase with Tigger now.)

When we visited the High Museum of Art last spring, Tigger was surprised to find out that art is subjective – it’s open to just about any interpretation. Several times during the tour, she’d turn to Jay and I and ask us what a painting or sculpture meant. Nearly every time, we’d reply by asking her “What do you think it means?” She’d think about it and then guess. We were happy to see her trying to observe and think about the works herself, which helped to keep her attention on the tour.

Now that the kids are getting older, we’re looking to add more structured art lessons to our curriculum. So we picked up The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas from Amazon. Look for us to share our experiences with it soon!

The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas (Usborne Art Ideas)

We hope you’ve enjoyed this series on how we approach language arts, math, science, history, and fine arts for our children who have ADHD! If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them below!

This post is part of the 2014 Winter Hopscotch hosted by iHomeschool Network! Be sure to stop by and visit our fellow bloggers to learn how they teach fine arts in their families!

Language Arts for ADHD Kids: Look! We're Learning!

How I Teach History to My Kids with ADHD

January 16, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

Hey y’all! It’s the fourth day of our ADHD Learning series and we’re on to how we teach history for our kids with ADHD! Have you noticed that we’ve been using the words: movement, unit studies, and books a lot? Well, they’re back again today. 🙂

History Timelines

History Lessons for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

We’ve been eclectic homeschoolers for several years now, which means we take bits and pieces from several homeschooling philosophies. Strictly speaking, history timelines are generally a classical homeschooling method, because they stem from a sequential approach to learning history – that is, you learn everything in the order it happened.

I actually love the classical history approach and we’ve used it fairly often with our kids. Whenever we cover a topic or an area of the world, we proceed in order and we make a timeline. We did a timeline in our study of Nelson Mandela to help the kids understand the events in his life. We also did an African kingdom history timeline in our African History series last year. Even Roo got involved in completing it!

History Unit Studies

History Lessons for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

As with our other subjects, we try to incorporate history into our unit studies whenever possible. If the subject is a person, we look at his or her early life and career before we get into their famous accomplishments. If we’re covering an area, we try to examine the history of the region as a basis to understanding the particular events or people in it.

History Lessons for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

We’ve been covering the Living History series on the blog for the past few months and we’ve gotten to know a few famous musicians better by completing history units about their lives. We try to include a children’s book about the artist and then we create our own biography and activity pack for the kids to complete. If you’d like to see an example of our history unit studies, check out our Dizzy Gillespie printable mini-unit! We read the book “Dizzy” and then listened to his music while we completed the unit. The phrase “Salt Peanuts” became quite popular in our house for a while. 🙂

Dizzy by Jonah Winter

Field Trips

History Lessons for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

It’s easy for history to become very dull for kids, especially those who prefer to move around while learning. We’ve attempted to avoid this by getting our kids out to look at historical exhibits, rather than just listening to us talk about past events. As we learned about the history of slavery, we took a trip to the APEX Museum in Atlanta. Tigger, in particular, was interested to see that slavery really happened and that even children were affected. It definitely helped her relate to our lesson much easier.

History Lessons for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

During a recent trip to the Atlanta History Center, the kids got to learn more about the history of northern Georgia. They even got to walk through a 19th-century cabin and see what life was like on an 1800s farm for themselves! They talked about that trip for several days afterward. 🙂

History Lessons for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

During our fall hopscotch, we held a 10-day series on African History for Kids that highlighted African empires, events, and movements. True to our unit study approach, we included books, crafts, cooking, and history in each lesson. Feel free to take a look and let us know what you think!

That wraps up our look at teaching history to kids with ADHD! We’ll be ending the series tomorrow with an overview of how we cover fine arts in our homeschool. We hope to “see” you here then!

This post is part of the 2014 Winter Hopscotch hosted by iHomeschool Network! Be sure to stop by and visit our fellow bloggers to learn how they teach history in their families!

Language Arts for ADHD Kids: Look! We're Learning!

How I Teach Science to My Kids with ADHD

January 15, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

Happy Wednesday, y’all! We’re back with another look at how we teach our kids with ADHD – this time we’re focusing on the teaching methods we use to cover science.

