Neurodivergent Homeschool Life

Author: Neurodivergent Homeschool Life

  • Movement Inspired Learning For ADHD Kids

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy through them. I only share products our family has used or genuinely believes would be helpful. Thank you for supporting NDHS Life!

    If you’ve ever tried homeschooling a child with ADHD, you know that telling them to “just sit still and focus” is often unrealistic. During our homeschool day, my daughter tends to be in one of three modes: engaged, disengaged, or fidgety. I’ve learned that constant fidgeting and zoning out don’t create the best environment for learning. Instead of fighting her need to move, we’ve learned to incorporate movement into our lessons—and it’s made a huge difference.

    What do we do on the days she can’t sit still? We channel her energy for good. First we start with our daily movement, whether that’s our nature walk, jumping on her trampoline (paid link), bike rides, or scooter rides (paid link). We burn off that initial blast of energy before incorporating movement into our lesson for the day.

    For my daughter, I know she loves to jump on her trampoline and listen to Kidz Bop on YouTube with her galaxy lights (paid link). She finishes in a better mood, and this also gives me time to get some exercise, which really improves my patience for the day.  She also really enjoys walking on our incline walking pad (paid link) to get some energy out. Two of our favorite games to incorporate movement into homeschool are balance beam taps and hopscotch letters.

    Balance Beam Taps

    After we get some energy out, we incorporate movement into our lesson. We play a game called “balance beam taps” where we work on both phonics or math. As she walks across her balance beam, I call out a letter sound and she has to tap on the correct letter with her toes. As she advances we use it for spelling out words, tapping the correct letters as she walks. When we play this game with numbers, you can get creative and say “tap on/pick up all of the prime numbers.” There are so many variations to this game.

    Here are the items we use for balance beam taps:

    Athletic spot markers
    Dry erase labels. Use these labels on the spot markers above and use dry erase markers to change the writing easily.
    Dry erase markers
    Balance beam

    Hopscotch Letters

    Another similar game we play is hopscotch letters and numbers. We make a long hop scotch and go on a journey to find all of the missing sounds or numbers. If it’s warm you can also have your child hose off the letter or number when they find it.

    Every child learns differently. For us, movement isn’t a distraction from learning—it’s one of the keys to it. When I stopped expecting my daughter to learn while sitting perfectly still, homeschooling became less stressful and much more enjoyable for both of us.

  • Getting Back Into the Swing of Homeschool After the Holidays

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy through them. I only share products our family has used or genuinely believes would be helpful. Thank you for supporting NDHS Life!

    We had a great Fourth of July weekend with family in town, trips to the pool, and lots of good food (hello smoked brisket). However, as many neurodivergent families know, even the greatest of weekends can disrupt normal routines and cause dysregulation. I know my daughter had multiple moments this weekend where she felt overstimulated and needed extra quiet time. 

    By Monday morning, my daughter wasn’t “back to normal.” She was quieter, needed more downtime, and little frustrations felt much bigger than usual. Years ago, I probably would have pushed through because “it’s Monday.” Now I’ve learned that our first day after a busy holiday usually looks different—and that’s okay.

    So how do we get back into the swing of things when your child needs more time to decompress after family leaves? We utilize the very same tools that we use when we’re having a rough day. We also give ourselves permission to take the whole day off if needed.

    Here’s what worked for us after our busy weekend.

    • Start with an easy win. On tired Monday mornings, I don’t worry about having the “perfect” breakfast. Sometimes we eat breakfast while watching a favorite show. Starting the day calmly gives us a much better chance of having a successful homeschool afternoon.
    • Get your outdoor nature walks or movement in first.
    • Add in some calming music or a YouTube ambiance video in the background while you do lessons.
    • Utilize your Yoto player (paid link) for either educational books or reading time.
    • Work on a journal with your child. This not only builds social and emotional learning but is a good way to sneak in spelling and handwriting.
    • Tidy up the home. After family leaves, our house always feels a little chaotic. I’ve learned that spending 20 minutes putting things back where they belong helps both of us. My daughter enjoys having a simple job to do, and I’ll admit—I think better when my house feels calm again.

    One thing homeschooling has taught me is that we don’t have to rush back to “normal.” Sometimes my daughter needs an extra day to recharge after a holiday weekend, and sometimes we do too. I remind myself that the curriculum will still be there tomorrow. A regulated child and a regulated parent come first.

  • How We Handle Fourth of July Sensory Overload in Our Homeschool

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy through them. I only share products our family has used or genuinely believes would be helpful. Thank you for supporting NDHS Life!

