What You Need To Think About Homeschooling 

Thanks for this video Ryan. I am an ADHD mom with 2 diagnosed ADHD boys. I have been schooling them for 7 years. I am also a former certified public school teacher. The most urgent thing I want to say is that truly, with the best books and guidance, parents who do not feel skilled to teach can successfully homeschool. They really can. I taught 18 years and I felt very much like a rookie when I started homeschooling. Thankfully, the types of books we use and the people round me kept me encouraged and I have learned so much. I know plenty of homeschool moms who do not have a background in education and they a re doing well. I have also been that undertrained public school teacher whose idea of ADHD was the traits on the Vanderbilt form but no other real understanding of it. I had the best intentions for all my students but definitely didn’t understand the emotional side of ADHD. Now that I better understand this, I now know I could have done much better by my ADHD students with the understanding I have gained from people like Ryan. I LOVE that we can keep the day and lessons moving in a way that works better for ADHD brains. This is a HUGe advantage of homeschooling. On the other hand, I do agree more time with same-aged peers in important and that can be hard to come by 4 days each week in a traditional homeschool setting- especially if your boy, like mine, deal with intense anger and social situations are sometimes stressful. The ways we socialize are as follows- meeting other homeschool families at a park weekly, sports, church and a neighborhood friend. We have not joined a co-op because we just moved but we had one at our other home so that supported us all. It is tricky to sift through the types of support you need as a homeschooler which can be a big disadvantage. You just have to seek it out independently which can raise the temptation not to seek it. This is a mistake and I encourage you to find practitioners who will support you. Hope these thoughts are helpful. I’m confident that all parents have the ability to facilitate learning in their homes and just want people to know they can do it but, it definitely should be well-thought out and planned ahead!

I homeschooled my now 12 yr old son for 3 years. I decided to homeschool because he had recently been diagnosed with ADHD at age 7. He was having trouble at school and becoming angry about going. I was medicating him, sending him to school and then asking his teachers about how the medication was affecting him. I felt like I was in the dark and hIs teachers didn’t know what they were doing with him either. We spent those 3 years playing video games, hiking, listening to audio books, playing sports, and learning about ADHD - a real unschooling type of homeschool experience. it was during this time I discovered ADHD DUDE. It was my son himself who decided he wanted to go back to school midway through 5th grade. He was motivated by his own desire to make friends and live that school life that his peers were living. He’s done really well in school since, with a few ups and downs. I am so glad we took the time to understand his specific difficulties and to wait for him to be ready to attend school again. It’s true that school is not designed for boys with ADHD, but they can succeed. I feel more confident now when I talk with his teachers. I know what questions to ask and I know what to say to my son now. It took a lot of time and energy, but it was worth it.

I'm prepping to start my 9th year homeschooling and appreciate your video. I have four kids, grades 8-1, and have a son and daughter with ADHD as well as being ADHD myself. We were all diagnosed in the past two+ years. We don't have experience in brick and mortar schools, aside from for special ed classes such as speech therapy, reading, and social skills. For us, homeschooling has been a way of life that has allowed us the time and space to meet the kids where they are at socially and academically, and to get them the supports they need. My kids and I are also all gifted, as a neurodivergence and all that includes, 3/4 of the kids having had testing to support that. What that means for us is that there is a bit of asynchronous learning and development. They might be grades ahead in a subject but struggle getting words written on paper, or they may struggle to read to themselves while listening to and comprehending advanced literature. Since we haven't been in brick and mortar academic classes, and I am capable of teaching due to my own learning and continuing education, I can't speak to those issues other than to say being aware of decisions based on emotional reactivity as well as considering one's ability to teach are certainly worthy of thoughtfulness. I've made the same observations as you, that my son in particular does best when he has some outside the home interactions with others. At this point, that involves ballet, tap, choir, special ed classes, and play time. We have some chronic health issues in the house so it's a lot of juggling to make sure all the physical needs are met as well as mental, social, and emotional. I'm continuing to learn and gain tools for my own parenting, but at least at this point the homeschooling seems to be edifying rather than causing issues with the academic, social and emotional. I appreciate the conversation.

