Why I Shifted to Weekly Homeschool Planning - How an ADHD Mom Copes with Homeschooling Demands

 

We have shifted to independent homeschooling halfway through our 5th grade. I normally develop a curriculum before the start of the school year. I did it for years. It was something that I was both excited about and dreading. Excited because of the new things that we were going to learn. Excited about the new books! (I love book shopping!). Dread because I know how much work and research, etc is going into that. 

We started our 6th grade after Holy Week. This time around, I didn't pressure or stress myself to come up with an entire curriculum. What I did was, I figured out what I wanted to teach and asked my son what he wanted to learn, and came up with a plan. Aside from homeschooling, he also attends online classes with several providers so we made our schedule around those classes. The first week was a success! We were able to finish about 90% of what we set to do. (We rarely finish 100% on any given day, and that's okay!)

For the next week, I did the same thing again and our productivity was through the roof (compared to our productivity in the past)! So, I decided to continue this routine. Tomorrow will be the start of May and I'm excited! I already printed out our schedule for the week and posted it on the wall. Instead of figuring out what to teach/learn for the entire school year or even the entire month, this weekly planning has given me room to breathe and really figure out what we want out of our studies. There's also less pressure to come up with lesson plans. I normally develop the lesson plans on the day itself, while my son is with other teachers. 

For those of you who do not know, I am ADHD. So this type of homeschooling works not only for me but for my ADHD son as well. Instead of getting bored with a ton of lesson planning, my brain gets to do something new every day. Some might argue that a yearly or even a monthly planning session is better than daily planning.  You just need to spend a few days then you're all set. But, for me, it's really hard. I just can't focus on that kind of bulk planning. I'm also practicing being more present in the moment, living in the now and so this kind of daily and weekly planning supports that practice. 

Another benefit of this weekly planning is, if something is not working, I can immediately change it or if my son wants to learn something else, I can set aside a subject that is meant for the day, for next week's schedule. This weekly planning made our homeschool very flexible. Back when we were strictly doing a yearly schedule, we had no choice but to stick to that curriculum/syllabus/schedule. I didn't have time to make a new lesson or research a new topic because everything was set and my schedule wouldn't allow it. Nowadays, since I have allotted time for lesson planning every day, I can easily shift or change topics. It also keeps me focused on my son whereas before, I would be doing chores or whatever because I know that everything was ready. My son is an independent learner so I don't have to teach him a lot like in a regular school setting. But our old way of doing things wasn't effective because although my son can independently study, he can also be easily distracted because of his ADHD/profound giftedness. So he still needs constant reminders and attention. 

I know this kind of planning doesn't suit everybody but if you're ADHD and a homeschooling mom, you might want to give it a try. You might find your homeschooling journey more relaxed and enjoyable. 

By the way, I recently opened a new YouTube channel. For those of you who did not know, I taught the kids in our homeschool community for over a year. I taught them online via Zoom. I stopped because my son asked me for full mentorship for his 6th grade. My students were sad that our classes were ending so I came up with this channel so that my students and other kids can still have their lessons. The great thing about this is it's FREE! There is also a paid course that includes a lot of stuff (watch the videos to learn more). This course teaches students to become independent learners. The things that I teach in both the free and paid videos are the same lessons we have in our homeschool. Please send me some love by following my Facebook page and subscribing to my YouTube channel for these free lessons. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnwithteachere/

Here's one of my free unit study lessons: https://youtu.be/DRoKeuXCJrE