3 Ways we use Technology in our Neurodivergent Homeschool

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Welcome to the #TechieHomeschool IRL blog series!  In this post, my guest Cynthia shares how technology plays an important role in her neurodivergent homeschool, and how you can use it as a tool to help your kids connect with others and to learn.

Our homeschool looks a little different than most.  We are a neurodivergent family, and that means, among other things, that many of the people in our family are autistic.  It’s not a big deal to us, but it does mean that we learn and live differently than others.  We like to dive deep into the subjects that interest us and we are careful about not overloading our calendar with social events.  Autism can look very different in each person, and I can only speak for what it looks like for us. 

We have been homeschooling for about 10 years and technology has always been an important part of how we learn.  Even as an adult, my best learning happens when I get curious and want to look up something that interests me, and I want to encourage my kids to have the same experience.  It's amazing how we live in a time when so much knowledge is at our fingertips!  

Technology helps us dive into our interests

One of the common traits of being autistic is having special interests.  It's a thing for our family, and homeschooling lets us be creative on how we include those interests in our formal learning.  I can build a unit study around an interest in rocks or I can make handwriting practice be Star Wars Quotes! We found math fact practice pages with minecraft characters on them which instantly make them more fun to do.  

We also make it a point to help our kids learn about safe internet searching and which sites we trust for them to use to pursue their interests.  My video game lovers are constantly reading the wiki pages for their favorite games.  

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While an intense video game interest is common for pre-teen boys, in this case one son’s encyclopedic knowledge is so deep that in one cooperative game the adults on the team have recognised my child’s value and will ask them for strategy help.  Dad plays in the same clan so he is supervised and dad knows many of the other players.  

Using technology to be social (without being social)

One video game that is a constant in our house is Minecraft.  My husband was an early adopter and started playing soon after it was released and we had an infant.  He said then he was excited for our then newborn to grow up and he could share the game with her.  Now he plays with all three of our kids and every laptop is bought with requirements of being able to handle the game. 

What I didn’t expect over the years was how Minecraft would be a therapeutic tool for our neurodivergent family to learn social skills and flexibility.  Both are areas where autistics often struggle, and playing cooperatively created many situations where we could discuss taking turns, properly handling frustrations and working together. We have had dinner table conversations about why one child didn’t like the house another was building because it didn’t fit the aesthetic the other wanted, but the child hadn’t communicated the look they wanted so the first child didn’t know! 

The play was happening virtually so the stakes weren’t as stressful as playing on the playground.  They game with real life friends using a video chat to talk in real time while they build together with their different characters. 

When they play this way they don’t have the non-verbal communication that is often important in face to face play, which can be difficult to decipher for neurodivergent people.  Taking away this element but still working as a team helped my kids build their social confidence. 

As we have returned to many activities again and their virtual playing time is less, I can see the new social confidence as we rebuild our social circle, thanks to all the learning while gaming the last few years!

Using Technology to Socialize as Homeschoolers

The socialization question is a big one for all homeschoolers: it's not really about being “socialized” but about having a community.  Without a community, homeschooling can admittedly be very isolating for both the kids and the parents, and being a neurodivergent family is often extra lonely and isolating for its own reasons.  It also makes it harder to find a community that is a good fit for everyone in the family, which is why technology is so helpful.  We have found a community online where homeschoolers “get” us and we can support one another. 

We are part of the Learner’s Lab, a community for quirky families to support one another. They offer lessons to help us with social and emotional learning and separate forums for both the kids and parents to interact. My kids feel like they have people who get their special interests and I have a community who understands our unique homeschool challenges.  

We are also in a local homeschool co-op which is working well this year.  I have found that small classes and understanding peers are two of the key factors for a good community for us.  The one we are a part of also uses Slack, a messaging app, to communicate.  They have a teen lounge channel for the older students to use, and that has also helped my teen to feel connected to their classmates.  

Technology is a tool in our homeschool

Technology plays an important role in our homeschool and life as a tool to help us connect with others and to learn.  It works in our Outside the Box homeschool because both mom and dad are also avid technology users alongside our kids.  Screentime is a family thing and we like it that way!

Techie Homeschool in Real Life Series

This post is part of the Techie Homeschool in Real Life blog series. If you are looking to increase your homeschool tech knowledge, you won't want to miss any of the guest posts! Learn more about the series and read all of the other posts included here.

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