Homeschooling children with ADHD carries its own unique set of challenges. And it can be confusing and tough for the parents who are trying to balance raising kids with special needs and teaching them an entire curriculum at home.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you along the way:

1. Provide a balanced breakfast: Studies have shown that a breakfast which includes equal parts of protein and carbohydrates boosts the attention factor in kids with ADHD. For example, cheese or egg on toast is better than plain cereal or a zaatar pita bread.

2. Help your child set reasonable goals: After breakfast, sit down with your child to discuss schedule for the day and what they hope to achieve. It would be useful to put down their goals for the day in writing. Then, discuss what they’d like to reward themselves with for achieving said goal(s). Finally, discuss the obstacles that might keep them from achieving their goal(s) and how they intend to deal with it. 

3. Introduce background music (if it’s helpful): It is said that children with ADHD need higher levels of stimulation than the typical child. One form of stimulation that can help with focus is music! However, this will not work for every child; so you will need to do some trial runs with different types of music to see how your child responds and whether music makes them more productive or distracted. If it works, then include music to their daily study sessions.

4. Alternate studying and fun: Get your child to focus on their studies for 20 minutes then allow them a 20 minute break to do something they enjoy (coloring, playing outside, computer game, board game, etc). Keep alternating studying and fun.

5. Encourage your child to be outdoors: Studies have shown that a child’s ADHD symptoms decrease when in nature. So if your child enjoys studying outside, consider allowing them to, but also let them have time where they gets to engage in outdoor play.

6. Be ready to write for them: If your child is struggling with a written exercise, ask them to provide the answers orally and write them down yourself. This is fine, as long as your child knows the answer and can explain it clearly.

7. Let them fidget: Research has shown that fidgeting can help children with ADHD to focus better.  One safe resource to use is bouncy rubber bands, which can be fitted between the legs of a desk or a table, where children can literally bounce their feet while they study.

8. Diversify the materials and techniques: Not all methods are going to work for a child with ADHD. You should probably try a different approach by adapting the lessons to meet their needs and using the right materials and techniques to help them retain information. Here are a few ideas: 

- Foam earplugs, to block out background noise while still allowing your child to hear you.

- Post-it tape, to conceal part of the information on a page, so your child isn’t overwhelmed.

- Post-it arrows, to help your child easily locate information on a page and allow them to pinpoint areas in which they need help.

- Foldable cardboard, to isolate your child from visual distractions when placed on table or desk in front of them.

- Colored overlays, to highlight information on a page.

- Colorful notebook paper, to assign a color to every subject, thus allowing your child to find and file papers quickly.