12 Fast Paced Games for Out of the Box Homechooling High School

Short attention spans and weak executive function are challenges when you are homeschooling high school with a neurodiverse teens. We always knew our teens were quirky and out of the box. Now we have names for all of that out- of- the- box-ness and some strategies to go with them. 12 Fast Paced Games for Out of the Box Homeschooling High School will share some fast paced, dopamine boosting games for your neurodiverse teen.

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support!

We are a big gaming family. I mean we are HUGE gamers!

We play games everyday. Everyone in our family has a different game we call our favorites. Many of us can stick in for long strategy games and some of us can’t.

One of our young adults adores the fast paced games. He thrives with the quick moves and short duration of sorts of games. So, let’s talk about some of those games and why they are so beneficial to people with ADHD.

Fast Paced Card Games for Homeschooling High School

This list of fast paced games focuses on quick recognition and movement. You have to be ON it, to get good results and sometimes you just need to play a bit before you can get good at it.

Do you have any of these games?

• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza– this is a slap game, so be careful!
• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza on the Flip Side– this one adds a new element to the game by having to flip over the cards sometimes.
• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza 8 Bit– this one ended up in a stocking at Christmas time. It does have different movements for the special cards that laid down.
• Dutch Blitz– we were late the party on this game, but whew does it get intense! Highly recommend this game for something easy to take on the go or play at home. If you play with more than 4 players, you can also buy an expansion deck.
• Blink– this one is super fast if you want to win! Not great for colored blind people, but otherwise a fantastic game of shape, color, and number recognition.
• Spot It– this one is great for young and old in recognizing images quickly
• Word Around– this is a game of seeing the word when it’s scrambled

By using this ADHD brain break accommodation in our homeschool high schools, we are modeling ways to work around our challenges.

Fast Paced Board Games for Homeschooling High School

These games aren’t card games, but they are games played quickly.

Do you play any of them?

• Catch Phrase– this is a hot potato type game that requires you give clues for words and phrases that come up on the screen. You don’t want to be left holding “the bag” when the timer runs out.
• Perfection– this one is a classic where you place shapes in the spots before the time runs out. Pro tip: Beat the timer because the pop is heart racing!
• Captain Sonar– ok this one can be played in multiple modes depending on how many people are playing, but with 6 players and up, you can play real time against the other team to sink their sub. Think real time battleship where you can move your ship and stay elusive!
• Simon or Pocket Simon– this one is an 80s classic game of following a sequence of colors that show up. It’s a game that can be played by yourself or with one other person. This one is great for memory and focus.
• Bananagrams– this is a fast game to beat the other players in creating words crossword style. In our house, this is a cut throat game, but we’re pretty competitive people. You can play even longer and with more people with the larger banana and have some fun with the party edition.

More Quick Card Games for Homeschooling High School

The games in this category are not as fast paced, but they aren’t slow games.

• Munchkin– this is a DnD themed card games with tons of variants and add ons. We enjoy this game and my most favorite expansion deck is the Hipster Deck, if you can find it.
• Fox in the Forest– this is a two player trick taking game and it’s pretty low key for winding down at night. We use games like this when it’s time to leave the screens behind for the day.
• Love Letter– this one is a logic game. Keep an eye on who plays what and don’t get caught with the Princess! It’s also sold in different themes from other companies.
• Uno– just plain old Uno is a great way to take a brain break! A good substitute is a deck of playing cards to play Crazy 8s, but you won’t have those special draw more cards type cards.
• Uno Flip– is a favorite of mine. You can play both sides of the cards and the opposite side is pretty ruthless!
• Uno Show ‘Em No Mercy– oh boy! This one is not for the faint of heart. In this game, you can win just by making others get 24 cards or more and with draw 10s, that isn’t hard!
• Uno Flex– this one is a little strange. The game gives you choices to change colors or choose a player to draw 4, etc.
• Uno Attack– we’ve had several versions of this since the first one wore out from so much use. We bought it again when our youngest wanted to play more. In this version, when you need to draw cards, you hit the button on the machine and it spit out 0-12 cards at a time.
• Uno Splash– this set has plastic cards so you can play in the pool. Yes! We’ve tried it and it a bunch of fun. We’re on our second set. You can use these to go camping or hiking or tubing or whenever a card game would be fun and you might get dirty at the same time.
• Uno All Wild– is a deck where every card is a wild card. Nobody will play this one with me because they think it’s dumb! ha! If you play it, let me know how it goes.
• Civitas– this game plays like Uno and it’s all about systems of government. Cool fact! Our family was a play tester prior to its release and we had a great time. It was also fun to have the front row seat to the creation of a card game and its various iterations along the way.
• Sushi Go Party– You can also just get the deck of cards, but I like the structure that the board supplies. It’s easier to set up and learn with the board. This is a low key game with lots of interaction.
• Coup– in this game you get to think about who is who. The last one standing wins!
• Unstable Unicorns– this one plays like Munchkin with some twists. While this game may take some time, everyone is pretty engaged and the turns go fast.
• The Resistance– this is a game of deduction. Think about it like old school murder games. You are trying to determine who is loyal and who is part of the resistance. You need at least 4 players for this to be super fun.
• One Night Ultimate Alien– and its variants (werewolf, vampire, super villians, etc). This is another deduction game that you play with the app unless one person wants to host and not play the game. These are quick rounds.

Video Games for Homeschooling High School

The topic on fast paced games would not be complete without talking about video games.

Video games are super popular with kids and teens and the nemesis of many moms, especially homeschooling moms.

So, why would I recommend video game brain breaks?

Because video games provide instant feedback! They give our teens an instant result, so it’s a HUGE dopamine booster. ADHD brains have lower levels of dopamine. That’s why stimulant medication is helpful to ADHD brains. Video games boost dopamine levels. So, instead of fighting about video game time and when it will be, use it as a short term reward for doing the things on their list for the day.

If your teen doesn’t want to stop playing, then you can work in another strategy such as not offering the time during the school day or modifying the idea so that it has time constraints.

30+ Accommodations for High School

Over on Instagram, I shared 50 ADHD Accommodations for High School, and you can get over 30 of them plus accommodations that were never published and are only available inside this eBook.

Once you sign up, you’ll get instant access to the eBook full of accommodations, not only for ADHD brains, but for any out of the box or neurodiverse thinkers.

After that, you’ll get weekly ideas an encouragement for homeschooling high school with out of the box teens. That’s my specialty!

Join Our Member Community

One of the best ways to immerse yourself in finding ways to work with your out of the box teens is through Homeschooling High School by Design Membership.

Inside membership we have live calls twice a month where I teach on a topic related to homeschooling high schoolers who have challenges of any kind, whether they are sick or their brains work differently. Once a month we meet together for moms who need extra support to teach and parent their teens.

We have a great group of moms and everyone leaves encouraged and ready to tackle another day!

There are two options for membership and you can choose them based on the experience you would like and your budget.

Click the graphic below to learn more about our membership community.