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the day flies away before we go outside…help please
- This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 3 months ago by
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I’m hoping that some of you go through this and can advise me. I have two dds ages 8 and 10. We start our schoolday around 9am after breakfast. We finish around 1pm, have lunch, then it’s time for chores. They drag their feet during chores and I’m having to constantly redirect the younger one. By the time they are finished it is getting dark and is time to start dinner! Like right now, here it is 3:30 pm and they are almost finished. It will be dark in an hour.
We live in an apartment so I can’t just send them out the the backyard, getting outside to a natural place takes effort. I can make it happen most days, but not if I only have an hour.
Outdoor time and sunshine are so important for good health. Why don’t my kids show more interest? They just don’t seem to care if we stay in all day.
What would you do if you were me? Cut out some academics? Punishments for chores taking forever? Thanks!
What do they do with the rest of the afternoon/evening? Could you give them a time limit on chores, then send them outside and require the chores left undone to be finished before/after dinner when they would otherwise have free time indoors? In our home, slow or sloppy work is quickly remidied by more work. 🙂 Perhaps they need some ideas about what to do outdoors, some new things to create or explore with, or you could plan a special excursion to peak curiosity. But you are not alone; my kids don’t always want to go outdoors, either.
In your situation having to leave your home for outings, I wouldn’t use outdoor time as a reward but as a regular part of your homeschool. Is it possible you could sandwich outdoor time between morning and afternoon school sessions? Maybe take a two hour outdoor picnic lunch.
9-11 school
11-1 outing and lunch
1-3 school
3-4 close the day with home blessing (chore time) followed by free time (crafts and projects…or unfinished school work)
I am wondering what kind of chores and how extensive they are. We do a round of morning chores before school starts in the morning, so that we can do school without worrying about the horridly messy house! Then we have another brief session of chores after school before play time. Have you tried breaking the chore time up?
I agree with Janell, you should get them outside every day that is possible. It will not only be good for their health, but their brain development (google the research that recently came out on this).
They don’t want to do it now…because it isn’t a habit. We want to do what we habitually do. And we don’t like doing what we don’t habitually do – no matter how pleasant or beneficial it may be!
Once they are more used to getting outside every day, it will become something they want to do. Thank God they have a Momma who sees the importance of it and can help them develop the habit!
Chores here happen after the sun sets. Like you said, the sun sets early and so I feel getting outside is more important and they chores can be done after dinner.
Can you maybe go first thing after morning chores and before school starts? I always have mine (weather permitting) go out for exercise before we start school. It’s never as long as we all would like but they can go out again later if they get their work done too. It’s hard to fit everything in! Can some chores maybe be done every other day? I have DD7 wipe bathroom sink every other day. Stuff like that? Just an idea.
I haven’t initiated this yet, but am thinking of dividing chores up before meal times, with the philosophy of you don’t eat till your chore is done. This would prevent dawdling if your dc love to eat. My other suggestion is to do the heavier chores on bad weather days or Saturday mornings, having fewer chores on outing days.
Thank you all for responding! Well, their chores are (between the two of them)… make beds and pick up their stuff, take care of the cat litter box and fix up the rat cage, fold their own clean clothes. Their grooming is also part of it. It really isn’t that much, but they just drag it out.
I love getting outside too, and I wish they would just get going. I wish there were more hours in the day! LOL =) Don’t we all.
I like the idea of splitting up the chores, and having an outside time in the middle of the day. I’ll give it some thought to see what we can come up with. They go to bed at 7, pretty much right after dinner, mainly because it takes them awhile to get ready for bed, and they like to have lots of time to lay in bed and chat with each other, read, etc.
My husband thinks maybe we just need to get up earlier. I kind of like waking up when we do.
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