Distractions

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I homeschool my two teenage, ADHD grandchildren. 

Homeschooling in and of itself is a challenge, but homeschooling ADHD kids has me giving a lot of thought to the distractions of education and just distractions in general. 

A distraction can be a good thing, especially after a prolonged time of work or stress but I live in a world where I have to keep two teenagers as well as other ADHD household members focused at least some of the time.

The most obvious distractions are internet, TV and music; Internet being the main culprit because it is so often used in conjunction with education these days. Kids are brought up using computers and I believe has shortened the attention span of the world's population, how much more so the attention span of ADHD individuals?

My only solution has been that I use as little technology as possible when we are doing school work. Just about everything we do is reading, writing and manual research. We don't use calculators for math. We have used the internet maybe three times to research colleges, other cultures and product ingredients. 

It is still a battle to keep them focused but I think they are learning more now than they ever did on computers. My heart skipped a beat one day when my granddaughter referenced a quote by Robert Frost. 

I think we are on to something here, learning the old way and I plan to continue on this path. 

Comments

  1. AnitaMarch 27, 2025 at 8:24 PM

    I think if you keep them structured, keeping them focused must be easier. I admire your commitment to this. Back in the early days of internet, my dad kept his step grandsons at home after their mom was incarcerated. He zapped the TV. They were not allowed to watch it. In fact, he disabled it. No phones back then, not like now. And they had to read. Well, it changed behavior for the better. We've learned that the constant fast flashing images cause disruptive behavior. Routing for you!

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