I'm a bit irritated right now. I have a 4 and an almost 6 year old. Whenever I try to do a lesson with them together they always start goofing off! So far I have only done a 5 min lesson and they are misbehaving so much! However when I read to them at night they are quiet and listen, what gives?
Kids like to push boundaries. At night if they goof off, you just shut the book and they go to bed. It doesn't work that way with school work.
Maybe it would be a good idea to give them an incentive. If they set nicely through the lessons, then before lunch you'll do XYZ. If they get 3 strikes, then that doesn't get done. If they need a bit more of a push. IF they don't get to do XYZ, it means they have to sit in corners away from each other for the 15 minutes you could have been doing the fun thing.
Quoting mem82:
Kids like to push boundaries. At night if they goof off, you just shut the book and they go to bed. It doesn't work that way with school work.
Maybe it would be a good idea to give them an incentive. If they set nicely through the lessons, then before lunch you'll do XYZ. If they get 3 strikes, then that doesn't get done. If they need a bit more of a push. IF they don't get to do XYZ, it means they have to sit in corners away from each other for the 15 minutes you could have been doing the fun thing.
thank you! Thats a great idea :)
Quoting pixydustmommy:
How is the seating arrangement? My 2 youngest are 7 and almost 5, I sit between them....they can see each other, but it would be really hard to goof off with me right there in between them.
It would be better for mine to not see eachother. As soon as they have eye contact they start cracking up! :p
I sat them beside eachother and put a cardboard divider between the two of them then taught from across the table where they could both see me but not pick on eachother. It really bugged them! LOL and they had to. EARN having it taken down by good behavior. It only was up a couple days.
Quoting oredeb:
how long have you been reading to both of them at night? We read about 3-6 books usually
and how long have you been teaching them together at school time? We haven't started out official schooling quite yet, but I have slowly been starting to get us on track, so all we have done is one lesson that would normally take 5 minutes, but turns into 15 because they keep messing around.
what about dad talking to them? Well, it could work I guess. The lesson we have started was reading a short bible story. DH is athiest and not keen on homeschooling (he is agreeing because I do not like the school district we are in). But he still expects them to listen to me whether or not he agrees.
sometimes it takes a bit of time getting use to something new
I also found I can not let them sit on the same side of the table from each other or they will pick at one another. They set across from each other and I sit at the end of the table(between them)
Good luck mama.
The Book Challenge
- Precious333
on Aug. 7, 2012 at 12:43 PM