Episode Details

You know that feeling when you’re standing in your kitchen at 2 pm, the math curriculum is still sitting unopened on the table, your ADHD sixth grader has asked you the same question seventeen times, and you realize you haven’t eaten lunch? Yeah. Kara knows that feeling too. If you’re trying to homeschool when everyone has ADHD—you, your kid, maybe multiple kids—you know this isn’t just about finding the right chore chart.

“I have two girls, ages eleven and seven. We’ve been homeschooling the entire time. I’m really struggling with feeling overwhelmed right now. My sixth grader has ADHD. We have Classical Conversations on Mondays with one of my homeschool girlfriends. Then on Friday. I’m also a teacher at a co-op with 30 students, teaching astronomy. Right now, I’m struggling with getting through all the things we need to do on the weekdays we’re at home, plus chores and home life and volunteering at church. And my husband works late hours.”

Kara reached out because she knew something had to change. The jump to sixth grade brought an increased sense of urgency, and her daughter—who’s nearly an adolescent with hormones adding fuel to the ADHD fire—won’t sit still to do her work independently. Add in a younger child who mom feels is behind in reading and needs intensive support, and downtime for herself feels impossible.

But here’s what Kara didn’t say in that initial message, because most moms don’t: She had become her family’s operating system. Constantly anticipating, tracking, adjusting, and holding things together for everyone around her.

That level of awareness and care is just too much. No one can live there indefinitely without burning out.