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What do you do on days like this…
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I don’t have these days very often, but this morning has been horrible. My boys are really wound up for some reason, not listening, etc. My boys are young (3, 5, 6.5) and I’m only officially schooling the 6 yo, but they usually all sit in for most of it and enjoy it. But today, I started reading from Boy of the Pyramids, which they have been loving, and it took me over 25 minutes to read 2 pages because I kept having to stop to discipline. They were constantly touching each other, bouncing around, talking, and so on. It’s extremely rare that all three of them are acting up like this unless we are just coming off a holiday or something. I tried changing to some other things and finally sent them all to their own beds to play quietly for 30 minutes. That’s where they are now and I told them we would start our day over after the 30 minutes.
It’s 10:30 right now and we are usually almost done with school, but all we’ve done today is our Bible time and those 2 pages of Boy of the Pyramids.
I’m wondering what others do if you are having day where you feel like you are getting nowhere. I’m assuming I’m not alone in this. I’m frustrated right now, but thankful for 3 healthy boys who usually love school time. What’s funny is last night, dh and I were talking and I was telling him how wonderful school has been going, how I’m really seeing retention, etc. So, maybe these children of mine felt I needed a good dose of humility or something.
I have 2 ds, 3 1/2 and 5 1/2. Like you we’re just getting our feet wet with all of this, and stories and math games etc. usually are fun and days are generally smooth. But I do also have a fair number of days that are not and my patience is thin. So far I’ve found switching to another “subject” helps as does alternating an active thing with a sit down thing. Also esp for boys, have found that a quiet hands activity while reading my selections aloud helps them retain and soak in more and they’re not bothering me with fidgeting and talking (blocks, legos, playdough, a few small cars – we altnerate; and I spread out the reading and do some at meals and snack time as well while they’re eating! And they beg me to read then!)
But on the really bad days we put everything down for a bit and get everyone esp. me, outside even if the weather is bad (we just bundle up more, boots, etc.) and play in the backyard or even take tricycles and dog and walk around the block or even a nature walk at a park. If we cannot get outside and they’re not being mean to one another, we break and they have permission to do pillow forts for a while to get out some energy.
Then I try and do an activity with them (like dominoes or even legos with classical music on) and they’re Mom-time cups seem to be full and we can then usually get to the things I had planned. Sorry so long. Don’t know if any of that will be helpful or not, but as we stick to a routine I’ve found I can deal with training issues more easily without scratching off the whole day.
~Heather
Yes, I would pick something really active for them to do… we break and they do jumping jacks, pushups, situps, run around the house a number of times (if warm enough…), etc. My kids LIKE to do those things, so it isn’t seen as a punishment… but it gets the wiggles out, and I do it until they are a bit physically tired (not too tired of course… but not pent up with energy…) then go again. As we often do something active each day, they don’t even realize that it wasn’t the next thing on my plan anyway…
I have also heard of moms that get the kids doing housework (with the theory that if you don’t have an education, you better be ready to do some manual work…. but really it is good training, is also physically active, and can also get them motivated to do their schoolwork if they don’t like housework….
hope that helps!
We do stretching and jumping jacks to get the wiggles out before sitting down for a longer reading but if they are to active to sit still and it is more of a discipline thing and less of a “too young to sit for so long” thing, they get laps around the house. They don’t really see it as a punishment but they know it isn’t because I am pleased with their behavior! We have a mini tramp in the basement for bad weather. You are not alone and it is normal!
Thank you ladies! After teaching the older kids at church tonight, I’m thinking maybe there is something in the air today. They were completely wild tonight. We did not end up getting much school done today, but did get the “important” stuff done. Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely be using them next time we have a day like this (which I’m hoping is not tomorrow ;0) )
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