This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Resources for Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently with Keisha Berry.

Resources for Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently with Keisha Berry

There’s not ONE right way to homeschool and there’s not ONE kind of homeschooler! That’s why Vicki was so excited to talk to our friend, Keisha Berry of Spectrum Education and Therapy Center, again about resources for homeschoolers who learn differently.

Vicki’s story about Keisha

This story highlights the respect that Vicki has for Keisha’s work:

“Keisha and I were both at the MACHE Convention in 2025. We both had tables next to each other in the vendor hall. It was early in the morning, and the doors had just opened for people to come into the building. Then a distraught grandmother who was homeschooling her grandchild entered the room. She was determined to find help for her grandson who was having learning problems. She couldn,’t figure out how to help him find the resources he needed. You could see desperation as she walked into the room, it was just radiating off of her. She started just talking to the room, “I’m homeschooling my grandson and I need help, and he needs help.”

Then Keisha just stood up and in this authoritative, calm voice, like the subject matter expert she is, “There’s help. We’ll get you help.” And I watched the calm descend on that grandmother from the top of her head down her face and her body relaxed.”

Both Keisha and Vicki have homeschooled their own kids who have some learning differences. Vicki’s kids have all made it to adulthood, thanks to I had access to resources to help my kids who needed help.

Keisha’s story

Keisha started to consider homeschooling when she began to get comments on her son’s report card in the first grade. The teacher said that although he made straight A’s, he was inattentive and hyperactive. Keisha was working in his school as a special education teacher at the time, and I knew at that point that he needed something that he was not getting in school.

Keisha’s sister, Dr. Rochelle Matthews-Somerville (who has also discussed learning differences on Homeschool Highschool Podcast before), was already homeschooling. She suggested homeschooling to Keisha. So, she decided to try homeschooling. Keisha thought it was going be a temporary situation, but the next thing she knew, it was sixteen years later.

Taking him out of school did not take away his inattentiveness or his hyperactivity. However, Keisha taught him how to manage himself through strategies for executive functioning, such as:

He was not required to sit at a desk

They taught him how to take notes
He learned how to use highlighters
She taught him how to use his digital calendars
He learned to use AI to help him use his syllabi

So, how did her son end up in Saudi Arabia

No matter how many skills you have, the ADHD-type inattentiveness does not really go away. Sometimes it pops up into real life. After high school, Keisha’s son was applying for jobs. He accidentally applied for a job in Saudi Arabia. When he interviewed with several people about the job, no one mentioned the location!

At the last interview, he was hired. That’s when he learned that he was going to Saudi Arabia!

It was two weeks between the time of the last interview and when he got on the plane!

A famous homeschool theory and globe-trotting son

There is a famous homeschool theory: We teach our children how to learn, not what to learn.

Using his skills on “how to learn”, Keisha’s son went online, and he figured out what he needed to do. He learned about the culture so that he was dressed appropriately and was respectful of their customs.

Now he is working in Saudi Arabia, living his best life! The inattentiveness has not prevented his success. In fact, it is Keisha’s theory is that ADHD is just a different kind of way the brain works. It is a kind of neurodiversity that is a gift if you know how to:

manage yourself
learn
be cautious when necessary
understand how God has made you

In college, Keisha’s son majored in Cultural Anthropology. He loved his study-abroad programs, where he traveled to Greece and Senegal. His love of globe-trotting was a gift God gave him, so the trip to Saudi Arabia was not overwhelming to him at all.

Keisha’s training and homeschooling her son

Keisha had worked for years as a special educator. She holds a master’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders, which includes Speech and Language Pathology. Keisha had always worked in multidisciplinary settings, especially working closely with occupational therapists. She was able to use her training and experience to help her son maximize his gifts and manage his weaker areas.

As she started homeschooling her son, she used her skills to learn how he learned.

He did not always want to learn things that his parents thought he should learn about, so he had to learn to learn the required subjects. (They live in Maryland, and we have seven subjects that they required to show that you’re doing regular and thorough instructions in.)

Along with this, he learned how to research and learn about things that interested him. For instance, during the pandemic, he was curious if there had been epidemics in the past. So he researched and learned about Ebola. For instance, he learned about what the government did to address the health crisis. He saw how politics affected addressing an epidemic. Then, he was able to draw comparisons, and he actually started to understand the current situation.

Investing in his interests

One of the greatest gifts a homeschooling parent can give their student who learns differently is to help them discover and invest in their interests. Keisha had known that ever since he was a little boy, her son was a National Geographic magazine fanatic. So, she made sure that those subscriptions continued throughout his homeschooling. In the magazines, her son read and learned about other places in the world. By the time he went to college, he was ready to travel the world and see things for himself!

His desire for traveling sparked Keisha and her son with the opportunity to learn to manage his ADHD inattentiveness to details. With ADHD, some details will likely be missed (as in ending up with a job in Saudi Arabia). However, he learned to handle many of the details for his adventures.

One of his favorite tools

One of his favorite tools is a really cool feature on Google where you can tell Google to group the tabs that are open. Google will group them based on topic. So now, he can think about a million things at once, and he has Google to assist him by compartmentalizing them for him.

Many of the other tools that Keisha’s son learned to use came from her expertise in working with children who learn differently. These are the same tools that she used at Spectrum Education and Therapy Center.

Spectrum Education and Therapy Center

Spectrum Education and Therapy Center is a multidisciplinary practice. Keisha and her colleagues work with homeschoolers to build tools for success with their homeschoolers. Her staff includes:

Speech language pathologists
Occupational therapy
Psychologists who can assist with those tri-annual evaluations that children and families need for the state of Maryland
Social workers, social work, and mental health support are something that they added recently because she recognized that many families were starting to homeschool because their children were facing mental health challenges.
Academic coaches and consultants for evaluations and selecting curriculum
Special education tutors and educators
Free 30 minute consultations for all new families

Not only in Maryland

While Spectrum Education and Therapy Center is located in Maryland, you do not have to be in Maryland to access it. Keisha and her staff have a selection of virtual programs and events. These include workshops for new homeschooling fami...