ADHD Learning Archives

Understanding How the ADHD Brain Works

October 4, 2014 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

Like a lot of people, I thought that my children with ADHD were just “not trying hard enough” or didn’t “want to” do their schoolwork. While that may have been true on occasion, it didn’t explain the frustration, tears, and occasional tantrums I saw during our homeschool lessons.

It also didn’t explain why Tigger’s schoolwork seemed to get worse when I had her sit down and study quietly. That one really puzzled me for a while. I just knew that if I could get her into a quiet place, she’d concentrate better and her work would improve.

Wrong. Totally wrong. But that was because I didn’t have any knowledge about how the ADHD brain works. Now, I’m in no way a doctor, but I have read some great information about what happens in the brain of someone with ADHD and I’ve learned how I can use that to help my kids learn better.

ADHD and Concentration

Here’s what’s so insidious about ADHD: The brain of a person who has ADHD tends to “switch off” during intense concentration. Naturally, the entire brain doesn’t shut down, but the communication between brain sections can go haywire, affecting executive function.

Executive function refers to our ability to begin tasks, focus on them, finish them, and manage our emotions throughout. Naturally, if our kids can’t organize their thoughts to get started or sustain focus long enough to finish an assignment, there are going to be tears during school time. And these symptoms get worse if the task is harder.

So, when I would tell Tigger to “sit down” and “focus”, her ability to concentrate actually decreased. I was sabotaging her and I didn’t even know it. And all because I simply didn’t understand how the ADHD brain works. Of course, when I started looking at her symptoms, I saw the very same things in myself. Go figure.

Optimizing the ADHD Brain for School

Instead of trying to work in a peaceful, sedentary environment, kids with ADHD literally NEED to move. During physical movement (or sometimes just afterward), their brains perform executive function duties in a much more efficient way. The movement doesn’t have to be vigorous or involve the whole body, either. Sometimes just small movements will do the trick.

That’s why you might see your child with ADHD tapping his or her foot, chewing on a pencil, or shifting in his or her seat so often. Their brains need the movement to concentrate. Hand fidgets and squeeze balls are excellent for this.

Along with physical movement and short lesson periods, kids also need to eat the right kind of foods for their brain. We’ll talk more about this in an upcoming post, but generally it’s best to stay away from processed foods and refined sugars. High protein and fiber is best for helping our brains to focus. And really, that goes for all of us, right? 😉

By the way, I’m collecting some ADHD Friendly Recipes that I’ll be trying with our family soon. Feel free to follow my ADHD Friendly Recipes board on Pinterest for ideas!

Follow Selena – Look! We’re Learning!’s board ADHD Friendly Meals on Pinterest.This post is part of our “31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling” series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 5: Sifting Through the Different Types of ADHD!

Why ADHD Parents Should Let Go of the Homeschooling Ideal

October 3, 2014 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

When you first thought of “homeschooling“, what did you envision? I talked about my homeschooling dream a few months back when I shared my Homeschool Mom Confession at The Mommy Mess. In short, it was to have all of my kids sitting quietly at the dining room table – kind of like the one-room schoolhouse in Anne of Green Gables.

Naturally, this is an unrealistic fantasy, so I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t come true. But while I dropped the more ridiculous aspects of my ideal homeschooling experience, I was still hoping for a certain homeschooling reality. I’d settle for completing an entire week’s lesson plan or finishing a picture book without my kids getting up or standing on their heads.

Finding out that our kids have ADHD, though, threw a real monkey wrench in my plans for our homeschool. I tried lowering my expectations and reducing our schedule, but I still had a hard time dealing with our situation. I found out the hard way that, if our homeschooling experience was going to be a success, I’d have to let go of the homeschooling “ideal”.

Dealing with the Sadness

My first feeling after the diagnosis was sadness. I was sad that my kids were never going to be “normal”, because I felt that they should be able to sit down for an entire school lesson and they should be able to think before they speak. I worried that other parents would look at me as an example of what homeschooling should NOT look like.

Then, there was the guilt that I felt after I realized that many of my primary parenting techniques were unfair to my kids. I had been unfair by expecting them to sit down and maintain focus during a lesson. I had been unfair by assuming that they were being disobedient when they forgot their assignments or got distracted on the way back to the table after a bathroom break. Those realizations were extremely hard to deal with.

Looking on the Bright Side

It wasn’t until I started reading about ADHD that I learned that there are positive aspects of having it. Our kids are extremely imaginative, which is a quality that can serve them extremely well both in school and in life. Plus, kids with ADHD tend to become super passionate about the topics that interest them, so the ability to focus is there if the subject is right.

