Hi, I’m Maryellen — and this is Growing Together

Homeschool mom. Pediatric nurse background. Fierce advocate. Still figuring it out.

The real story

I’m married, and we have four kids ranging from 2 to 11. All of them are neurodivergent in some way — ADHD and autism across the crew, and our toddler is showing us early that he’ll likely follow suit. My husband and I have been homeschooling for eight years, which sounds like a long time until you realize we’re still tweaking things every single year.

Before I had kids, I worked as a pediatric nurse. That background made me feel reasonably equipped to navigate the medical side of raising kids with complex needs — advocating in appointments, understanding diagnoses, knowing when to push for more. What I was completely unprepared for was everything else. The financial strain. The mental load. The confusion of trying to figure out what programs existed, whether my kids qualified, and how to actually apply for them. Katie Beckett alone felt like a part-time job. And that was on top of homeschooling, researching how to teach kids who learn differently, and trying to understand what our kids actually needed.

I’ve spent years slowly figuring it out — taking courses in Orton-Gillingham and studying the research on how to teach reading and writing to kids with dyslexia and language differences, reading everything I can find on ADHD and autism, and doing a lot of the kind of research that lands you deep in functional medicine rabbit holes at midnight. I believe in therapies and professional support wholeheartedly — not because I can’t research my way through something, but because I’m also a mom and a homeschool teacher and I cannot carry every piece of this alone. My kids need people who specialize in what they need. And I need those people to carry some of the load so I can show up better in the parts only I can do.

I also have AuDHD myself — ADHD and autism — which explains a lot, honestly. I share more about how I first started putting the pieces together in the video below. That video was made early in the process, before formal psychological testing confirmed what I already suspected. Consider it the beginning of the story.

Why I started Growing Together

If navigating this world was confusing for me — someone with a medical background, a stubborn streak, and a lot of time invested in research — I figured it was probably overwhelming for a lot of other parents too. So I started sharing what I was learning. The Katie Beckett process. What actually helps with morning routines. How we structure homeschool around 15+ hours of weekly appointments. What tools have made a real difference for our kids.

This site isn’t a clinical resource and I’m not giving medical advice. It’s one mom sharing what she’s learned the hard way, so maybe you don’t have to learn it quite as hard. Everything here is home-tested. Some of it is Georgia-specific. All of it is real.

My ADHD diagnosis (the backstory)

How I think about neurodiversity

I don’t think neurodiversity is a bad thing. I find it genuinely fascinating — the way different brains work, what they’re capable of, how much of what looks like a problem is actually a mismatch between the child and the environment. I have no doubt that my kids will do wonderful things and live full lives. What I’m trying to do is give them skills — not to fix them, but to make hard things less hard, so they can get to the life they want.

I believe in being honest with kids about who they are. We talk openly and casually about neurodiversity in our house — what it means, how their brains work differently, why certain things are harder and certain things come easily. Knowing yourself is a skill, and it starts early.

I also believe in being honest with parents. Behind every seemingly well-adjusted neurodivergent kid, there’s usually a parent who is exhausted, chronically researching, sensory overwhelmed, burnt out, dealing with their own neurodivergence, and quietly convinced they’re not doing enough. That parent deserves a space that doesn’t pretend this is easy. This is that space.

If you want to understand more of the philosophy behind how we approach learning and daily life — particularly why regulation has to come before academics, and why reducing friction isn’t the same as lowering expectations — those ideas run through a lot of what I share on YouTube and here on the site.

What you’ll find here

The site is organized around three areas. Georgia Resources covers Katie Beckett, HIPP, and GAMMIS — resources that took me the longest to figure out and that I wish someone had explained plainly from the start. Homeschooling covers how we structure our days, what curricula we use, and how we adapt everything for kids who learn differently. And Parenting covers the daily living side — morning routines, hygiene tools, regulation strategies, and the practical stuff that makes the whole day go better or worse.

I also share a free Morning Routine Checklist that you can grab and customize for your own kids, and I post videos on YouTube every week covering all of the above.

Start here

Tell me your story

What’s going on at your house? What are you trying to figure out? What do you wish someone would just explain clearly? Send me a note — I read every message and use your questions to shape future videos and posts.

Some posts contain affiliate links. I only recommend tools and products I believe in — things we use at home, or things I’ve researched thoroughly and can see the genuine value in, even if they don’t fit our current season for reasons like our kids’ ages or our budget. Read my Disclosures & Disclaimers and Privacy Policy anytime.