The Best Homeschool Schedule For A Child With ADHD
Consistency is essential for children with ADHD.
I have heard it, read it, and been shamed by it about a thousand times over the years.
Here’s the thing – I know it’s true. Not only do I see the benefits in my own home, but it just makes sense.
When you are struggling to focus and/or transition from one thing to the next, a predictable routine decreases anxiety and decision-making.
I understand it, but creating a consistent routine and schedule for our days has not been easy.
The Best Homeschool Schedule For A Child With ADHD
Although the need for a consistent schedule is obvious to me, it is not to my son.
In fact, most of the time, he actively resists my attempts to create a schedule that works for him. I have already shared the reality of it in this post – When The Child Who Needs Structure Fights It The Most.
Creating A Homeschool Schedule That Works
Today, I want to share more about how this affects our homeschool schedule and the things that have worked best in accommodating my son’s ADHD at home.
Visual and Hands-On Time Cues
Time blindness is a real thing for our kiddos with ADHD. One of my son’s greatest struggles is in managing the passage of minutes, hours, days and weeks. Because of this, I have found our schedule works best when he can actually see and anticipate the transitions of the day.
Post-Its are my new best friend. Read about how we use them to schedule our day here –
Alternating Subjects
This is perhaps the best advice I can give you for managing a child with ADHD’s schedule. Knowing my son’s need to move, combined with his serious aversion to certain subjects, means I alternate his schedule to accommodate both.
For example, because I know reading and writing are difficult for him, I would never plan to complete them back to back. Similarly, I know he loves science and can do math in his head. With all of this in mind, our subjects usually progress like this –
- Movement (walk the dog)
- Reading practice
- Hands-On Science
- Writing Practice
- Listen to book on Audible
- Math while jumping on trampoline
- History Video
- Review accomplishments for the day
- Movement (walk the dog)
Strengths and Interests
In addition to alternating subjects, the amount of time we spend on each varies according to his natural strengths and interests. For example, we may only spend 10 minutes on reading practice but will listen to his book on Audible for an hour. This focus on strengths has changed our homeschool schedule for the better.
The Best Homeschool Schedule For A Child With ADHD
This is what has worked well for me and for my son with ADHD, but the truth is, the very best schedule for a child with ADHD is the one that works best for her individual needs and your family’s unique requirements.
For example, one mom I know schedules extracurricular classes for her son Monday-Thursday to get him out of the house and moving. It works and makes their time learning at home that much better. This would never work for my guy, but it’s wildly successful because of their needs.
You know your child best. Please, try not to compare your schedule to any other.
If it works, it works and that is more than enough to call it the very best.
Want to see our homeschool schedule in practice?
Please, join me today at Simple Homeschool, where I am sharing my annual Day In The Life post. You’ll see exactly how we make this work on a real day, with real complications and scheduling requirements. (Plus, you can read all about why I have given up on forcing my kids to eat dinner at the table every night.)
https://simplehomeschool.net/shawna2019/