#highfunctioning

This Week's Curated Content is All About Some Really Dope (read: Interesting, Informative, and Generally Accurate) YOUTUBE Channels that Homeschooling Families (or Classroom Teachers) Can Use to Support Their Homeschool Curriculum.

(Looking for Podcast Suggestions to Supplement Your Homeschooling or Classroom Curriculum? Say Less! Check Out This Post Filled With Educational Podcast Recommendations.)

MELANATED AND WELL-EDUCATED

New and Confused Homeschool Families Start Here! Talk about user-friendly. This channel is the perfect go-to site, especially for new homeschooling families.

The presenter, Erica, is well-informed and speaks with the benefit of first hand experience. She also podcasts, blogs, and vlogs (or something like that 😃) so you can consume her content in various ways.

ThisBrownTeacher's Hot Take: It's a GO for Me.

These videos are clean! The recording and formatting is so well done. And getting insight from someone who's actually DOING what you're doing ... well, well, well ... you gotta love it when a great plan comes together.

CRASH COURSE

Crash Course is a YouTube channel filled with science, social science, and historical content presented in fun, usually a mix of real people and animated clips.

Agreeing that the site is witty and fast-paced, CommonSense.org and other commenters are seemingly thrown off by the word 'course' in the channels moniker. CommonSense.org gives Crash Course a rating of 3 out 5 stars, deciding that anything labeled a "course" should be interactive and offer opportunities for students to "engage" with the content - something they claim Crash Course does not necessarily do.

ThisBrownTeacher's Hot Take: Check it out. 👍🏾

Sometimes a video is just that ... a video. And most homeschooling or traditional school teachers will add their own spin on information curated from the internet regardless. The content is better suited toward older learners and families should preview the content first to ensure that all topic matter is copacetic.

THE HANDMADE HOMESCHOOLER

With shoutouts to the "Homeschool Haters" (facts 😉) and videos titled THINGS I WON'T DO AS A HOMESCHOOL MOM and 6 THINGS I DON'T DO AS A HOMESCHOOL MOM, you know you are about to get the real-deal-truth-ruth when it comes to homeschooling. Mandy's channel -THE HANDMADE HOMESCHOOLER- is truly an internet fav. Plus, she runs a free Facebook Group and, even though I, personally, don't rock with a whole bunch of extraneous and miscellaneous purchases and fees related to homeschooling, if you need some early guidance, this channel has curriculum and other resources for preschool and upper grades at the ready.

ThisBrownTeacher's Hot Take: Yes, Please! 💯

Besides the cute, little YouTube Shorts she does, as a classroom teacher, I REALLY appreciate The Handmade Homeschooler's approach to HS prep and organization. She seems to backwards plan and Year-At-A-Glance prep like the most veteran of school teachers. Her content is interesting and informative. And definitely the place to go for real talk, organization, preparation, and subject based ideas and information.

ART FOR KIDS HUB

Art for Kids Hub is a great look for all homeschooling families because:

The channel is actually created and hosted by an actual family. With kids. Doing art.

Most of the projects are easy, uncomplicated, and do not require a bunch of supplies or skills. In most cases, pencils and perhaps crayons or markers will suffice.

My boy loves this channel for all of the cool HOW TO DRAW ... videos that provide easy to understand, step-by-step techniques for drawing everything from ants to a slice of lemon pie.

ThisBrownTeacher's Hot Take: For sure! For sure! 👌🏾

While some of the drawing tutorials or subject matter (Bugatti anyone?) may frustrated younger or easily frustrated children, pre-viewing and pre-selecting a drawing or two you know your homeschooler can handle is the perfect addition to your Art or Creativity curriculum. For sure!

Real Life Lore

What's cool about the Real Life Lore YouTube channel is, by far, the ... LORE! Featuring titles such as What's the Deepest Hole We Can Possible Dig? This channel is chock full of subject matter based topics that are arranged in way that makes what could be somewhat dry content (digging holes ... huh?) really engaging for elementary aged homeschoolers and up. Filled with science and history/social studies heavy themes, from comprehension questions, essays, drawings, map quests, experiments, and more, your learner can successfully interact with this content in so many ways and have fun doing it.