Unit Studies

Science for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m basically a fanatic about unit studies. 🙂 We’ve completed several together and we’ve found them to be great ways to help the kids connect science concepts with other subjects. For an example, check out our unit study based on the movie The Aristocats. We managed to include geography, history, art, and biology in that one!

Experiments

Science for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Nothing makes active and kinesthetic learners happier than movement and we try to make that a constant in science class. One of the best ways to do this is by simple experiments. And I’ve found out that they don’t have to be outlandish experiments either. Plain old baking soda volcanoes will do just fine…lol.

Nature Study

Science for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Whenever it’s possible, we try to take science class outdoors with a Charlotte Mason technique called nature study. As the name implies, you spend time studying science in the nature around your home. The idea of doing nature study was pretty overwhelming to me at first, so I was thrilled to try a simple program called Nature Study Printables for Toddlers and Preschoolers with Pooh and Roo a while back. We simply completed the activities and let the kids record their own observations. It was a big hit!

Interactive Work

Science for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

This one, I have to say, was all my husband’s idea. When he covers science lessons with the kids that are from a textbook, he literally gets the words off the page by making the diagrams into interactive work. The picture above is one he drew from a diagram of the brain. As he covered the different parts of the brain and their functions, the kids found the matching labels and glued them in place. It was definitely a great way to help them understand the lesson. Just another reason why I’m thankful for a supportive homeschooling spouse!

Field Trips

Science for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

I would venture to say that our kids’ favorite way to learn science is by going on field trips. We’ve gotten to explore some great places, including aquariums, museums, and nature trails. One of the highlights of last year was a trip we took to Callaway Gardens. The kids got to learn about birds of prey, exotic plants, and butterflies without sitting at a desk!

During a recent trip to Zoo Atlanta, we introduced several other scientific concepts, such as taxonomy, reproduction, and ecosystems. Plus, it made for great family bonding time. 😉

That’s our approach to science! We hope to see you back tomorrow when we talk about history for kids with ADHD!

This post is part of the 2014 Winter Hopscotch hosted by iHomeschool Network! Be sure to stop by and visit our fellow bloggers to learn how they teach science in their families!

Language Arts for ADHD Kids: Look! We're Learning!

How I Teach Math to My Kids with ADHD

January 14, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

Hi everyone! We’re on to Day 2 of our Winter Hopscotch and we’re continuing with our theme of ADHD learning with a look at how we teach math in an ADHD-friendly way. Like with all of our subjects, we find that short lessons, movement, and multi-sensory learning are critical to helping our kids follow along and retain what they hear. Here are a few of the methods we use for teaching math in our homeschool.

Anchor Charts

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

I’ve previously shared a post about my love for anchor charts, but they deserve another shoutout here. I’m a bit of a type A personality, so making detailed charts and graphs is right up my alley…lol. But we find them to be great for the kids, since they make it easy for them to visualize abstract concepts, especially those involving math. We used the above anchor chart to introduce Tigger to multiplication last year and it was much easier for her to grasp when she could see it represented visually.

Math Curriculum

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

We don’t use packaged curriculum often, but math is a subject where we definitely find it best to follow a structured program. Tigger struggles with confidence in math and she tends to rush through concepts without taking her time to work through the steps or check her work thoroughly. Working with her on computer math software seems to help her become more involved in the process, so that she’s less likely to rush through it to get to something she’d rather be doing.

This year, we’ve been using A+ TutorSoft Math – both the printed version and the software – and we like the program a lot. It’s a very simple, uncluttered way to present facts without overwhelming her with too much information at once. The individual lessons are short, which keeps her from getting too intimidated to begin.

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

If you’d like to get a look at A+ TutorSoft Math programs for kids, you can visit the website by clicking the image above. You can even get a month-long trial of the online math program for homeschoolers absolutely free! If you decide to subscribe, be sure to use the coupon code LOOKWERE to save 20 percent! You can also pick up downloadable copies of A+ TutorSoft Math curriculum on Currclick.com!

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

A while back, we got a chance to try out K5 Learning, a supplemental online math and language program for kids. Tigger thoroughly enjoyed that program as well. It organized the math lessons into themed adventures that did such a good job of keeping her interested she forgot she was even doing schoolwork. 🙂

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

You can grab a free 14-day trial of K5 Learning by clicking the link above!