I’m a mom of an adhd kid who is having to homeschool and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve made for my child. We’ve had her in public school, elementary was fine, but our assigned jr high/high school is one of the poorest preforming in the state, there’s a 36% dropout rate, only 8% of the students can pass their state exams at grade level, and only 2% are considered “college ready”. Not only that but there’s been multiple problems with other students bringing guns and other weapons, lockdowns are extremely common, and there’s been 3 shootings in the past. She’s gifted but was denied going into the gifted school all because she had a 504. (I know this is illegal however I do not have the money for a lawyer) We put her into a private school who originally accepted her 504 BUT did not follow it, was told it was up to the teacher if they wanted to follow it or not. Extremely strict rules regarding assignments, if she turned in an assignment late because she forgot it in her locker it was an automatic 50% off. If she was sick and didn’t turn in her school work the day she returned it was a 0. Teachers refused to give me a list of assignments to help her organize them saying she should have had these skills by now. Kid went from a straight A student in public to a C/D/F student in private because the lack of support. First year of homeschooling her grades are greatly improving, we have her in several clubs and activities where she’s with other kids 4-5x a week, is making more friends now than she ever had in traditional school. We also are able to outsource the more difficult classes to licenses teachers. Plus her issues with anxiety/depression have greatly reduced since homeschooling her,

Great video, Ryan! I found when we homeschooled that we needed to be flexible in terms of how the “teaching” worked. There are videos, project kits with video instruction, you can hire tutors for subjects you aren’t comfortable teaching, lots of ways to get the job done. I even hired a tutor to run my son through his school day one year (a college student who was doing school remotely during COVID and would come over when she was done with her online classes - my son loved her and did even more work than I had scheduled because she asked 😂). I learned to think outside the box to make it work for each of my 3 kids but I still wish I had made it look less like school than I did, looking back. But homeschooling allowed my kids time to do all kinds of varied activities and still have down time and a good sleep schedule. Between the three of them they did book clubs, soccer, guitar, voice, cello, piano, drums, bass lessons, horseback riding lessons, and multiple other sports. We could jump on the trampoline between subjects, go on a bike ride, whatever. Sometimes we did school at the ski resort. Did one subject, went and skied a run or two, on repeat throughout the day. THAT was cool (no crowds on weekdays)! So many ways to make it work. And so many ways it works better for kids with ADHD. It wasn’t always pretty and perfect (rarely, in fact) but I’m glad I did it!

I homeschool but we have a found a great balance with local co-ops and hybrid programs. My son is 7, goes to a co-op twice a week, and it’s more of a “drop off” situation so he is able to be in a classroom setting with peers, without me constantly there. I feel like that gives him the independence he needs to learn how to handle himself in those situations, but it doesn’t overstimulate or overwhelm him to much. He’s there from 9am-2pm twice a week and then one day a week we’re in another co-op that has a bit more parent involvement and that’s from 9am-12pm. So I think we’ve struck a good chord with homeschooling as far as socializing goes. The rest of the week he’s with us, and I teach him and I’ve never had an issue with him being violent, but it was a struggle getting him to respect me as his “teacher” figure and sitting down for lessons. I’m learning to have balance and I’m happy that homeschooling gives us the flexibility to pause lessons when we’re struggling or go for a walk or outside. It to shorten our lessons when we’re struggling, or get ahead of lessons when he’s excelling.

As an educator myself, I agree that reacting emotionally does so much damage. Thank you for the lovely video!!

I pulled my 14 y/o son out of public high school. My 9th grader was not going to class and hung out with the wrong people. During his ARD, I was told his teachers did not know who he was. The sad part was that I was at the school 2-3 times a week. They would call me to the school about his behavior, but no mention of his academics. I was emailing teachers about his grades/make up work but no one said he did no go to class. I changed his school to a smaller environment. It was a nightmare and he got kicked out. He does not care for being homeschool but he is doing it and making great grades. I work from home. I am able to redirect him and give him mind cleansing tasks to help him refocus. He looks healthier. He does karate 3 to 4 days a week. He still talks to some of his decent school friends or the new friends he meets at karate competition. Edit: he also took up jogging during his breaks.

