Homeschooling Your Neurodiverse Kid - Raising Lifelong Learners

You have neurodiverse kids. They are gifted. They are twice exceptional. They have anxiety, perfectionism, or sensory processing disorder. They are on the autism spectrum. They have a mix of neurodiversity.

I am right there with you and I want you to know that It is possible to thrive as a homeschooler. I believe with my whole heart that homeschooling is the best possible educational choice for kids like ours. I’m here to help you with that.

Homeschooling Neurodiverse Children

There is value and importance in opening your mind to new possibilities. This is a new normal. It’s a different kind of education,

The first place to start? We need to look at our own fears for ourselves and our children.

Parenting From A Place Of Fear

Often times, we as parents of neurodiverse kids can parent from a place of fear.

What if they’re never ever going to have a friend? What if they don’t get into college? What if this kiddo who’s barely functioning, never is able to brush his teeth himself. What if he can’t ever go to a hair salon for a haircut? This was actually a real fear of mine for a long time. Two of my four children struggled with both anxieties and sensory challenges in relation to getting their hair cut. It was traumatic for all of us.

What are our fears? What are we really afraid of?

I recommend you journal about your actual fears for your child’s future and what relation homeschooling has to that. Write it all in a journal. Then talk to a friend about it, find mentors, read about it – do what you can to educate yourself about the topic rather than living in fear of it.

Remember fear is reactionary. It is primal. Fear tells our body something could go wrong. It triggers the fight flight freeze response so that we can protect ourselves. Our bodies can’t always differentiate between perceived fears and actual fears. This is a way to help reframe your fears in a way that makes them less threatening.

You Are In Charge Of Your Homeschool

One of the best ways to seize new opportunities for your child is to accept and take advantage of the fact that you are in charge of your homeschool.

Rather than parenting from fear, this allows you to tune in to what your kids love, how they learn best, what lights them up, what lights you up, and what will keep you all going? Trust your gut. Your intuition tells you what you need to know.

Your best homeschool day might be reading books, watching videos, or talking together over coffee. It might be going on walks and talking about everything in the world around you and calling it science.

Here’s the best advice I can give you for being opened up to new possibilities.

Be brave.

Be brave when you start tuning into what you really need and what your kids really need. Not everyone’s going to understand what you do and why you do what you do. You need to trust yourself. You need to trust your family.

The Raising Lifelong Learners Podcast Episode #190 – Homeschooling Your Neurodiverse Kid

There are many challenges to homeschooling neurodiverse kids. I want you to know you’re not alone if you’re bumping up against some of those challenges. But, surprisingly, sometimes the things that make homeschooling our gifted and twice-exceptional kids hard work are also the things that make homeschooling such a beautiful fit for them! In this podcast episode, I’ll equip you with some great ideas to seize the homeschool opportunity and thrive in it with your kiddos!

Links And Resources From Today’s Show:

Leave a Rating or Review

Doing so helps me get the word out about the podcast. iTunes bases their search results on positive ratings, so it really does help — and it’s easy!

- Click THIS link to go to the podcast main page.
- Click on View in iTunes under the podcast cover artwork.
- Once your iTunes has launched and you are on the podcast page, click on Ratings and Review under the podcast name. There you can leave either or both! Thanks so much.