ADHD and Homeschooling: 6 Easy Tips for Planning Your Days (sample schedule included!)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” Psalm 139:13-14

Are you homeschooling a very active child?  

A child whose superpower is their never-ending energy? ;) Maybe your child has been diagnosed with ADHD.  Maybe he or she hasn't been diagnosed, but you suspect they would definitely qualify if you had them tested.  If this is you, then you are in good company.

My oldest child was very, very active, and we eventually ended up pulling him out of public school because it wasn't a good fit for him. I suspect he would have been diagnosed with ADHD, but we did not have him tested at this age, and I knew I did not want to explore the idea of putting him on medication.

Homeschooling had never been on my radar. I had taught first grade in public school, and so the traditional school track was the path we had started. Since preschool, he had been one of the youngest in his class and was full of life.🦸‍♂️ School had definitely been a struggle, but we thought he would mature and things would get easier. We got along for a while, but by second grade he was getting in trouble quite frequently for behavior and losing or not finishing school work.  AND I was spending a good amount of time at school, on the phone, or working with him at home on schoolwork he had not finished during the day.  It was getting stressful, and I thought if I had to be at school this much, I would just pull him out and do it myself -- on my terms!  And so began our homeschool journey.

Our school days at home were certainly easier in some ways than trying to conform to the inflexible structure of public school, but we definitely still had many long and tiring days. It took a few years to find what worked. I am no doctor or psychologist, but I am sharing with you what worked for us in hopes that you can use this information to appreciate your son or daughter's learning style and use it for their good. They undeniably have amazing capabilities to be able to run like the Energizer Bunny and never stop! As my son has gotten older (he is an adult now), he has gotten an official ADHD diagnosis.  He still struggles with time management and completing tasks that he doesn't like doing, but these tips have started to become strategies he can integrate into his adult life as well.

My son, Forrest, when he was 5 years old.  Just hanging with his cousins. ;)

6 Tips for ADHD Planning:

 Tip #1 Schedule exercise first thing.  This is so, so important!  Have you ever heard the phrase, "A tired dog is a good dog?"  Well it applies to kids, too.  You cannot expect a puppy to behave during the day if it hasn't been exercised extensively. Same goes for active kids. My boy NEEDED outside time every morning before school.  We would go on long bike rides to the park and spend time in nature looking at animals, trees, and birds (hello, science!) while he was doing wheelies and jumping hills.  This was a critical piece of our day.  Was it tiring for me? Yes.  But do you know what else was tiring?  Dealing with craziness all day if we didn't do it.  I finally just resigned myself to the fact that it had to be done and it was good exercise for me too. ;)

Tip #2 Use your child's interests to drive instruction.  Lots of moms will choose curriculum and then try to make their child conform to it.  This is no different than public school.  Homeschooling brings great freedom when it comes to what to teach and how to teach it.  My son was very interested in animals and nature, and that became a driving force for his education.  He was motivated to read and write about these subjects, which made everything sooo much easier. Yes, it takes a bit more research than just buying a big box curriculum and then turning to page 1, but it is worth it! Do an internet search on "unit studies" for tons of ideas for your child.

Tip #3 Plan for short lessons and use timers.  If my child was interested in something he could spend HOURS reading about it, watching videos about it, exploring more about it outside. But if it was not something he wanted to do, it needed to be a short lesson with a timer set so that he could see how much time he had left before he got a break.  For instance, MATH.  This was definitely not one of his favorite subjects, but it had to be done and I couldn't always make it about animals and things he liked when he got older.  Other topics like spelling and grammar were not favorites either, but we made sure that these lessons were about 15-20 minutes and then he would get a break.  Sometimes we would move to another topic, and sometimes we would need to come back to the lesson for another 10 minutes or so to finish it up. If I added some popcorn, pretzels or a few Skittles on tough topics, it helped even more!  A snack makes everything better. :) Keep the lessons short and tight and use a timer if necessary.

Tip #4 Make lessons as active as possible. Our kids don't need to be sitting to do school.  Get them up and move them around as necessary.  Need to work on math facts?  Go practice on the trampoline or with a jump rope.  Need to have them retell a chapter of a book back to you?  Have them narrate on a balance board.  Are you learning about historical events? Have them build with Legos as they listen or act out stories from the past. There are many ways to learn and show proof of learning without having to sit and write something down or do a worksheet.  Vary the lessons during the day so your child can move.

Tip #5 Make a daily plan or checklist. Keeping a daily checklist was extremely helpful for us in keeping my son on track with his schoolwork. His daily checklist included morning jobs, his lessons for the day, 1-2 chores he needed to complete after his schoolwork, and then events that were going to happen later in the day like swim practice, church, etc.  He could see everything laid out, how much was left, and how much he had already accomplished.  As he got older and started working more independently, it was a way that I could see how much he had finished as well. It kept us all on track.

Tip #6 Plan your day so that there is something motivating your child to complete their schoolwork.  In other words, structure your day so that when your child completes the things that were expected, there is a way to get something they like to do.  Free time, screens, outside, whatever. I am not necessarily talking about a prize or reward -- I am only referring to making sure that there is time in the day for them to be free. This was like a dangling carrot my son would think about as an incentive to finish.  "Remember, if you want time to be able to ____, you need to have these things done by 2:00 so you will have time to do that."  My son slowly became in charge of motivating himself so that he could have time to do the things he wanted to do before we had to leave for music lessons, swim practice, doctor's appointments, etc. This worked very well for us. On the flip side, if I framed my language in a way of punishment , he would shut down, give up and not care. For instance, if I would start nagging and say, "You're not going to get to ____ today because you aren't getting these math problems done," it just did not work as well for him. He was not motivated at all by the threat of something bad that would happen to him -- he was motivated when my language was framed in a positive way.  I don't know if this will be the case for your kid, too, but I found it interesting.  And important!

OUR SAMPLE HOMESCHOOL ADHD SCHEDULE:

(Our schedule changed over the years, but I am posting an example of what a typical day would have looked like when he was between the ages of 8-11.)

Wake up and morning jobs: teeth, hair, bed

BREAKFAST & DEVOTIONS

*Possible reading or independent work? Some years this was a good time for him to read or study something first by himself first thing in the mornings. Usually something he was interested in like science.

EXTENDED OUTSIDE TIME TO DRAIN ENERGY

*Family work w/snack (history, science, geography, literature)

*Math

LUNCH

*Family work (art, music, literature, poetry)

*Writing/Grammar, ELA

1-2 Chores

FREE TIME

Swim practice/errands/church

DINNER

We hope this helps you, and please let us know if you have any questions! It is our pleasure to help and serve other homeschool moms so that YOU can be your child's best teacher. 

Looking for a community of support to help you have a thriving homeschool?  Check out our online community for moms.

Need one-on-one help in your homeschool? We offer coaching services for personalized guidance.

NEW! Are you searching for fun kids classes?  Take a look at what we offer. We are adding more all the time!