Tristan: question about work at table

This is a huge challenge!  Especially as some kids are natural chatterers and others are more easily distracted by every sound, movement, etc. I’ve solved it a couple ways, but it is still imperfect.

First, during that table time session I try to inforce the ‘no talking to others’ rule, which I phrase as ‘work now, talk when work is done’. If a child forgets I remind them it’s work time, not talk time, and to talk to me (or whoever they were talking to) later. This is hard for some kids to get! I do have a table in a separate room that I can send a child to if they truly are struggling to be quiet, and I sometimes do that if they continue distracting the rest of the table. I then check in on them regularly but continue to inforce the “work now, talk later” rule. I don’t let them talk about non-school-related things to me when they are supposed to be working.

It all cycles back to those habits of attention and the use of short lessons.  As they practice giving their full attention to their work it is completed sooner and they are free to play and talk to others who have also completed the work of that moment. As they master the full attention to short lessons we are slowly able to make those lessons longer.

Second, if a child needs no distractions for a specific subject like math, and is especially distractible, I will send them to work in a different spot. On the couch in a nearby room, at the table in another room, on their bed, on the stairs, at a counter in the kitchen.

Third, I try to only move a child for one subject, the one they need to focus on the most. Why? Because learning to work with some minor distractions in the environment is a real life skill!

We don’t work at the table all day, only in that morning hour and a half. And if a child is working diligently they are only there an hour at most. They do their literature and scripture reading in bed or other places, we do history readings at the couch.

I think a lot can also be helped with the mom’s attention as well. As the mom am I distracted doing “this, that and the other thing” or am I setting an example of being giving full attention to the tasks at hand.

I find myself distracted a lot, but looking at the distractions many are not important need to do now type of things. Yes the kids distract me and life happens, but I have been working hard at not doing laundry or dishes or checking email… while doing school. Getting myself ready for the day so that when school starts I can give full attention.

I grew up being HS’ed, have 3 siblings, and my mom was always present with us doing school. She would write letters to friends but she did not do chores or anything that really pulled her away from us during school time. I think that really helped us stay focused on the task at hand.

I also agree with Tristan that helping your kids learn how to work with distractions is a great skill.  Yes, it takes time and patience to learn and some subjects the student needs quiet. My ODS needs quiet for his math so he will put on his dad’s old sound reducing headphones (my DH used them year ago when he would go to the shooting range). My ODS can hear if I say his name, but it lessens the distractions.

I really like the idea of table time. But haven’t been able to make it work. I get too frustrated. Tho last time I tried it I had  a baby, a preschooler, a late reader who needed help with everything, and my oldest was only second grade and not wanting to work on his own either. It might work better now. Sometimes I find things go easier, even with young ones, once there is an older child who can set the example. So my third child can do stuff at five that didn’t work when my oldest was five.

This is what has been working for us for that ‘table time’: we have a ‘lessons hour’ where the kids are expected to work on their list of independent work, usually on the couch or their beds if they need quiet, while I grab each kid one at a time and we sit at the table and I teach all their lessons for that day. Obviously being able to work on their independent list took training too. Lol. I think I’m sensitive to the noise level, so this may be why this worked better for me, because I took one kid aside into a relatively quiet place. I still struggled with interruptions. What finally worked to end excessive interruptions was to make a rule: interrupt someone else’s one on one lessons and you get an extra worksheet. My kids hate worksheets. Lol. I do allow them to come in and stand there quietly and I’ll ask them what they need when I’m inbetween lessons. But mostly they just move on to something else and I help them during their one on one time.

Is there a different time of day that you can do one child’s math so it isn’t such a struggle? I had one child who woke up early every day for about half a year when she recognized she needed no distractions during math she was struggling with. I got up with her and we were able to focus together until she felt she had a better grasp and easier concepts.

We use backpacks. The kids pull out what they need right then and the backpack goes under their seat. It does help to have less visual clutter.

Sometimes it’s a circus! LOL

Yay!

Tristen,

I love the idea of table time. I have 4 left at home, 18, 13,11,8. How would you work table time with them? My 18ds works independently for the most part except spelling wisdom. Could I sit with the other during their independent work? We have always risen by 8 and do breakfast first then head to the coach and read Bible, pict study, History, ect.  Then we take a break and jump into individual studies. I just saw the individual studies for 4th and 5th I believe. How many warnings do you give before you move someone? I am dealing with a very mouthy 13 right now and challenges me on everything. Do you give a break in that hour? Or is this seat work done all at once? Thanks for all your input.