    The Fourth of July is full of traditions. For many neurodivergent kids, it’s also full of loud noises, crowds, and sensory overload. Here’s how our family keeps the holidays enjoyable while protecting our daughters nervous system.

    We build up learning prior to the actual day.

    Instead of trying to fit homeschool into a busy holiday, we celebrate the history and traditions earlier in the week, By the Fourth itself, we can focus on family, rest, and enjoying the day.

    • Books (paid link)
    • Coloring Pages
    • YouTube Video Read Alouds
    • Counting stars and stripes on the flag
    • Cutting and gluing stars and stripes on the flag. My daughter doesn’t like the feeling of glue on her hands. When she refused to use it, I handed her a small paintbrush instead. It worked great and she happily finished the craft. (Just remember to wash the paintbrush before the glue dries!)

    We’ve learned it’s okay to leave early-or skip an event altogether-when our daughter’s sensory and social battery battery runs low. Protecting her regulation protects our family’s peace,

    Our Fourth of July Sensory kit

    Wishing a happy and safe Fourth to you all!

  • Low Pressure Homeschool Activities for ADHD Kids on the Hard Days

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy through them. I only share products our family has used or genuinely believes would be helpful. Thank you for supporting NDHS Life!

    If you’re homeschooling a neurodivergent child, you already know that there are some days that just don’t go as planned. Maybe your child woke up overwhelmed. Maybe the night before was full of restless sleep. Either way, you know before breakfast it isn’t going to be a typical homeschool day.

    In our home, we’ve learned that pushing through those hard days doesn’t work. Instead, we shift into what I like to call low pressure learning days. The goal isn’t to get a perfect day of learning completed. The goal is to protect our child’s regulation while keeping learning enjoyable and realistic.

    Here’s what low pressure learning looks like in my house.

    • Sensory art time (paid link)
    • Play-Doh or sensory bins (paid link). You can even use sensory bins for connected play, sneaking in some language or speech work. My daughter loves elaborate play scenarios. Those scenes get her talking the most, and it’s a perfect time to naturally evaluate and work on her language and speech errors. When she says phrases like “He goed to the store” I reply “oh! he went to the store?” Model what you want your child to hear, but in a playful way instead of correcting.
    • Water play (paid link) is one of our favorite re-set activities. In the summer we’ll head outside with the water table, but in the winter I’ll even put it in the shower so we can still enjoy it without freezing. For letter sounds and spelling try adding in some foam alphabet letters (paid link).
    • Easy worksheets of mastered topics for review
    • Educational shows with parental engagement (Magic School Bus, Alphablocks)
    • Yoto Stories (paid link)
    • Field trip to get out of the house
    • Outdoor movement
    • Math or phonics hopscotch
    • Gardening and discussions

    For neurodivergent children, regulation comes first. I have found when my daughter feels overwhelmed, her brain is not ready for structured learning. Instead, we focus on regulation, connection, and gentle engagement. Learning happens in a more natural way. 

    Some days are just hard harder for neurodivergent kids and that’s perfectly okay. A successful homeschool day doesn’t mean you push through each subject. For our family a day where we learn and don’t spiral into stress is the ultimate win and is the most sustainable learning path. 

  • How We Handle Morning Dyregulation Before Homeschool

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy through them. I only share products our family has used or genuinely believes would be helpful. Thank you for supporting NDHS Life!

    If your homeschool day feels over before it even begins, you’re not alone. Many neurodivergent children wake up dysregulated from poor sleep, ADHD, sensory differences, anxiety, or simply having a hard morning. For our family, part of raising a resilient neurodivergent child isn’t pushing through every difficult moment. It’s helping her recognize when she needs regulation and giving her tools to get there. We focus on regulation first and academics second. 

    How do we help the deregulation before we get into learning and set the table for a good day? Well, first off we use homeschooling to our advantage. We have no need to rush off in the morning and we have no strict schedule we have to keep. When my daughter wakes up deregulated, the worst thing I can do for her is push math at 9 AM. We pause and keep the morning focused on regulation. 

    These are some of the items that help us regulate:

    • Sensory swings
    • Trampoline jumping
    • Outside walks
    • Playgrounds 
    • Calm corner 
    • Calm tv time

    Every morning looks different in our house. Some days we start with silence and giving her the space she needs. Other days we start with a wagon ride, a sensory swing, or an episode of Bluey. Homeschooling gives us the freedom to meet our daughter where she is, and I’ve learned that those slower mornings are still full of learning.

    Tools that help us on dysregulated mornings: