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Tips for Growing Organizing Skills in your ADHD homeschool

November 2, 2022Tracy

Growing and cultivating takes time and patience. Nothing grows overnight. You can’t plop a plant in your garden and hope to pluck the first fruit tomorrow. Growing organizing skills and time management, particularly in a child with ADHD, takes time and patience. There is no “miracle-gro” for these executive functioning skills, and progress looks different for each child. With all that said, I want to walk you through some of the “baby steps” along the way that have helped us in growing organizing skills in our kids and give you an honest look at where each of them are today.

Tips for Growing Organizing Skills in your ADHD homeschool

Taking Command: A Command Center for the New Year

January 10, 2013Tracy

I recently blogged about a book that I read to help identify how I best organize, and in attempt to put my reading to good use, I’m converting from a household notebook system to a Command Center.

Let me first say that I haven’t trashed my notebook entirely. I’ve found it very helpful for quick reference: important phone numbers, doctor information, babysitter information, etc. But I’m moving my planner out of my notebook and onto my fridge.

I chose my fridge because it tends to be the largest open surface that is in my main flow of traffic. Also, everyone knows that when you stand around trying to figure out what it is you are supposed to be doing, you always end up at the fridge.

organization

My purpose for this Center is to keep my day organized: cleaning schedule, routine, to-dos, events to remember for the week, etc. Anything that I need to attend to for the week and for the day, kept in plain view.

What’s Missing—

We use Google Calendar so that my husband and I can share events. It has worked really well most of the time, except that it is often out of sight when I need it. So, to solve that, I’m going to start printing off our calendar at the first of each month and attaching it to a smaller center I have set up by our phone.

My menu is also missing. I’ve been using ziplist.com for my menu planning and have really enjoyed it’s many features, including the ability to import recipes from all over the web (yes, pinterest, too!) and drag/drop them into a calendar. I love it! (and it’s free) Of course, it is out of sight. But honestly, I’m not positive how I want to solve this. I will either print it out and post it on the fridge, or I will write the menu onto my dry erase week plan. I’ll have to see which works best.

What’s There–

I have two dry erase boards. Actually they are not boards at all, but adhesive dry-erase paper from WallPops.com. The first one is a weekly planner. The major events from the week I will write in. This way, I will have another spot for those events to be seen, and by writing it in I’ll have that extra reminder. The other dry-erase board is for me to keep track of projects I want to tackle and special tasks that my husband would like me to get to. Having it on the fridge allows him to have easy access to add anything or to see that, though something might be undone right now, it is on my list of things to tend to.

Each day, I choose a few projects from my big list to add to my smaller to-do cards. These cards are laminated for dry-erasing. I have six cards in the pocket so that I can plan ahead for different projects, breaking that project into smaller steps if necessary. These and my cleaning cards are stored in Martha Stewart adhesive pockets. (I love these!) I’ve made mine a little fancier with some decorative duct tape.

Last of all is my daily routine. This tells me when I need to be cleaning or working on those projects.

And for right now, that’s it! I may keep tweaking it as I start to use it more, but for right now it has been perfect. Beautiful and always in sight.

Room for Improvement

October 18, 2011Tracy2 Comments

Our start to homeschooling last year began with a rocky start, a long break for re-evaluation, and then a much more successful second attempt.

And this year—well, it hasn’t been without it’s own adjustments. It seems that everyday, I’m tweaking our schedule, our system, and our material. And everyday, I’m closer to where I’d like to be. Of course, there are those days when success comes to a screeching halt and triumph throws a tantrum in my school room floor. But then, I call it a day, re-evalutate (again), and tweak a little bit more.

It’s been in the midst of all that tweaking that I’ve come to appreciate a few of the opportunities that come from the fine-tuning:

1. Involving others in the solution. Sometimes a situation is more than I can handle on my own. That’s a tough reality to accept. But I can’t educate my children by myself. And yet that humbling reality leads to a much richer discovery in the help I receive from others.

My husband has been one of those heroes, coming in to save my day. Discussing the school day with my husband and including any frustrations or challenges I’ve faced allows him to stay connected with the family. And his objective advice on those situations has, on many occasions, been exactly what we all needed.

My mom has also been a huge contributor. Having homeschooled me and my two siblings, she has the perspective and retrospection that I often lack. From her, I get to hear what she found helpful and what she would have done differently.

Other homeschoolers also offer a wealth of wisdom. I interact with internet homeschool groups and even occasionally send questions to my favorite bloggers. Their perspectives and advice have often been revolutionary for me. And the beauty of the internet is that it doesn’t matter that they are homeschooling all the way across the country; they can instantly become my cyber-neighbors.

2. Realizing my own short-comings. I’m not perfect. And facing that fact, that I could be the one at fault and not my student, is extremely helpful in a couple of ways. First, it allows me to be more patient with my children’s short-comings (especially when I see that they’ve inherited those faults from me). Second, it forces me to depend on a Strength outside of myself. For when I am weak, then is God’s strength most evident. Both my children and myself are able to see the Lord answer prayer and become a vital part of our homeschooling day.