We started homeschool this past year and my son was diagnosed with ADHD inattentive several months after the school year began. We moved from a public charter Montessori to a public charter homeschool (3 days home/2 days school). Before the diagnosis, we struggled and argued every day. I questioned whether or not we made the right decision but I could also tell something was off so I had him assessed. After the diagnosis, medication, my own education on adhd, and support and accomodations with the school... My son is thriving where as before he was falling through the cracks. I like homeschool because he has more time to work and with the accomodations at school, they give him more time on tests among other things. I am very supported by the school and his teacher, it has made a world of difference for us.

I homeschool my 11 year old son who has autism and moderate to severe ADHD. He started in a private school, but they couldn’t meet his needs. I have looked and spoke to almost every public and private school in my geographic area and no one can offer the help and support my child needs. He is a couple of years behind in math, so I work with him on his level. I have homeschooled for 2 years now. We belong to a co-op and in the fall we are joining a second co-op as well. It is very time consuming. I would not recommend homeschooling if you work full time.

Full disclosure, I have been a homeschooling mother for the past 20 years. My 9 yo son was diagnosed with ADHD combined earlier this year. I was introduced to your content in August and have been appreciating the info you provide.... so much so that I was a little afraid of what your perspective on homeschooling might be because homeschooling is integral to our family. I'm happy to hear your current perspective. It is super challenging schooling my son, but I am hoping that some of the stress will ease as I learn more about how to best help him develop the skills he needs to get through life. My son's main sources of unstructured social interaction are neighborhood children and playing with children after church. I will admit that sometimes his inappropriate behavior, like dropping the f- bomb around other children or refusing to leave a neighbor friend's yard when the parents asked him to leave, has made me reluctant to let him run off and play, but he manages okay with the other children most of the time.

We had never considered homeschooling until the pandemic and, to be honest, I went into it with pretty low expectations. Three years later and both of my boys are excelling. I can't overstate what a surprisingly positive experience it's been. The only downside is it can be hard to find homeschooling groups that aren't religious or anti-science.

I knew from JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN that I needed to do something different for my son. I kept him in until about the spring of 5th grade. Part of this was his apparent "disruptive behavior". (I found out he would get his work done and want to just go onto the next thing. When he wasn't allowed... henceforth "disruption" would occur. Tapping on desk, fidgeting, etc.). For years I consulted with people that homeschooled. About 2nd or 3rd grade he had a GREAT teacher! Then the next grade.. she was struggling with him. I wrote a note (as we "tag teamed" notes on his school work) to "please talk to last years teacher. She has a lot of helpful hints on how to help him in a classroom setting". Well, that landed on the principals desk! Ok, so fifth grade... He had a bully. They weren't doing anything about it! My son would come home and tell me about it almost daily. The girl that sat behind him. I contacted his teacher and the principal. Nothing was done! One day my son turned around.. not being able to take it anymore (as the system failed him) as "said" something to her that made the school almost go on complete lockdown! Like in the 1980s when you say "I'm gonna kill you if you don't stop it!!!" He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body! He has no record of showing that. I joined HSLDA and drafted the legal note to remove my son. My son was so excited to be homeschooled! We can do it at his own pace! When he's done.. he's done! In a class of 20 plus.. he gets LOST! When I looked at all his paperwork that came home.. the teacher had "glossed over" him when it came to PEDMAS in October. Basically... he didn't learn it! She had him reading books "at his comfort level". I ran a reading diagnostic test on him. He was at a THIRD grade level!

Excited!

Can i asked a question why my grandchild start to hurt me when he's angry he diagnosed with adhd 2 year's ago,he studied at public school he's 9 year's old now.

Why do you think those boys became violent with their mom?? I went through a similar situation after my son transitioned to remote learning. He can control his feelings better now but it was definitely a struggle in the beginning.

HOW DO YOU GET A DIAGNOSIS HIS DOC SAYS HES FINE SCHOOL-WONT HELP WHAT DO I DO