We’ve been talking about ADHD all month long – what it is, how it affects people who have it, and how the brain of a person who has ADHD operates. If you’re just finding our series or if your eyes have glazed over because of all the posts so far, don’t worry! Today we’re going to start talking about what we can do to help our kids with ADHD learn. 🙂
One of the main concerns for people who have ADHD is maintaining focus, not just attention, but focus. Focus is what helps us start a project, pay attention to it, and complete it. For many people with ADHD (like myself), starting projects and assignments is easy. It’s the finishing that gives us the most trouble.
If you’re homeschooling (or even if your kids attend public school), they’ve got to learn how to finish their assignments, whether they have ADHD or not. But if you’re teaching them at home, you’ll have a lot more room to adapt as a teacher. So – here are a few homeschool teaching tips for ADHD kids that you can try this week!
Homeschool Teaching Tips for ADHD Kids
Use lots and lots of energy.
Now when I say “lots of energy”, I mean LOTS OF ENERGY. Think Robin Williams in Dead Poets’ Society. Stand on tables, jump up and down, burst into song in the middle of a sentence…you get the idea. And I’m only half joking.
The days that our school lessons went the best were the days that I came out and put on a show during class. When I make the lesson memorable, the kids pay attention and do a better job of focusing. Not only that, they actually remembered it the next day. (My personal struggle is being consistent with this, which as a mom with ADHD, I’m not.)
Remove any distractions.
Depending on the type of stimuli your children respond to, you might have to get rid of lots of things in your school space. My kids are easily distracted by visual stimuli, so I had to take down my beautiful map of the world which hung on the wall in front of our dining room table.
I loved that map, but every time I stood in front of it to teach, my kids’ eyes went directly to Murmansk, not me. Our homeschool room is pretty boring now, but the kids have done better work this year.
Separate siblings, if necessary.
As much as I liked the idea of a one-room schoolhouse type of class, I ended up having to separate some of my kids, especially during certain subjects. My two oldest kids are very competitive, and the younger one will try to rush through his work to catch up with his older sister.
So I started having him do his work separately. Without that peer pressure, his work improved immensely. Plus, Tigger had an easier job staying focused on her lessons.
Do you have any tips for teaching kids with ADHD? Feel free to share them in the comments!
This post is part of the 31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 22: How to Get Your ADHD Child to Work Independently!
I believe the best lesson my great-grandma taught me was, ‘Finish what you start.” I was never given the opportunity to get away with quitting. Even though I would sit at the table for hours doing homework I really didn’t want to do or continuing with a sport that I hated. It taught me a valuable lesson in perserverance and accomplishment.
Absolutely. Those qualities are so important for success.