How do you manage it?

Are you referring to juggling the daily routine, housework,and teaching multiple children at different ages? 

It's a question I get asked a lot, either due to curiosity about our lifestyle, or as a genuine plea for help from struggling parents,, 

The key for us is flexibility and fluidity within routine. 

Yes. 

Welcome to living within an autistic and adhd driven household. 

It actually makes sense to us. 

Our daily routine evolves and changes to best suit the children where they are currently at, however routines also stay in place..

They just shift and flow, similarly if you imagine a suspended wooden bridge with rope sides. The structure remains intact, however it forever moves. It can be rocked violently at times, like in the scenario we had last year with the transplant. Other times it just sways in the wind, changing with the mental health of the children. 

Whenever I have housework (like it ever stops 😂), and the children are feeling clingy and not wanting to complete independant learning, they'll follow me round the house like ducklings from room to room...and yes we have had the scenario when I've stopped suddenly and they've all cannoned into each other 😂. 

They are presented with a choice here, either they help me with the tasks in the room (learning life skills).

They can set up an individual activity in the room and settle down to complete it, Sophia may bring her currently workbook and exercise book down, Xander may carry down a basket of toys and settle under the kitchen table, Kira may bring her ipad down. 

Peace reigns whilst we're busy in the same room together. 

Alternatively they can have garden time whilst I'm working on the ground floor, I can see them at all times from my jobs. 

They may choose to play a group educational board game at the table. 

We can have snack time and a verbal educational quiz or give presentations to each other on current interests. 

Or have a rousing game of Simon says with an educational twist. If it's dinner time we may have a dance off whilst passing  the vegetables to each other shouting out what they are and how they're good for us etc. 

Basically trying to have as much fun and games as possible.

Thus we move our way through the house. 

This does not happen every day, as my house and Leighton well knows. This is 'the place is sparkling or goals are met' kind of days. Very productive on all fronts. 

I prioritise the house daily depending on what is going on personally with all five of us in the house. The categories are: what is essential, what would be a nice goal and wow the place is sparkling. 

There are days when they want to hole up in the school room with me and we spend hours in there working solidly through from subject to subject....yeah bye bye house, essentials day for you only. 

I capitalise any time like this. They can seriously achieve half a weeks worth of work in a deep concentration zone like that.

I have to take into account that any child could have a couple of days a week where they're in a bad headspace, their coping mechanisms are slipping, and the negative Autism and adhd traits are more in control. 

Learning days are massively structured differently those days for the child in question. Therefore we capitalise on any golden opportunity which presents itself and the result is a nice wavy line of progression over time. 

I have the general outline of a daily plan and they chose the specifics of what we're doing. 

If it's reading time, they will choose the book and how long they feel like reading for. 

If it's writing, one day they may write the shopping list, or write to a penpal, copy from a reading book etc. 

It's child led in the sense of its their choice what to do for the activity within the subject. This keeps them engaged and eager to work. 

We have 1-3 hours of structured learning and I do 1-2-1 with them. I have laundry bags full of themed toys. So the other two can choose a bag to play, can be playing the piano, or learning on the ipad, or working on their Minecraft world, whilst I'm with the third one, and we keep switching out activities and children every 15mins, unless we are in the intense work headspace as I've described earlier. 

In between that, you're fitting in playground visits, bounce trampoline visits, daily walks, social/hospital visits, chess lessons, coding lessons, music lessons with a visiting tutor and the occasional zoom class. 





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