My name is Alyssa, and I have been wondering, How to teach our Active Kids:

I am a nurse turned homeschooling mom of an active kiddo.

My son is 12 years old and has been homeschooled his whole school career. From the beginning, I have found it challenging to grab and keep his attention since he can be an active kid. The competition for his attention is fierce in this modern age.

Two boys with school notebooks at table with their mother using a laptop.
Active middle school boys learning at table with mom.

I had to find a different way of teaching my active kiddo that would at least partly interest him. So I began to try different things. My son has ADHD and dyslexia so whatever I chose required visual stimulation. I tried online homeschool programs, I tried book based programs and I tried private tutors.

Middle school boy at table with mom doing school work on notebooks.
Active boy engaged in school work with mom.

Eventually, it became clear, that a mix of one on one engagement, videos, and hands on activities; were the key to helping him to retain what he was being taught. This method is particularly effective for active kids, because the variety built in, provides the necessary stimulation. This type of content takes a lot of preparation and research to make it happen easily for his lessons.

In time it became clear that instead of fighting these modern advances of YouTube and TikTok; I needed to use them. My active kids could focus on YouTube.

But how could I do that?

It is my goal to post my researched curriculum each week for homeschooling parents to use at their discretion to captivate their active kiddos.

My curriculum will include links to many expert videos in their various areas on YouTube, TikTok, and documentaries. It will also include activities that can complement the modern visual aids to create a cohesive and dominantly visual and interactive learning experience. Check out this video here that quickly describes why the revolutionary war happened in a graphic novel style. You will find a lesson attached to this video in our history lesson blog posts.

The current favorite in our history curriculum was a YouTube video that referred to George Washington as “Sneaky George”. It got a good laugh and they didn’t forget why the commentator called him “Sneaky George”.

3 active boys learning at home.

Science will span middle school subjects of science; including biology, chemistry, physics and much more. Science can be very exciting for active kids because of it’s explosive potential.

As each week’s curriculum is posted you can choose to just use the information as you choose, or you can download the printables that go with the lesson posted.

periodic table, string of DNA, map of physics calculation and earths layers separated showing to earth's core.
Science should mystify and inspire curiosity.

What about reading and writing? Boring, my son would say. So I have taken great care to pick out novels that would excite and interest active boys. I have chosen to read them with my son so we can keep it interactive by discussing our thoughts on the story and the plots. However, I will be posting my notes on the books for the busy parents who may not have time to read them all. Which I totally understand. I was not always able to read every book.

Although, I will say, I am enjoying the bonding time we spend on reading together for my active kids.

superimposed images together space travel, forbidden city, cover of Tom Sawyer, old airplane, running water and man walking across canyon.
Travel in time and space through books.

To the making of many books, there is no end. Such true words, but some novels are more worthy of reading than others. In school, reading the great novels of history can teach active kids so much in terms of human behavior and emotional intelligence.

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