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Dwaddling and Bad Attitute
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Hi…I read in Laying Down the Rails that one should move on to another lesson/activity if the child is dwaddling and not paying full attention, and then go back to that lesson. Has anyone found that this works? I worry about it feeling like an “out” to the chlld. Also, what do you do when they just complain and have a bad attitude about doing school work and just try to get it done without doing their best and paying full attention?? What would Charlotte Mason do??
My daughter is a procrastinator to the nth degree!! LOL Worse yet, I believe she gets it from me. I am not one by nature, but situations in my life have had me putting things off. cop out… probably. LOL
Anywho, this is how I deal with her because my son is super get it all down right away and so I have each child on the opposite end of the spectrum and this seems to bring them into balance. First, I make sure that each day is different order of subjects and we do not do every subject every day. If I do a subject everyday, then I use different resource per day to keep it interesting. Next, I use a timer, is it a pain in the butt to set every subject? You betcha, but so is yelling, getting frustrated, and nagging my kid. LOL So she sees the timer set and knows the lesson isn’t going to be long and she can focus and does focus better. The clencher is this… is she can not finish the work in the allotted time, then it becomes “homework.” Yes, you saw that correctly. We do a few worksheet subjects, penmanship and math and spelling and she just loves MCP phonics, so I go over the entire worksheet with her reading the instructions and even doing one as an example and then I put on the timer. Most times, she finishes on time or with time to spare, but there are those days when she ends up spending 2 hours in the afternoon trying to do one worksheet. I just have her sit at the table and she can get up when she is through. Slowly she is getting the whole…it IS easier to do the assignment when it is assigned, but she is certainly taking her sweet time in getting there as well. LOL HTH I came up with this so that my day isn’t too long and my son doesn’t have to have his day dragged out either. My kids are age 8 & 9, with the 9 year old being the slower to finish.
For many things, if the student tends to lose attention or dawdle, you need to do some attention training. Set the lesson time very short… say 5 minutes. Let them learn to keep attention for that length then slowly increase it. See the learning to keep attention as the lesson, not the subject itself for a while.
If you just can’t see yourself doing that…. then….
For readings, watch the student and stop reading just BEFORE they lose attention. That takes observation and practice on your part.
For ‘seat work’ I agree with above. Set a timer, make sure the amount of work could be done with a bit of room. If they are not done, go onto the next subject, and they can do it during ‘their’ time.
Or
If they aren’t willing to do the work of learning, they better get used to manual labour – so set them to work cleaning… and not easy stuff either.
I have a Suzuki story….. There was a student in violin that was having problems working on vibrato and was brought to Suzuki. Suzuki asked him to play a single note vibrato paying attention to it but to say when he was having problems focusing on it. The student started, and 10 seconds into it said ‘time’. Suzuki congratulated him, pointed out that it would be rare for a single note in music to be held vibrato that long. He asked the student to practice the vibrato on one note for 5 seconds with a timer a few times a day, but really focus on it. The next week they met again, and did the same exercise – and the student could fo it for 45 seconds.
Attention/focus is gained by doing it within your current abilities well instead of doing it poorly outside your abilities.
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