Managing/Harnessing High Energy Levels

[Sapa]

I’m embarking on homeschooling our DS first child and, probably like a lot of kids out there, he has a ton of energy. His energy and activity level stands out even on the playground among other kids his age. 
 

I love to see him teeming with life and excitement, but I also find myself wondering if his energy level will become an increasing challenge as he grows older and moves on to material that requires great levels of focus and longer periods of reflection. I have a hard time believing he’ll settle down much before adolescence. I also just wonder if I could be more creative in managing, perhaps even harnessing, his excess energy. Right now, I just make sure he gets a lot of high activity play time, and I’m very patient with him when it comes to interruptions to focused tasks. It works fine for now, and he’s very well along in his learning for his age, but I’m not sure how far this basic approach will get me. 
 

In hopes for even greater success in homeschooling him and navigating any challenge ahead, I’d love to hear any of your experiences and insights into homeschooling a very active child. I could imagine strategies ranging from incorporating lesson plans into active play to placing a stationary bike under his desk (I’ve heard of it for kids!), so I’d love to hear about what any of you have tried and actually found helpful (or not helpful). 
 

thanks so much! 
 

 

[HomeAgain]

I'm a firm believer in whole-child learning.  Mostly because my oldest would have jumped in to anything head first. 😄  There were a number of things that worked for us and helped to direct his energy into productiveness:

1. SHORT bursts of concentration.  And I do mean SHORT.  We started with working long enough to make 3 of the same letter.  I'd make it, talking it out as I did it - where I started, where I stopped, where my letter should hit on the page...then he made one.  If that was all he could manage, we stopped there and talked it out.  Then we moved up to making three: stopping after the first, talking out the things he did well/comparing to mine, and then 2 more before circling the "prettiest" letter (his choice).  That was handwriting.  He was done for the day. I wanted him to get used to attention to detail but never pushed to the breaking point.  This continued over the years, stretching little by little.

2. Interactive lessons.  Full freaking body.  History wasn't read.  I made notes from the book, gave him an activity to do, and as we did it together I told the story as a conversation with him.  We'd run around and fight off the Visigoths or fly a magic carpet together over the pretend world.  Science was full body.  Language (reading, grammar) became hands on with tiles and Montessori figures. Math was always hands on.

3. Single goal lessons.  Sometimes our goals get mixed up and we try to do too much at once.  Knowing in my head that this lesson was to work on a skill OR a habit made it easier to develop both.

4. Lots of exploration time.  I did a lot of strewing: books and games, but also building in time each day to extend lessons or just work on whatever he wanted.

5. Captive audience time.  If we were in the car, I took advantage of it by putting on a composer we were studying or an audiobook I wanted to share.  Same at the dinner table. 

6. Strong routine.  My kids knew that they did x, then y, then z.  It was a rhythm to the day and week that was needed and helped tame the energy into usable spurts.

[Sapa]

Great list of tools!!! Thank you, HomeAgain!

[wisdomandtreasures]

Mini trampoline while doing math flashcards or listening to an audiobook. Wobble seat or yoga ball for seat work. Treadmill (you can get them without the handles so they slide under a desk or table and don't take up much room) or bike pedals while reading. Leap like a frog or roll down the hall between subjects or while narrating/discussing what was learned. Been there done that twice. Good luck! :)

[lulalu]

This is one of those areas where you just have to use trial and error. Energy needs vary so greatly. 

We found exercise first thing in the morning (yoga, bike rides, running, switch workout games, treadmill) help followed by 45 minutes to an hour of free play time help greatly. Afterwards we are able to get about two hours of work done. I allow DS to move as he needs. We use chores as a short break to get energy out as well. And after lunch we try to get outside before finishing up school work. There have been seasons where he needed a lot more movement so we did sit ups and push ups while working on math facts, or jumping jacks while doing flash cards.

[PeterPan]

You might ask your ped for a referral for OT to work on self-awareness, self-regulation, sensory, etc. There could be some retained reflexes that can be integrated. My ds calmed down immensely after we got his retained reflexes integrated. Then they can teach the dc Zones of Regulation to help him find his strategies that help him feel ready to work. Unless there are significant developmental issues (autism), that's the conversation ideally you're having, what he needs to do to help his body be ready to work. 

Therapro has a terrific catalog with all kinds of great stuff. I keep a bin of fidgets at each work station, a rolling thing for his feet, flex seating, movement breaks, etc. definitely. You can use weighted lap pads, calming music, environmental modification (colors, lighting, break spaces). I've linked in the past some videos showing resource rooms. If you look at classroom design online for the grade you're teaching, you'll get lots of ideas. 

When my ds was very young (5-8) he did massive amounts of athletics, often 2-3 hours a day of swimming, gymnastics, etc., to burn that energy. Like I said, once we started working on his retained primitive/neonatal reflexes, that started calming down. Now he's much more balanced, with some need to bolt and run and some penchant to be still. There's not really a benefit to waiting on the OT eval because you're likely to learn things that help him understand how his body works, why he feels the way he does, and what he can do to modulate/regulate. It can be tricky to find an OT trained in reflex integration, so you may need to search or ask around.

Edited November 20, 2022 by PeterPan

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

@HomeAgain’s list is excellent for getting started with a young, active child - as are several of the other ideas mentioned. 

That said, there is a difference in how successful those interventions will be in making the homeschool environment work for a highly-active neurotypical child vs a child with untreated sensory issues &/or ADHD. That’s where @PeterPan’s recommendations come in. If you find yourself doing all the aforementioned things & more, have checked your expectations to ensure they are reasonable, & find that you are still struggling to get through the school day then it‘a time to seek outside diagnostic help. All of those techniques helped my DS9, but none of them even came close to helping as much as diagnosis & treatment for his ADHD! 

[Sapa]

Per usual, extremely insightful and helpful responses. Thank you everyone! This gives me such an excellent toolkit and framework for navigating my DS’s high energy going forward. 

[Clemsondana]

One of my kids wrote at a kitchen cart as a stand-up desk until 5th grade.  They also could lie on the floor or sit on an exercise ball, whatever worked.  We often did spelling orally - one liked to jump on the trampoline.  I also had success with letting them 'write big' - we'd use a dry erase marker on the sliding door, but a whiteboard would work fine.  That let them get whole body movement while staying on task.  This worked for math and spelling.  We also did different things at different times.  Sometimes a kid would go out and shoot baskets for 15 minutes before starting.  Sometimes we took frequent breaks.  Sometimes we were motivated to work hard and get it all done so that there would be more free time.  

Also, some kids change a lot as they grow up.  They seem to go through busy stages and calmer stages.  Some get more energetic, while others settle.  Growth spurts can change everything, making them want to laze or giving them a lot of energy.  How they handle it will change.  Some kids can be motivated to focus hard for 15 minutes with a timer.  Some are motivated to finish a task.  Some can only do what they can do in any given moment.