The great thing about homeschooling is that we have TONS of leeway when it comes to deciding how to approach specific topics. When I use a unit study about a topic the kids like, they get excited and interested and they stay that way throughout the whole lesson. My boys are even asking to read books during their free time now, just because I started letting them choose books about topics they like. Bugs, cars, and trains are at the top of the list these days. 🙂

As an homeschooling parent to an ADHD child, it’s very easy to burn out and lose motivation to continue. The fastest way to burn out is to expect your kids to be like the ideal homeschooled kids. They may not graduate at 15. They may not read until they’re in elementary school. And they may not even potty train until they’re in PreK.

But that’s just fine. As long as you help them love to learn and adjust to their needs, they’ll still be homeschooling success stories!

This post is part of the month-long series “31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling“! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for Day 4: Understanding Your Child’s ADHD Brain!

Must Read Books for ADHD Homeschooling Parents

October 2, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

When I first learned that our daughter had ADHD, I was full of questions: What is ADHD? What are the treatment options for ADHD? Should I change my parenting style? Can we manage ADHD without medication?

I Googled and poked around some online sites and found a few great ones (I’ll be sharing those later in the series), but what I really wanted was a comprehensive book about ADHD that would explain the condition, let me know what to expect, and offer suggestions for how we could help Tigger manage her symptoms.

Of course, now that we’ve learned that most of us in the family have ADHD, I’ve had to do even more reading about it. Today I’m recommending my must-read books for ADHD homeschooling parents, but even if you’re not a homeschooling family, you’ll find some excellent advice and tips for managing ADHD in these resources.

My Must-Read Books for ADHD Homeschooling Parents

Healing ADD Revised Edition: The Breakthrough Program that Allows You to See and Heal the 7 Types of ADD

This book by Dr. Daniel Amen has literally been a life changer for our family. In the book, Dr. Amen describes seven types of ADD, including hyper and inattentive versions. We found each of us in this book and we learned about the types of behaviors that are unique to each type.

For example, Tigger tends to show classic ADD symptoms, complete with hyperactivity, while Pooh displays the characteristics of limbic ADD – a type I had never heard of before. It was after reading this book that I decided to adjust our homeschool schedule to allow for a more gradual wake up routine in the morning.

We’ll be talking more about the different types of ADHD later this week.

Raising Girls with ADHD: Secrets for Parenting Healthy, Happy Daughters

Raising Girls with ADHD is a book specifically about helping young girls with the condition to understand their symptoms, manage their behavior, and build self-esteem. Tigger’s dealt with low self-esteem quite a lot over the years, especially when it comes to some of her harder school subjects, so this book was right up our alley!

Look for our full review and a giveaway later this month! 🙂

The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun, Revised Edition: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

Since some of our children have sensory processing disorder, we try to incorporate sensory activities whenever possible. This book, a follow up to The Out-of-Sync Child, is packed with active, sensory-stimulating activities that are simple to do around the house. These activities have provided some great material for our homeschool P.E. classes!

Women With Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life

I came across this book as I was just beginning to realize that I have ADHD. The author, Sari Solden, is also a woman living with ADD and she is incredibly compassionate and relatable as she describes the challenges and advantages of living with this condition.

As a homeschooling mom, I do the majority of the parenting and the teaching in our home and I really needed some help to understand my tendencies toward disorganization and procrastination. This book has really helped me to work with those tendencies, instead of trying to be “normal”.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks

This ebook, written by homeschooling mom Heather Haupt, is a great way to add movement breaks into your homeschool day! We got a chance to review it a while back and our kids absolutely loved it! We schedule in brain breaks every day and the kids pay attention so much better after we take them.

Do you have any favorite books for ADHD homeschooling parents? Share your recommendations in the comments!

This post is part of our “31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling” series! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for Day 3: Why ADHD Parents Should Let Go of the Homeschooling Ideal!

This post is also part of The Massive Guide to Homeschool Reading Lists by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read tons of awesome booklists shared by my fellow homeschooling bloggers!

Should You Homeschool Your Child with ADHD?

October 1, 2014 by Selena Robinson 13 Comments

Hi everyone! Today we’re kicking off a month-long series here at Look! We’re Learning! – 31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling! For Day 1, our topic is: Should You Homeschool Your Child with ADHD?

We always intended to homeschool our kids and we’ve done so since birth. But when Tigger was diagnosed with ADHD, I had to do some serious thinking about whether homeschooling was best for her…and me. After doing a lot of reading and talking with other moms, I decided that homeschooling was the ideal way to teach her, but every family with ADHD may not come to the same conclusion. (Since then, we’ve found out that nearly everyone in our family has ADHD.)

From my experience, there are a lot of pros to homeschooling a child with ADHD, but there are also a lot of cons. If you’re going to make ADHD homeschooling a success, you have to be prepared for those cons. Otherwise, they’ll show up out of nowhere and discourage you from continuing. Here are a few of my personal pros and cons of homeschooling with ADHD.

