We inspire parents to raise confident, emotionally healthy children, empower them to create personalized learning experiences and ultimately see them build amazing relationships with their kids that last a lifetime!
If they can focus on that...
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Hi Reader! Having two kids with ADHD has given me a front-row seat to just how inconsistent ADHD can look. A child can spend hours completely absorbed in something they love… …and then struggle to stay with something else for ten minutes. They can remember incredibly specific details about an interest and somehow forget the three things you asked them to do five minutes ago. I’ve lived those contradictions. And it’s easy to look at them and think: “Clearly they CAN focus.” They can. But ADHD isn’t simply an inability to pay attention. The challenge is often regulating attention. It's about directing it, shifting it, and sustaining it when the task itself isn’t naturally holding their attention. For me, understanding that changed the question. Instead of: “I know you can do this, so why aren’t you doing it?” I can get curious: “What is different about the times when this is easier for you?” That’s something you can start noticing with your own child this week. Think of one thing they have a hard time starting or sticking with and one thing they can stay engaged with seemingly forever. What’s different? Is one more interesting? More hands-on? More challenging? Less overwhelming? Does it have an obvious starting point? Is there immediate feedback? Are they doing it with someone else? You’re not trying to solve anything yet. Just look for the differences. Because those differences can give us clues about what helps your child’s brain engage. And once we start seeing those patterns, we have much more useful information than simply knowing, “They can focus when they want to.” My next email will take this one step further, because attention is only one part of ADHD. Your Friend, Join us at Homeschool Essentials |
Homeschool Essentials
We inspire parents to raise confident, emotionally healthy children, empower them to create personalized learning experiences and ultimately see them build amazing relationships with their kids that last a lifetime!
Hi Reader! I’ve raised two kids with ADHD, and if there’s one thing that experience has taught me, it’s that ADHD doesn’t have one particular “look.” My son’s ADHD has been much easier to recognize from the outside. Hyperactivity. Impulsivity. The kinds of things people often picture when they hear ADHD. My daughter presents very differently. Having two kids whose struggles can look so different has made me really interested in understanding what ADHD actually is, not just the behaviors we...
Hi Reader! When I first started homeschooling, some of the voices I needed most weren’t the ones telling me what curriculum to buy or how to organize our day. They were the homeschool moms who were farther down the road than I was. The ones who had made it through the hard seasons. Who had changed course when something wasn’t working. Who had questioned themselves, learned from mistakes, and discovered along the way what really mattered. Their words carried me through some of my hardest...
Hi Reader! There’s something about the beginning of a new homeschool year that always makes me reflective. When I first started homeschooling, I wanted to have the whole year figured out before we even began. And when I say figured out, I mean figured out. I had color-coded folders for every week of the school year, with worksheets already torn out and carefully organized. I had a plan. Then I met actual homeschool life. Some lessons took longer than I expected. Others we flew through. An...