ThisBrownTeacher's Hot Take: For sure! Say less. ✅

Top Fuel Dragsters Visualized and Telling Time on Mars. Sheesh. Say less.

💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡

Looking for more hip homeschool content? CLICK HERE or visit HipHopHomeschool.org.

Read more about why drumming can help neurodivergent learners … HERE.

Read more to learn why it's so important to advocate for atypical thinkers  … HERE. 

"One with the crew,

For some of you, this is going to hurt. And for that I am sorry. But not sorry. More like sorry, not sorry. Especially in this age of wokeness, cancellations, and fear of speaking truth, to power or otherwise.

You see, these days, most can't handle the truth and believe their self-imposed fugue state is valid, is justified, and no one is allowed to penetrate it.

But penetrate it I must.

Hear me out for just a moment as I present a single question to the confused, the uncertain, the unsure among us.

What's next?

I see your questions. Your inquires. Your requests for assistance.

Which leads me to wonder. What's next?

You recant the stories of the awful things that occur in your child's classroom, their school building, within themselves, or amongst their peers.

You lament over the inequalities, the maltreatment, the mishandling effectuated by your child's teacher, their school environment, and society at large as they showcase their uncertainty about things that they simply do not understand.

You use words like heartbreaking, brutal, unfair. And as I read, as I listen, I can only ask but one question. What's next?

Our neurodivergent children, Our loves. The reason our hearts beat. Our children's behaviors can be intense. Their behaviors can be difficult. No. Not just difficult. Not only intense. Also complicated. Frightening. A lot.

All facts.

But I wonder, even more so when reading your words, or listening to your commentary here and there ... what is the alternative, and is that alternative any worse than your prevailing predicament?

Speaking from direct and actual experience, I assure you, your children are telling you something. The stories they tell you. The feelings they express. The pictures that they draw. Even the reports and write-ups from school. They are all painting a narrative. Telling a story.

So again I ask, what's next?

Auliq Ice speaks of pulling your own rope. But pulling your own rope is sometimes so hard. Pulling your own rope is sometimes too much. Rest assured. I get it. I, too, understand.

But what is the alternative? What is next?

Perhaps homeschooling is not your choice. (Though I wish you would reconsider.) But options exist. Alternatives abound. And most importantly, your children are asking a very hard question of you.

What's next?

Because what's currently happening is obviously not working.

So consider this, and again on behalf of your children I ask, ... what's next?

For “high functioning autistics” it denies them the support and access to resources they need. So when they’re looking for accommodations to help them function they’re denied this and therefore cannot access or have limited access.

And for “low functioning” autistics it denies them the opportunity to function without any support without people hailing them as heroes and inspiration porn, therefore denies NTs to perceive them as human.

I prefer the term support needs, e.g. low support needs and high support needs (yeah I know still a label but I feel like sometimes things need labels). I generally have low support needs as there are times, when things are going right or I’m happy, that I need no support at all, but this label still gives me access to the support I need.

The reason why I love this label is I can change it to suit the occasion, as I’ll have higher support needs or lower support needs depending on where I am, who I’m with, what’s happening etc.

They’re the ones everyone relies on. The ones who *always* say yes. The ones who get it all done.

On the surface, it looks like ambition. Drive. Discipline.

But underneath?

It can look like answering emails late at night. Taking on more than anyone expects. Never fully unplugging—even on a “day off.”

Waking up exhausted becomes normal. Rest starts to feel… uncomfortable. And the mind never quite quiets down.

This is the quiet reality for many high-functioning professionals. Not burnout all at once—but a slow, steady overextension.

Just because you *can* keep going doesn’t mean you’re meant to—without rest.

There’s strength in pausing. There’s clarity in boundaries. And there’s real resilience in learning when to step back.

If this feels familiar, it might be time to check in—with yourself.