Pros of Homeschooling an ADHD Child

Homeschooling a child with ADHD is never boring. You will never, ever, ever want for excitement when you decide to teach your ADHD child at home. In fact, we often “forget” to watch TV during the day, because there’s so much going on in our living room!
Observing your child everyday gives you a special insight into his or her condition. If you decide to homeschool, you’ll get to observe your child for yourself, rather than having to hear about it from his or her teacher. Watching them do schoolwork has given me an insight into their conditions that has truly helped me understand them.
You may find out some hidden things about yourself. It wasn’t until I started reading about ADHD and observing my kids that I realized that I also have ADHD. That’s been a long process of acceptance, which we’ll be covering later in this series.

Cons of Homeschooling an ADHD Child

It can be extremely exhausting. At the end of the day, I am downright exhausted. Physically I’m okay, but the mental effort of keeping them on task and trying to manage their energy around the house is a lot to handle.
You’ll have to learn to manage your own feelings quickly. I went through a stage when I was blowing up at my kids just about every single day. Children (and adults) with ADHD can become experts at pushing your buttons, and if you’re not careful, you’ll give them an adrenaline boost just by blowing your top.
Keeping your child interested in learning can be a challenge. Kids with ADHD have extremely short attention spans, so they may not make it through an entire lesson from a textbook. I didn’t realize how much I’d need to adjust my teaching style to include active learning for my kids.

Preparing for the Cons

For me, the cons aren’t enough to dissuade me from continuing our homeschooling journey. But I would liked to have known about them in the beginning. I’ve had days where I’ve been so tired of trying to make our lesson plan interesting that I just dropped school altogether. I’ve also had days when my kids have thrown a tantrum or two and I’ve allowed it to make me lose my temper.

Just in case you’re unsure about managing these cons, we’ll be covering all of these topics during our series. If you want to homeschool an ADHD child, you can do it! But you’ll want to be prepared in advance. Trust me. 🙂

I’d love to know about your journey in ADHD homeschooling! Have you experienced these same pros and cons? How do you manage your bad days? Let us know in the comments! And be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 2: Must Read Books for ADHD Homeschooling Parents!

My Favorite Things for Homeschooling with ADHD

September 26, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Since we’re homeschooling several kids with ADHD, we generally have to make a few adjustments for our kids to make it through a school day. I don’t generally reduce the amount of work we try to cover, but I do change the way we cover our lessons.

One of our biggest changes has been to use a few specific tools for homeschooling with ADHD so that the kids can maintain their focus for as long as possible. I’ve recently begun contributing at The Homeschool Post, and today I’m guest posting about some of my favorite things for homeschooling with ADHD!

Keep Reading…

Our Simple ADHD Homeschool Schedule

August 25, 2014 by Selena Robinson 15 Comments

We’ve been homeschooling for several years, but we still make adjustments to our homeschool schedule each year. And once we learned that some of our children had ADHD, we had to make some drastic changes to our daily routine.

I’ve been reading some great books on managing ADHD with kids, and I’ve learned some excellent tips about time and school management for kids with ADHD.

As a result, we’ve instituted a simple ADHD homeschool schedule. And it’s made a world of difference in making homeschooling days run more smoothly – for me AND the kids!

Read on to get a look at our typical day. And if you need more flexibility in your homeschool day, check our list of 15 different ADHD homeschool schedule ideas!

A Look at Our ADHD Homeschool Schedule

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Image c/o: belchonock / depositphotos

If you look at our ADHD homeschool schedule, you’ll notice that all of the school lessons are limited to 30 minutes MAX. That’s one of the important adjustments of this year, but so far, I’ve already seen improvements.

We also try to cover the basic subjects as early in the morning as possible. It generally makes the afternoon run smoother.

Morning:

7:30 a.m. (ish) – Wake up

I don’t really set a strict wake up time for the kids. They’re generally up by 7:30 a.m., but if they’re not, I let them sleep until they wake on their own. Pooh, in particular, needs time to wake up before he starts his day.

8:00 a.m. – Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – Copywork/Handwriting

We go over a different scripture each day and I use that verse as our copywork for the day. The kids clean up the breakfast dishes and bring their notebooks to the table to do copywork. Piglet generally sits in and draws with her Color Wonder markers.

9:00 a.m. – Math

I separate the kids for math. Tigger does her own work on the computer. We use several programs, including A+ Interactive Math, Khan Academy, and TenMarks. I let her go at her own pace, and I generally keep the entire lesson to 30 minutes or less.

The boys and I do a math lesson in the living room using “Life of Fred” and math manipulatives.

9:30 a.m. – Daily chores

The kids do their chores (usually two tasks per person) and then they make their lunches for the day.

