ADHD & Homework: How to stay organized
Here are my top 2 tips for a successful school year for middle school and high school aged kids: (These two strategies work great for ALL kids, but are especially helpful for kids and teens who have ADHD!)
Have a homework routine that is the same each weeknight. While your schedule may change some from day-to-day (e.g. soccer practice on Thursdays), your child can still have a consistent homework routine. This can be something like: “I do my homework half an hour after I get home each afternoon/evening” or “I do my homework each night right after dinner.” Next, choose a consistent place for homework. Ideally it isn’t in a child’s bedroom, but is somewhere relatively distraction-free where you can keep an eye on how things are going. Next, agree on where your child’s phone will be during homework time. Ideally it’s in a different room, or at least on “do not disturb”. Finally, decide when homework will be done on the weekends, such as Sunday after lunch.
To recap: meet with your child and decide on homework’s WHEN, WHERE, and HOW. Approach this as a skill-building exercise for your child. Kids don’t automatically know that they should spend some time each afternoon or evening completing assignments and studying. By making it a daily routine, your child (with your help!) learns to get assignments and studying done in smaller increments, instead of waiting and cramming everything in at the last minute.
Have a weekly homework meeting. (I know, it sounds terrible!) The truth is, no one wants to do this. But, just like with the homework routine, we are helping our kids to build their executive functioning skills at these weekly meetings. Have the meeting at the same time each week. I like Sunday afternoons, so that you can review what’s coming up for the week, but you can choose any time that works for your family. During this meeting, your child reviews each class and the assignments and tests coming up for the next week. You can then help your child work backwards to plan how to accomplish what needs to be done (eg if an English paper is due on Friday, the first draft needs to be done by Wednesday to allow time for editing, etc). This “working backwards” is a huge skill that kids need help with initially. They get better with practice, so that eventually you get to sit back and let them run the show. Additionally, at the weekly meeting you can review your child’s online learning platform and check for missing assignments, grades, etc. Finally, you can tell your child about anything out of the ordinary for the week, such as doctors’ appointments, events in the evenings, etc.
There are some great resources to learn more about this topic! I love episode 475 of Additude’s ADHD Experts podcast as well as episode 131 of the Ask Lisa podcast. I also love the book “Raising an Organized Child” by Dr. Damon Korb.
