Back-to-School Without the Breakdown: Setting Up ADHD-Friendly Systems
- Tori Flores
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
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August hits like a semi-truck full of pencils, planners, and Pinterest-perfect lunchboxes. And while some folks are jazzed about fresh notebooks and color-coded schedules, others - especially those of us juggling neurodivergent kids, teaching jobs, and our own ADHD brains -are just trying to remember what day it is.
If you’re staring down the new school year wondering how to make it all work without melting into a puddle of stress-snacks and forgotten emails, you’re not alone. Let's talk about how to set up ADHD-friendly systems that help you survive (and maybe even enjoy) back-to-school season.
🧠 What ADHD-Friendly Systems Look Like (In Real Life)
Let’s get one thing straight: we’re not talking about perfect routines, cute planners, or 5 a.m. miracle mornings. We’re talking about flexible, functional systems that meet your actual life where it’s at.
In our house, “organized” might mean:
Leftovers packed in individual containers so my husband can grab school lunches without thinking.
A calendar with multiple reminders for everything.
Letting our kids wake up when they’re ready and start homeschool on their own time.
Using Google Classroom and chore apps to cut down on repeating ourselves a million times.
We’re not aiming for Instagram ready. We’re aiming for functional.
🛒Hot Tip: I found these perfectly-sized containers right here! They come in a set with larger ones as well, and they've lasted me quite a while. I recycle them when they're ready to be gone.
⏰ Back-to-School Energy is…Not a Vibe (Yet)
I worked my tail off for a week to get a month ahead on homeschool curriculum. My husband and I are both secondary special education teachers (he’s in a classroom, I teach online), and I also homeschool our two teens. Needless to say, our schedule just did a complete 180 this week!
Now? We’re all getting used to a new daily rhythm. It’s a lot. And the pressure to “get it all right” right away? It’s a trap. We’ve learned that easing into the year by keeping meals simple, systems flexible, and expectations realistic makes a world of difference.
📅 ADHD-Friendly Scheduling Systems That Actually Work
How I organize our time without crying:
Google Calendar: Color-coded, two reminders per event, synced across personal and work calendars.
Google Classroom: Weekly homeschool assignments are posted so the kids can work at their own pace.
Chore App: The kids get daily task assignments that I don’t have to repeat out loud.
Notebooks (not sticky notes): I’ve finally accepted that sticky notes will vanish into the void. So now, it’s notebooks or nothing.
We don’t use planners. We use systems that support us when the brain fog rolls in.
🍝 Simplify the First Few Weeks of Meals
One of my biggest back-to-school mistakes? Not planning dinner.
I always forget how drained we all feel at the end of the day in those first few weeks. This year, I finally made a two-week meal plan with go-to ADHD-friendly dinners: Pierogis with some kind of sauce, corn dog muffins, frozen bag meals, tater tot casserole, and lazy lasagna. We’re not here for gourmet - we’re here for survival (with recipes that are tried-and-true, easy, and delicious).
🧍♀️🧍♂️Supporting Kids with Different Needs
My daughter? A time-management queen. My son? Needs lots of check-ins, breaks, and reminders. Same family, completely different brains.
We’ve learned:
Everyone starts school when they’re ready.
Screens are earned after schoolwork is done.
Some days need full flexibility - and that’s not a failure. That’s a system working as intended.
Family meetings are our secret weapon. We talk about what’s coming up, what needs adjusting, and how we’re all feeling. It gives everyone a voice (and helps preempt meltdowns later).
🚨Signs a System Is Breaking Down
Some clues:
Everyone is irritated by everything (and everyone).
No one can tell you what day it is.
Deadlines sneak up because we meant to do that thing…and forgot.
Dinner plan? What dinner plan?
That’s usually our signal to pause, reassess, and maybe declare a reset day (or an ice cream-for-dinner night).
🧘♀️Flexible Reset Days = Built-In Grace
One of the best systems we’ve built is knowing when to stop.
If things are off, we shift:
Adjust homeschool assignments.
Call a free day.
Reset expectations and routines.
We don’t push through just to “stay on schedule.” We trust the process. And spoiler: we always catch up more quickly when we’ve rested well.
🎉 Celebrate the Weird Wins
We’re big on celebrating the little things:
An ice cream run after a tough week
A family movie night for knocking out a rough Monday
Playing a board game together instead of pushing through one more chore
The point of ADHD-friendly systems isn’t perfection. It’s building a rhythm that helps your family work with your brains instead of against them.
TL;DR – You’re Not Behind
Back-to-school doesn’t have to mean back to burnout. Create ADHD-friendly systems by:
✅ Making meals easy
✅ Using reminders (and more reminders)
✅ Giving each family member a voice
✅ Resetting when needed
✅ Celebrating the small wins
If your family is fed, having fun sometimes, and working toward shared goals, you haven’t failed. You’re doing a beautifully messy, neurodivergent life right.
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