When Your Child Can’t Focus in Your Homeschool, Try Changing the Setting
Sometimes the problem isn’t the lesson.
It’s not the curriculum.
It’s not even necessarily your child’s ability to focus.
Sometimes we’ve just been doing school in the same place for too long.
Our homeschool setting can become monotonous, and that monotony can actually make it harder for some kids to stay engaged.
This can be especially true for kids with ADHD, who may benefit from novelty, movement, and changes in stimulation to help maintain attention.
So when everyone is getting frustrated and your child just can’t seem to focus, before you decide that the lesson isn’t working, try changing the setting.
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Your homeschool doesn’t have to happen at the table
One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is that we aren’t tied to a classroom.
We don’t have to sit at desks.
We don’t have to stay in the same room.
We don’t even have to stay inside.
Sometimes the simplest way to reset our attention is to move.
Try:
- taking your schoolwork to the backyard
- setting up a blanket on the floor
- doing reading on the couch
- taking math outside
- bringing school to the back deck
- heading to the library
- working at a park
- doing schoolwork while you’re waiting at an appointment
- listening to an audiobook in the car
- taking a notebook along while you’re running errands
It doesn’t have to be an elaborate field trip.
Sometimes it’s just:
“Grab your math book. We’re going outside.”
The back deck became our classroom
We’ve had plenty of days when our regular homeschool space just wasn’t working.
Everyone was distracted.
Everyone was getting irritated.
And rather than pushing harder, sometimes I’ve learned that the better response is simply to change something.
One of our easy solutions has been taking schoolwork out to the back deck.
There’s something about stepping outside, getting a little fresh air, changing the view, and doing our work somewhere different that can reset the entire mood.
The work hasn’t changed.
The child hasn’t changed.
The setting changed.
And sometimes that’s enough to help us get going again.
Why does changing the setting help?
Think about how you feel when you work in the exact same place every day.
Sometimes you can get into a great routine.
But sometimes your brain starts to feel a little stale.
A change of scenery can provide novelty and a natural reset.
For a child who struggles with attention, that change can be particularly helpful.
And there’s another benefit:
Changing the setting can break a negative cycle.
Maybe your child has been frustrated with math.
You move outside.
Now you’re not sitting in the exact spot where the frustration happened.
You aren’t staring at the same workbook on the same table while repeating the same instruction for the tenth time.
You’ve changed the context.
Sometimes that gives everyone a chance to take a breath and begin again.
You don’t have to make every change exciting
I think there’s a temptation to turn this into another homeschool activity.
“We’re going to the park! We’re going to do a nature scavenger hunt! We’re going to make math into an adventure!”
And that can be wonderful.
But it doesn’t have to be.
The goal isn’t to make every lesson entertaining.
Sometimes the goal is simply to change the sensory and physical environment.
Read the same book outside.
Do the same math lesson on the floor.
Practice spelling on a whiteboard on the patio.
Listen to your history audiobook while you take a walk.
Do handwriting at the kitchen counter instead of the school table.
The academic work can stay exactly the same.
You’re simply changing the setting.
What if changing the setting creates more distraction?
This is important, too.
Not every child will focus better outside.
Some children will see the birds, the neighbor, the dog, the bugs, and every single thing happening in the backyard and think:
“Forget math! LOOK AT THAT!”
And that’s okay.
This is not a magic strategy.
We’re experimenting.
You know your child.
If the backyard is more distracting, maybe the back deck works better.
Maybe the couch is better than the table.
Maybe the library is calming.
Maybe the library is completely overwhelming.
Maybe sitting on the floor helps.
Maybe sitting on the floor means nobody will accomplish anything.
That’s the beauty of homeschooling.
You get to observe what happens and adjust.
Want to get strategic?
Get this free done-for-you list of strategies you can implement to help everyone to be more focused in your homeschool:
Change the setting when you need a reset
You don’t have to wait until your homeschool is completely falling apart.
Changing the setting can become part of your normal homeschool rhythm.
Maybe Fridays are outside school days.
Maybe reading happens on the couch.
Maybe you take school to the library once a week.
Maybe you have a basket that makes it easy to grab a few lessons and work somewhere else.
Or maybe you simply keep this strategy in your back pocket for those days when you can tell:
We need a reset.
And that’s really the heart of this strategy.
When your child is struggling to focus, we don’t always need to push harder.
Sometimes we need to change something around them.
Move.
Go outside.
Change the room.
Change the view.
Take the work somewhere unexpected.
And then try again.
Because one of the great advantages of homeschooling is that we don’t have to force our children to learn in a setting that isn’t working.
We can change the setting.
That’s one of the ways we homeschool differently.
