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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Finding Your People | Why Community Matters for Homeschoolers of Neurodivergent Kids
Sometimes, community can feel like an impossible puzzle for homeschoolers—especially when you’re homeschooling kids who don’t quite fit the norm. If the word “co-op” makes your stomach flip with worry, or you’ve tried group after group only to leave feeling judged, burned out, or like the odd one out, you’re not alone. Homeschooling kids with…
Building Flexible Thinking Skills in Your Neurodivergent Child
You’re standing in the kitchen, coffee still cooling, when the meltdown hits. The math worksheet looks wrong. The day’s schedule changed its order. You gently suggest starting with writing instead. Tears brim, resistance builds, and you find yourself wondering—Why can’t we just roll with the punches? Why does every small curveball seem to derail the…
Why Decision Making Feels Overwhelming for Neurodivergent Kids and How to Help
We think of decisions as small things: pick a topic, select a snack, choose a class. But for neurodivergent kids, making a decision isn’t about flipping a coin or going with their gut. Every choice, no matter how minor, demands a whole host of executive function skills—those “central command” abilities that allow us to plan,…
Creative Summer Activities to Strengthen Family Connection and Boost Learning
We’ve all had those summers—the ones that seem to flash by in a blur of sticky popsicle hands, half-started projects, and the subtle but constant tug of worry that we should be doing more. More academics, more enrichment, more organizing of the endless, scattered pieces of homeschooling life. The laundry piles up, the curriculum taunts…
Beating Homeschool Overwhelm With Heart and Flexibility
Every homeschool parent knows that certain seasons feel a little heavier than others. Sometimes, the phrase “homeschool overwhelm” doesn’t even do it justice. Between laundry waiting in the washer, forgotten math lessons, and kids with shifting needs, it can feel like there’s not a single thing getting done—at least not in the way you envisioned….
Easy Ways to Boost Emotional Intelligence During Your Homeschool Day
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why your child melts down over spilled juice, flounders after a bad math lesson, or can’t seem to shake off a sibling’s casual tease, you’re not alone. At some point, every homeschooling parent faces that one moment—maybe during a spelling quiz or a family game night—where the room is…