Math Storybooks

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

As I mentioned yesterday, we love to read in our family! We keep that thread going with books and stories that involve mathematics as well. Arithmetic Village offers a very nice set of downloadable math storybooks that is absolutely free! We reviewed them a while back and our kids just loved reading the stories and learning how to multiply and divide! Even Roo, our four-year-old ended up doing a division problem on the board after reading the stories. 🙂

Math Manipulatives

Math for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

We also make use of math manipulatives with our children. Counting bears, Unifix cubes, and snap cubes are all useful for giving active kids a way to “see” the math problem and involve their sense of touch during the lesson. All of our kids, even Tigger, prefer to use manipulatives as they work on problems.

Unifix Cubes (100 count)

Baby Bear Counters (102 ct.)

We also put together a short video a while back about how we specifically focus on third grade math for Tigger, which you’re more than welcome to view below!

And that’s how we teach math in our homeschool! We’ll be covering science tomorrow, so feel free to come back and see how we approach science with our active learners!

This post is part of the 2014 Winter Hopscotch hosted by iHomeschool Network! Be sure to stop by and visit our fellow bloggers to learn how they teach math in their families!

Language Arts for ADHD Kids: Look! We're Learning!

How I Teach Language Arts to My Kids with ADHD

January 13, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

Good morning! Today we’re beginning a five-day series on teaching school to kids with ADHD. As you might know, we’re homeschooling at least one child with ADHD (and possibly more), so we try to accommodate their learning styles throughout our lessons.

In fact, one of the biggest reasons why we stick with homeschooling is that we don’t want to use ADHD medication (yet), so we really work to adapt our curriculum to make it more ADHD-friendly. That means short lessons, variety, and lots and lots of movement. Throughout this series, we’ll be mentioning those three factors again and again.

Regular Reading

Language Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

A big part of our language arts curriculum is reading. We read to and with our kids every day. We’ve shared our homeschool reading list for this year previously. Our 9-year-old, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, began reading at age 3. Our boys, ages 5 and 4, are also reading, though they started a little later than her.

Honestly, we haven’t used many structured reading programs with our children, at least not to get them started reading. We do, however, use some reading programs to help them improve their skills.

Phonics Practice

Language Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

One program we’ve used this year is Reading the Alphabet, which we reviewed a while back. It’s a great, affordable program that lets kids practice phonics while completing lots of sight word activities, which makes it perfect for ADHD learners! You can pick up the entire program for just $10 below!

Language Arts for ADHD Learners: Look! We're Learning!

Reading the Alphabet Early Reading Program

Visiting the Library

Another way that we try to make reading fun for the kids is by regular visits to the library. All of the kids love going inside, picking out their own books, and bringing them home. In fact, on occasion, we’ve gotten to attend live storytelling sessions, such as an African storytelling performance we got to experience a while back.

Language Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Hearing books read aloud with feeling and movement seems to help the kids get involved in the stories and “see” the events as real life, not just words on a page. When we engage more than one sense with our kids, they seem to stay interested for a longer period of time. (A big issue for most people with ADHD)

Physical Movement

Language Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

As I mentioned earlier, movement is a big part of our homeschooling lessons. With Roo, we did a Sight Word Stomp activity last summer that involved reading, running, and writing with sidewalk chalk. It was a huge hit! But really, any time we can add a physical activity into a lesson, we find that the kids remember it better.

Unit Studies

Language Arts for Kids with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Unit studies are a huge part of our homeschooling lessons. And a big reason why we love them so much is that they are perfect opportunities to add art, crafts, music, movies, and play into our curriculum. When we cover a chapter book on our reading list, we turn it into a unit study that involves a craft project, a movie (if possible), and some food. We did something like this with our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory unit from earlier this school year.

Games and TV

Language Arts with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

On a day when a structured language arts lesson just isn’t cutting it, we are not above resorting to games. We’ve used MadLibs to teach parts of speech and the kids were so excited to come up with outlandish verbs, adjectives, and nouns that they forgot we were having class!

Super Silly Mad Libs Junior

Kid Libs (Mad Libs)

We also love to use songs and television programs to reinforce language arts skills. Our three oldest kids have memorized several of the grammar songs from SchoolHouse Rock and we use them to remind them of their essential grammar concepts. One of their favorites is the “Verb Song”. (I have been known to sing along to this one myself.)

Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition)

And that’s a look at how we teach language arts to our kids with ADHD! With these and other resources, we manage to keep them interested and engaged in our lessons, which is a big help to their comprehension. Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see how we teach math to our ADHD learners!

This post is part of the 2014 Winter Hopscotch hosted by iHomeschool Network! Be sure to stop by and visit our fellow bloggers to learn how they teach language arts in their families!

Language Arts for ADHD Kids: Look! We're Learning!

How I Teach Third Grade Math to My Child with ADHD

October 9, 2013 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy here.

How I Teach Third Grade Math to My Child with ADHD: Look! We're Learning!

Hi everyone! This morning we’re sharing our method for teaching math to our third grader with ADHD.

It’s no secret that getting active kids to settle down for school is a challenge. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that we have the flexibility to adapt our lessons to our kids, rather than having to change our kids to fit the lessons.Keep Reading…

Must Have Supplies for Homeschooling Several Kids

September 26, 2013 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by to see us again! Today we’re sharing some of our must-have homeschooling items for teaching several children.

As you well know, we have four kids – three of whom are homeschooling now. To make lesson planning and teaching easier, we make charts for key concepts in a specific grade level and then we use those as the basis for our lessons.

Since Tigger is dealing with ADHD, we’ve found that using anchor charts helps her to pay attention, grasp key concepts, and remember them.

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Homeschool Must Haves: Anchor Charts

One of the best advantages of using anchor charts is that they are very economical for teaching several children. We can make a series of anchor charts for Tigger’s grade level and then save them for our younger kids as they get older. That way, we can just reuse the same charts again and save lots of time on lesson planning!

(We’ve shared our experiences in using anchor charts for multiplication and rounding previously.)

Here are a few of the anchor charts we’ve used or plan to use with our kids:

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Must Have Homeschooling Items for Teaching Several Children: Look! We're Learning!

Before you heap praise on me for these, I have to tell you that I got all of these ideas from anchor charts I saw on Pinterest. If you’d like to see some of the charts we’ve especially liked, follow our Anchor Chart Ideas board!

To learn more about why we like anchor charts and how we use them in our homeschool, check out our YouTube video below!

You can grab the same chart tablet and markers we use from Amazon.com:

Pacon 74733 Colored Chart Tablets, Ruled, Spiralbound, 24″ x 32″, Assorted Colors

Sanford Mr. Sketch Assorted Scent Markers 12 Pack

This post is part of the Must Have Homeschooling Items linkup from iHomeschoolNetwork! Click on over to read about the must have homeschooling items of our fellow bloggers!

Homeschooling Must Haves: iHN

Review: The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks

September 5, 2013 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. See our disclosure policy here.

Good morning everyone! We got the chance to review a wonderful ebook that we’re sharing with you guys today.

When you’re homeschooling kids who are active learners, you find out pretty quickly that they need to take several activity breaks throughout the day. So when the book “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks” by Heather Haupt was released, we were super excited to read about how we can make those breaks better for our kids.
The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks Review: Look! We're Learning

We were already using a brain breaks system before this. I based it on a picture I saw on Pinterest. I just grabbed colored popsicle sticks and wrote different movements on them “Run in place for 30 seconds”, “Do 10 toe touches”, etc. And the kids could stick their hand in and grab whichever one they wanted. So I knew that brain breaks are a great way to help children regain their focus.

But here’s why I liked Heather’s book and system better. First, she begins the book with a scientific explanation of why all of us need brain breaks, not just kids. It turns out that periodic physical activity actually stimulates parts of our brains for learning. So moving around isn’t just good for kids – it’s necessary to help them learn effectively. That was very enlightening to me.

Within the book, Heather includes several printable brain breaks of her own and these are not the typical kid exercises either. They’re silly enough to make the activities fun, but they also include helpful training in balance work, coordination, and focus.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks Review: Look! We're Learning

Pooh selected “Popcorn Pops” as his brain break activity. We weren’t sure how to do those, but “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks” has full-color illustrations of several of the exercises and written descriptions of all of them, which helped us figure out what to do.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks Review: Look! We're Learning

Basically, you crouch down to the floor…

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks Review: Look! We're Learning

And then explode out into a star shape. (Like a popcorn kernel popping.)

