Podcast
The Raising Lifelong Learners podcast helps parents — especially homeschooling parents — encourage their differently-wired kids to learn, explore passions, cultivate creativity, and become fascinated by the world around them. Join host Colleen Kessler — educational consultant, gifted specialist, author, and speaker — for interviews, audioblogs, tips, and encouragement to help your differently-wired kiddos become lifelong learners — children who know that they can find the answers to anything they want to know if they can just view their world with play, passion, and fascination.
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Navigating Sibling Conflict and Neurodivergence in Your Homeschool
It’s the universal family refrain: “That’s not fair!” If you have more than one child, you’ve heard it—sometimes on a daily basis. In neurodivergent homeschooling families, though, these conversations about fairness and sibling dynamics can take on a whole new level of complexity. When giftedness, ADHD, autism, anxiety, sensory sensitivities, dyslexia, or any combination thereof…
Real-Life Homeschool Rhythms for Neurodivergent Kids
“How am I supposed to teach all these kids at once?” If there’s ever been a thought that repeats itself on a loop during your homeschool days, it might be this one. The never-ending tug-of-war—one child glued to your side and needing guidance every step of the way, another begging for independence, a gifted kid…
Project-Based Learning for Neurodivergent Kids: Why It Works
The phrase “project-based learning” might conjure up images of color-coordinated folders, trifold posters exploding with glitter glue, and Pinterest-worthy perfection. But for the neurodivergent kids—those asynchronous thinkers brimming with ideas and creativity, yet often struggling to bring projects to completion—real project-based learning looks very different. It can be beautiful, yes, but not in the ways…
When Perfectionism Looks Like Avoidance
He sat at the kitchen table with his pencil hovering over a blank sheet of paper. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen. When I gently asked if he needed help, the answer was sharp and closed: “I can’t do this. This is stupid.” The paper was shoved aside and he stormed out of the room, tears already…
Beating Boredom Without Busy Work: Motivating Neurodivergent Learners at Home
The words hang heavy in the air: “I’m bored.” It’s the anthem of childhood and the phrase that can send even the most confident of homeschooling parents into a tailspin. You start to question everything – Is my curriculum enough? Should I be adding more activities? Is there something wrong with my child, or with…
When Passions Turn Into Pathways | Rethinking Motivation and Learning for Neurodivergent Kids
There’s a certain pride that comes with seeing your kid spend hour upon hour meticulously building in Minecraft, memorizing every prehistoric era and creature, or scripting pages of dialogue for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. And then, just when you feel like you’ve cracked the “motivation” code, that same child will melt down over a…