10:00 a.m. – Language Arts

I don’t require that we have a structured language arts lesson each day, but we do cover all of the subjects (spelling, English, and writing) several times a week.

10:30 a.m. – Individual Reading

Each child gets to read with me for a few minutes alone. I generally read a short story with Roo first, then Pooh and I read a section of an early reader chapter book. Tigger and I are working our way through the Nancy Drew series and we’re on Book 1: The Secret of the Old Clock.

11:00 a.m. – Family Lesson

Everyday, we have a family lesson where we all cover the same subject together. Monday is Science, Tuesday is History, Wednesday is Geography, Thursday is Art/Music, and Friday is Foreign Language. (More about these in a future post.)

11:30 a.m – Family Unit Study

I try to pick at least one topic per month for our family unit studies. We usually read from a textbook or storybook and do an activity together each day.

Afternoon

In the afternoon, our ADHD homeschool schedule includes more of the “extras”. Unless we don’t finish covering the essentials in the morning.

12:00 p.m. – Lunch

Since they make the lunch themselves earlier in the morning, I don’t have to do much during lunch. Tigger generally helps Piglet with her food and I get a little break.

12:30 p.m. – Clean up and change for P.E.

We’re having the kids “dress for school” this year, so after lunch they change into play clothes for P.E.

1:00 p.m. – P.E.

We use Family Time Fitness for P.E. So far, we’ve been focusing on basic physical movements and helping the kids learn the difference between sports terms like “pass”, “throw”, “jump”, “hop”, etc.

1:45 p.m. – Showers and change clothes

I’ve recently made the decision to start giving showers earlier in the day. By the end of the day, we’re all exhausted and Jay and I just don’t feel up to the task. The kids seem to relax a bit more for quiet time when they’ve had a shower beforehand as well.

2:15 p.m. – Storytime

I generally read a story or part of a story before quiet time. I try to choose calm stories that won’t work them up too much. Otherwise, they’ll get in the bed and play around the whole time…lol.

2:30 p.m. – Quiet Time

This is the first year that I am NOT requiring a longer quiet time for the kids. Tigger is actually sleeping more this year than last. We suspect that it’s because she’s entering puberty and her body needs the rest.

If she goes to sleep, then I don’t wake her. We can always move the other tasks to later in the day. (One of the many perks of homeschooling!)

3:00 p.m. – Workbox Time

We do our workbox time right after Quiet Time, since it’s a quiet activity the older kids can do while Piglet is asleep. She generally naps for an hour and, by the time 3:30 rolls around, she’s up and raring to go!

3:30 p.m. – One-on-One Time with Mom

In my dream world, I’d have individual time with each child everyday. That’s just not practical, though – at least not when we’re following our regular school schedule.

So the kids alternate one-on-one time with me each day. Pooh gets Monday, Roo gets Tuesday, Tigger gets Wednesday, and Piglet gets Thursday. Friday is Mom’s one-on-one time with herself.

4:00 p.m. – Media Time

Media time is saved for the absolute very last part of the day. It’s a treat that they get to enjoy if we’ve gotten everything else done that day.

In the past, I would let them watch some TV around 11:30 p.m., particularly while I was making lunch. But they got so worked up after watching TV that they made a colossal mess while eating. Now I save media time until the end and things are better.

And that’s a look at our ADHD homeschool schedule, for this year at least. I’d love to hear about your daily homeschooling plans this year! Feel free to share them in the comments.

Don’t miss these other ideas for planning your homeschool year!

And see more ways to schedule your homeschool on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the “2014 Not Back to School Hop” from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read how our fellow bloggers schedule their homeschooling days!

How to Afford Homeschooling eBook Download

Our ADHD Homeschool Room Layout

August 13, 2014 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

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We’re still in the back to school groove around here, so we thought we’d share some of the changes we made to our homeschooling space. We still hold classes around our dining room table, but we did make a few changes to our walls to create a better ADHD homeschool room.

I love the idea of a “school-y” type room, complete with educational posters, wall charts, a flower clock, and manuscript handwriting charts around the top of the walls. (Remember those in elementary school?) However, that is NOT what’s best for my kids.

Keep Reading…

How I Teach Fine Arts to My Kids with ADHD

January 17, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

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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

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.

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

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

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!

How I Teach History to My Kids with ADHD

January 16, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

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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

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

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.

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

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.

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. 🙂

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!

How I Teach Science to My Kids with ADHD

January 15, 2014 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

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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

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

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

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

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

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!

How I Teach Math to My Kids with ADHD

January 14, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

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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

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

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.

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!

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. 🙂

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

Math Storybooks

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

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!

How I Teach Language Arts to My Kids with ADHD

January 13, 2014 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

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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

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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!