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks Review: Look! We're Learning

Roo picked the “Beanbag Balance Race” activity. Can you tell he was excited?

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks Review: Look! We're LearningHe and Tigger loved racing one another with beanbags on their heads! At first, Roo got frustrated because he kept looking down, which naturally made him lose his beanbag. Eventually, he got the hang of it.

We loved working with “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks”! If your kids are active learners, I highly recommend this book to help you break up the monotony of the school day and to help them refocus their minds on learning!

Pick up your own copy of “The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks” below:

Homeschooling with ADHD: Considering the Other Kids - Look! We're Learning!

Homeschooling with ADHD: Considering the Other Kids

July 8, 2013 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by to see us again this week! Today we’re wrapping up our series “Homeschooling with ADHD” by talking about the non-ADHD children in the family.

Since children with ADHD can be extremely unpredictable, it’s easy to spend an entire day just helping them to manage their emotions, work on their impulses, and communicate their feelings. Before you know it, your children who don’t have ADHD have gone an entire day without spending any meaningful time with you.

Keep Reading…

Homeschooling with ADHD: Making Lifestyle Changes - Look! We're Learning!

Homeschooling with ADHD: Making Lifestyle Changes

July 1, 2013 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Good morning everyone! We’re off to a new week of learning in our family! As you know, we’re dealing with ADHD and we’ve been using various approaches to try to manage it without using medication. One of the ways that we’re finding to be helpful is by making lifestyle changes.

When I say “lifestyle changes”, I mean all parts of our lifestyle, including what we eat, watch, and do. There’s some disagreement over whether diet plays a role in ADHD symptoms among the medical community.

Keep Reading…

Homeschooling with ADHD: Preparing Kids to Learn - Look! We're Learning!

Homeschooling with ADHD: Preparing Kids to Learn

June 24, 2013 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Hi everyone! Welcome to the next installment in our series “Homeschooling with ADHD.” Today we’re talking about how we can prepare kids to learn.

One of the most common indicators of ADHD is the inability to adjust your train of thought. For ADHD kids and adults, thought patterns are often like runaway engines, speeding down a single track in one specific direction. At times, this can be really useful, especially if there’s a project or task that needs finishing. At other times, though, it can make it almost impossible to perform the simplest task.

Keep Reading…

Homeschooling with ADHD: Adapting as a Teacher - Look! We're Learning!

Homeschooling with ADHD – Adapting as a Teacher

June 17, 2013 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Happy Monday all! Welcome to the second installment of our series “Homeschooling with ADHD!” Last week, we discussed why it’s important that we manage our expectations of our children and ourselves. Today we’ll be talking about adapting as teachers.

When we accept the responsibility of homeschooling our kids, we’re accepting a special privilege, especially when working with kids who have special needs.

The good news is that we can adapt the schoolwork to suit our children, instead of forcing them to adapt to the curriculum. The bad news is that doing this successfully may require that we completely overhaul our teaching styles to suit their learning styles.

Keep Reading…

Homeschooling with ADHD: Managing Expectations - Look! We're Learning!

Homeschooling with ADHD: Managing Expectations

June 10, 2013 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

As we mentioned last week, Tigger has been tentatively diagnosed with ADHD and we suspect that Roo may have some attention issues as well. So we’ve had to make some changes in how we approach our homeschooling journey.

Interestingly, the biggest change I’ve had to make personally is in how I view a productive school day. When I first started thinking about homeschooling, I envisioned a full day of lessons, experiments, crafts, play, and music.

Keep Reading…

Homeschooling with ADHD - Look! We're Learning!

Homeschooling with ADHD

June 3, 2013 by Selena Robinson 18 Comments

Good morning everyone! Thanks for stopping by to see us today! This week we’ll be starting off a new series called “Homeschooling with ADHD.”

Tigger was diagnosed with ADHD a few months back and we’ve made the decision (so far) to continue on without medication. Interestingly, her doctor actually said that the fact that we’re homeschoolers works in her favor. Since we don’t require her to sit still for several hours per day and we work with her on an individual basis, we may not need to use medication at all. Yet another win for homeschooling!

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Hi! I'm Selena, a veteran teacher and homeschool mom to four. I'm so glad you're here!
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