3. Learning and understanding more than ever before. I’ve heard many times that you learn a subject best when you begin to teach it. Whether that subject is phonics and reading or modern art and poetry, teaching forces you to learn. Like the mother bird digesting the food for her chicks, I must digest every fact before I present it. And that is one thing I want my children to see: that you never outgrow learning.

4. Discovering who my children really are. I’ve learned more about my children and their personalities in the last several months of schooling them than ever before, in spite of hours of playing blocks and capturing imaginary bad guys. I see how they react to challenges. I see their response to success. I see what does and does not motivate them. And I see every time their eyes light up with understanding. I’m a part of nearly every moment of discovery, and that does more than just create a special bond. It also prepares me for my role as a parent.

Taking my lessons from the school room, I better understand what will provoke my child to wrath and frustration. I have keener understanding of what motivates and inspires my child. And with that knowledge comes a higher accountability to make the most of the opportunities I have with each child to nurture and admonish in the Lord.

5. Recognizing that homeschooling is not a place or state of being but a process and a journey. It’s not about where we are educating; it’s about how we are educating. It’s about having the opportunity to make those adjustments rather than to helplessly look on while a child stumbles through learning. It’s about the privilege of taking a breather together and facing the challenge once more, united rather than at odds. It’s about having the means to administer the changes that are necessary.

Heading into our second year now, I’m certain we will constantly be making adjustments. But I want to see those adjustments as more than just rescheduling recess or pulling out a new activity. The changes do help my child to learn better, but they also provide an opportunity for me to learn as well.

The Workbox System to organize preschool

August 9, 2011Tracy1 Comment

I have loved the idea of the workbox system. The method has literally transformed our homeschool. Not only do they keep me organized, but they have kept our day moving—THE key to a successful day with little ones that have zero-attention span. One fantastic thing about workboxes is the variety. From blog to blog, I see so many variations of this idea, each family finding what works for them.

The basic idea of the workbox system is to have 9-12 compartments (or however many you need) for different assignments and projects. As the child works through the assignments in a compartment, he will take off the number attached to the compartment and add it to a grid. Then, the completed assignments will be returned to the teacher. (For a video tutorial from the originator of the idea, click here.)

Though the original idea calls for actual boxes in a rolling cart, there are so many ways to incorporate the principle. The space-saver version is what we use—file folder pockets that hang from the wall using Command Hooks. You can purchase these for around $15 on Amazon.

Another idea, especially for younger children, are the toy bins or trays. A more expensive option, but they allow little ones to see what’s planned for the day. For older children, some other ideas I have seen include a file box with numbered hanging file folders. The assignment pages would actually go inside the folders, perfect if you have a lot of workbook pages or notebooking pages. Last idea, create a notebook with pockets and place assignments inside.

Our Workbox System of Choice

First, our workbox method is the space-saver version from Amazon, 12 pocket files that hang from Command hooks beside each child’s chair. I attached velcro dots to each file pocket and each laminated workbox number card. When work is completed, they turn it in to the “teacher tray” which is simply Wal-mart’s cheapest paper tray. Then the workbox number is pulled off the file and placed onto our “workstation” grid. I’ve seen many people cut these grids into strips and hang them from office rings, but the single sheet of paper works best for us. I have velcro dots attached to this as well. (And I laminate everything!)

I place scissors, glue, pencils and whatever else is required directly into the pockets. For art projects, I put the small pieces in a ziplock, and then place the ziplock and supplies into a pocket. If a project is too large for a pocket, I stick a card in the pocket for them to see me, and I’ll hand the activity to them. And that’s our system, as simply as I can state it.

Our Workbox Printables

Just search Google for “Workbox printables” or “Workbox Grids” and you’ll find a myriad of options. But some of the ones that we use and love are from two separate websites. First, our grids, number cards, and a few of our activity cards were from Robin’s Heart of Wisdom blog. I love how bright and colorful they are! And they coordinate with our bright red pockets, which of course is important. She also has a workbox weekly planner.

I’ve also used a number of printables from Erica at Confessionsofhomeschooler.com (scroll to bottom of the page for the workbox printables). And all of last year, I used her workbox planning page, modified of course, to fit our schedule. Erica’s blog is actually where I first read about workboxes, and I am forever indebted to her!

This year, I’m going to try a couple of things differently. Primarily, I’m using an editable pdf planner from Homeschool Creations, so my format is more lesson plans than necessarily workbox plans (for my son). She also has a couple of preschool planner pages, which is what I’m trying for my daughter.

I’ve actually used the preschool pages as a template for our week, more than specific plans. And the space for workbox planning, I’ve kept very general. Since her schedule is pretty routine, I figured I could just look at my template, find the activity for the specific pocket (i.e. “wipesheet”) and pull out the activity for the letter of the week that we are working on. Trying to streamline my planning, we’ll see how it goes. If all fails, I’ll go back to Erica’s method; it worked great last year.

And if you’ve made some printables or have a favorite you absolutely love, please share it with me in the comments section!