Today’s guest is someone I met through The Gifted Homeschooler Forum for which we both write. Through her experiences and those of her children, she’s become a champion for parents of “quirky children who don’t fit the mold.”

Kathleen Humble is an ADHD mom in Melbourne, Australia. She writes at Yellow Readis about gifted and twice-exceptional homeschooling. Her book, Gifted Myths, is available at The Gifted Homeschooler Forum Press. She’s been published in Victorian Writer, The Mighty, and Otherways magazine, and she was the recipient of the 2018 Writers Victoria Write-Ability Fellowship. In between writing and homeschooling her kids, Kathleen loves reading, sewing, and big cups of tea.

Show Highlights:

• As a long-time homeschooling mom of two twice-exceptional children, Kathleen is intensely passionate about helping parents with quirky children who don’t fit into the mold
• As a twice-exceptional person with ADHD, Kathleen can focus intensely on something to the point of not remembering to do anything else
• Growing up, she had trouble controlling her passions, but her intensity turned inward as she resorted to reading
• Being small and good at things made Kathleen an easy target for bullies in school
• One of the cultural factors that affected her intensity was learning that in Australia, standing out from others is not a great thing that’s not appreciated
• How intensity became an asset for Kathleen through performance and writing
• How Kathleen toned down and tuned out her intensity in high school when she deliberately stopped learning
• How Kathleen observed in school the behaviors that invited bullying
• Why Kathleen has to work against her intensity all the time
• How Kathleen learned to do “the pause,” a technique to physically break the intensity
• How Kathleen loves helping others, answering questions, exploring things, and empowering others
• How Kathleen harnesses the power of her intensity through “the pause,” medication, and therapy
• Kathleen’s system of “touch once” to keep track of tasks and remember names
• The best advice Kathleen ever received: “I’m OK. It’s going to be OK. Being you is OK. Being intense is OK.”
• Books that Kathleen recommends: Foundation by Isaac Asimov and NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman
• How Kathleen helps others use their fire for good by writing on her blog and people find the information they need

Resources:

Find Kathleen: Yellow Readis

Facebook: Yellow Readis

Twitter: @Yellow Readis

Pinterest: Yellow Readis

Gifted Myths by Kathleen Humble

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

NeuroTribes by Stever Silberman