Live online focus sessions · ages 14–17 · UK
A live focus club for 14–17s who can't start. Three times a week, a qualified teacher runs a 55-minute session: your teen brings the task they've been dodging, says what it is, and does it — alongside other teens doing the same. £2.50 a session, or £20 a month.
Sound familiar?
The essay's been due since Tuesday. They're on their bed, on their phone, radiating misery. You say "just make a start" — and the evening goes downhill from there. Again.
A whole weekend of "I'll do it later" collapses into one tearful hour before bed. They're not lazy — they've been dreading it the entire time, which is somehow more exhausting than doing it.
You've become the homework police, and neither of you signed up for that. The nagging is corroding the relationship, and it isn't even working.
For an ADHD brain, starting is a genuine executive-function difference. Not laziness. Not attitude. Not fixable by saying "just start." What fixes it is structure and company — which can be arranged.
The idea
“If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.”— Mark Twain, allegedly
(He almost certainly never said it. Fittingly, nobody's got round to checking.)
The solution
Body doubling — working alongside others — is the best-known ADHD strategy there is. The club does it properly for teens: live, teacher-run, and timed for when homework panic strikes.
The offer, in plain terms
3 live sessions a weekTue & Thu evenings, Sat morning. 55 minutes, term time. Run by a real teacher — not an app, not a video.
One task, actually doneYour teen picks the task they've been avoiding, says it out loud, and does it. Company gets it over the line.
A habit, not a rescueSame times, same structure, streaks for showing up. The goal: a teen who knows how to start.
How it works
The frog = the task you're avoiding hardest. Cut it into 2–3 pieces. Find the smallest first bite — "open the doc" counts.
Everyone names their frog in the chat (mic optional). Saying it commits your brain to it. That's the whole trick.
Two sprints with a proper break. Cameras optional, mics muted, chat moderated. The teacher keeps time so your brain doesn't have to.
Did the frog get eaten? Mostly eaten? Licked? All count. Log it, build your streak, log off. Done by bedtime.
Why it works
Body doubling isn't a vibe — it's several well-studied effects stacked together. ADHD brains struggle to generate structure and motivation internally. A session borrows both from the room.
One of psychology's oldest findings: we work better when others are present. It's why a library works when your bedroom doesn't.
Saying a specific goal out loud measurably increases follow-through. That's why every session starts by naming your frog.
ADHD makes starting, timing and stopping harder. In a session, all three live outside your head. Your brain has one job: the frog.
ADHD motivation runs on interest and social reward, not importance. Company adds just enough of both to get a dull task started.
Free · no email wall
The one-page Dissect the Frog sheet — the exact ritual that starts every session. Print it or drop it into GoodNotes, and try it on tonight's homework. The club is this method, plus company.
Download the free sheet (PDF)The reasonable objection
Sort of. Here's where the free versions fall short — so you can spend your £2.50 with eyes open.
True, and they help some people. But a video is one-way. Nobody knows your teen is there, nobody hears them commit, nobody notices when they drift to another tab.
Everything that makes body doubling work — say the task, someone keeps time, progress gets witnessed — is exactly what a video can't do. It's television that looks like homework.
Also true — for adults. Free focus rooms are anonymous, unmoderated, and full of adult strangers. No facilitator, no register, no safeguarding.
Our room is under-18s only: DBS-checked teacher, waiting room, moderated chat, every name parent-consented. You're not paying for the Zoom link — you're paying for who's allowed through it.
You could — it genuinely works, and it's free. If your teen still lets you, do that and don't pay us. Honestly.
But from about 14, a parent nearby reads as surveillance, not company — and every session costs an argument. Peers and a teacher hold the same structure with none of that. You go back to being the parent.
Proof
"[Placeholder — parent quote from pilot cohort, e.g. about the first evening without the homework argument.]"
— Parent of Year 10 member"[Placeholder — teen quote from pilot cohort, e.g. about frogs being less bad when everyone has one.]"
— Year 11 member"[Placeholder — parent quote about streaks / the £20 being the easiest SEN money they've spent.]"
— Parent of Year 12 member⚠ Example placeholders — replace with real, permissioned quotes from the pilot cohort before launch. Never ship invented testimonials.
Timetable
Timed for when homework panic actually strikes. Extra sessions run during exam season.
Pricing
Try one session for less than a meal deal. If it works, the pass covers everything — and kills the weekly "shall I book?" decision.
Liked the free sheet? The full planner is £4 — the daily page, the Pond brain-dump, deadline tracker and bad-day rescue pages. The whole system, not just the taster.
About me
I've been a secondary school science teacher since 2019, and I've had an ADHD brain my whole life — currently on the assessment waiting list, along with what feels like half the country. Which means I've spent years on both sides of the "why haven't you started yet?" conversation.
I know what it's like when a twenty-minute task feels made of concrete. And I know what dissolves it: someone else in the room, a clear structure, permission to do one thing. Company and a timer.
I run every session myself. Your teen gets the same teacher, the same structure, and the same dry sense of humour every time — consistency is half the product.
For parents
You've probably noticed that sitting near your teen magically makes homework happen — and that they'd now rather eat glass than have you do it. This is the same effect, outsourced, with proper safeguards.
Every session is run by a serving secondary school teacher with an enhanced DBS check.
The room is a dedicated space for 14–17s. Accounts are created and consented by a parent or carer. Any 18+ sessions run separately.
Waiting room on, chat moderated, sessions recorded for safeguarding only, cameras always optional.
No diagnosis needed, no advice given. Just structured company for getting things done.
The Pond · notes on ADHD & focus
Plain explanations of why ADHD brains work the way they do, and what actually helps. No hacks, no hustle, no "just use a planner" — well, except ours, and only the once.
Why homework happens at the kitchen table but never upstairs, what's going on in the brain, and how to use it deliberately — with or without us.
Read it Study tipsMost study advice is written for brains that can "just start". Here's what works when yours can't: task shrinking, time containers, and the two-minute rule that isn't a lie.
Read it For parentsTask initiation is a genuine executive function difference, not a motivation problem. What that means for the nightly homework standoff — and three sentences that help.
Read itQuestions
14–17 — roughly GCSE to lower sixth. Parents sign up and consent, and the room is under-18s only. Any future 18+ sessions would run entirely separately.
No. The club is designed around ADHD-friendly structure, but any teen who finds starting work hard is welcome. We will never ask about diagnosis.
Never. Cameras and mics are always optional. Naming your frog in the chat counts just as much as saying it out loud.
Then it got licked, and that still counts. The point is starting, not perfection — a partly-eaten frog on a streak beats a perfect plan that never happened.
No — nobody teaches anything. Teens bring their own work from any subject, and I facilitate the session and keep the structure. The work is theirs. That's also why it's £2.50 and not £35 an hour.
Recordings are kept for safeguarding purposes only, stored securely, and deleted on a fixed schedule. Full details are in the parent info pack sent at signup.
Then stop — there's no contract, the pass cancels in two clicks, and I'll refund any unused drop-in without asking why. Body doubling works for most ADHD brains, but not all, and pretending otherwise would be a strange way to earn your trust.
First session £2.50. Bring the task they've been avoiding since half term. We know there is one.
Book your first session