Emilee!!!  

Posted by cokelady

What do you do with all of your little people while you're trying to do school with the older ones?!

I know we've discussed this before, but I'm at a loss. Sam is doing well with his letter pages and such, but that only lasts for so long. He's sped through a whole lot of tracing and "color the pictures that start with 't'" pages before Katie and Joe are even on their second subject. With the two of them I can usually find some work that one of them can do solo while I'm lending assitance to the other one, but what in the world am I supposed to do with Sam?! He's a man of action and sitting still with a book or Lego's might last for an hour... but only when he's in one of those moods, you know?! He's also the class clown, which doesn't help matters. He gets great joy from trying to distract the others, especially if he can get a laugh out of it. I can't keep him quiet and away from "school" once he's finished his own because he wants to be playing cowboys or Star Wars with Joe. I told him this morning that he either had to go play quietly in his room or go outside. He opted for outside, but then I noticed Katie and Joe looking over their shoulders and giggling. Sam was standing on the bench outside the front window, singing and dancing. !!! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO TO KEEP HIM OCCUPIED AND ALLOW THE OTHERS A CHANCE TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING?!
Help me!!!

I decided to throw this on the blog instead of an e-mail to Em, hoping that perhaps some other Moms out there might have some good suggestions. The only thing I feel fairly certain might work is to tie him up and gag him and throw him in a closet for an hour or two. I don't feel right about doing that... but I might by next week! Ha!

What am I supposed to DO with this???




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16 comments

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! Oh, Sam, what a little turkey.

Know what I'd do with kids in my class who tried to act this way? I'd let them do a research project on any subject they wanted. Had a kid one year do a really neat paper on Blackbeard because he was soooo into pirates. Well, I know Sam is too young to write a research paper BUT maybe he could work on a diarama about a favorite book he's read. Give him a shoe box and a bunch of junk from around the house (pieces of material, cotton balls, paper clips, straws, twigs and leaves and stuff from outside, etc.) and tell him to be as creative as possible to make a scene from the book. Might want to send him in a different room to work on it nad check on him several times. (Threaten Principal Dad if he moves out of the spot.) When he's finished, he can present his diarama to the class by telling about his book, describing the scene, and telling how he "built" his diarama.

Either that or send him to Principal Dad. ;-)

Or collages are also great. Give him a posterboard and some old magazines and let him cut out pictures that say something about who he is--his favorite things. This is actually something all your kids would enjoy and could do together so you could supervise the cutting and gluing part of such an endeavor. ;-)

Very good ideas Amy.
I don't have any children , but I know Sam and I would just him to principal dad, HA!!! Like Amy said. Maybe James will do schooling w/Sam while you work with the other two....you never know.

Very cute pictures of Sam by the way...HA!!!

Send the little dude to me, we'll go bear hunting

Anonymous  

Wow, I like Bro. Ray's idea!
Maddie usually does a few pages, then we've got a few videos that teach her letter sounds, how to write the letters and numbers with adding. Those are about 30 min. She is usually looking at books during the video, we just hope the subliminal messaging gets in there!
She also has games she plays on the computer. There is one web site we really like. It is www.starfall.com
it has great phonics on there. They can do games and it will read them a story. Of course, Maddie is not Sam. She is a girl and I know that does make a difference.
Hope that helps, I know Em HAS to have great ideas for that!

He's only FOUR years old! (Isn't he? . . . I lost track of all the grandkids) Besides that, he's a BOY and we all know boys don't mature as quickly as girls. I know you're more concerned right now about preventing him from disturbing the older kids than you are about his education. I have no suggestions in that regard, other than Brother Ray's. :-) Of course my first thought was, "Send him to ME!" Since Brother Ray's and my suggestion aren't feasible, well, you're on your own, kid. He's just TOO ornery! How about duct tape?

I was thinking he was five, going on six for some reason. (Is he at least almost five?) Well, in that case, not sure I'd put him to the task of a diarama, (a little too tedious for his age) BUT maybe he could build something with similar objects. A robot? Another costume of some sort? A racecar? Or how about Play Doh? He could make things out of that. I'd still let the kids do the collages if you have old magazines and you're up for it. That'd be fun for them all. And Sam would feel
"included" in part of the school day.

Other than that, I think the educational videos and/or computer games may capture his attention and supplement his phonics, etc.

Wow, so many great ideas! THANKS!

Amy, you are REALLY GOOD! Sam would LOVE to do the shoebox thing. We just bought a pair of shoes last week and I thought about saving the box, then decided "Nah, we won't use it for anything." Maybe I can cut one side out of a cereal box or something. Sam cuts and pastes ALL THE TIME--he loves scissors, construction paper and glue sticks. If I find a few other odds and ins to throw in--along with a GOAL ("Make a pirate scene for me, Sam!")--that SHOULD keep him happy and quiet for a decent amount of time. I'll give it a try!

Tammy, when the shoebox gets old, Sam will be sent to Principal Dad. ;-) I like this pictures, too. They're so SAM!

Raymone! A comment!!! Wa-Hoo!!! As for the bear hunting... by the end of the day Sam would be riding the bear and you'd be hanging upside down by your toes from a tree. YOU DON'T KNOW SAM! Ha!

Lib, THANK YOU! I looked at that website last night and I think Sam will really enjoy fiddling around with it a little bit. We've allowed him to sit in front of the computer for the first time here this past week (if you can't tell, we don't trust this kid just a whole lot!) and he seemed to do pretty well.

Mom, you would have soooooo much fun with Sam... for the first three days! Ha! You'd have him in a box back to New Mexico pretty quick! You're right, I'm not nearly as concerned with his schooling as I am with the OTHER kids being able to do school, even with Sam living in the same house. ;-)

Amy, Sam will be 5 in November. He does fine with scissors and glue (on a covered surface!) and I absolutely DETEST Play Doh, so we'll stick with the first plan!

One other option is to save the subjects that you really need to work with Katie and Joe on for the afternoon while Sam is having his quiet time. A lot of great ideas presented here. I wish you the best and will be praying that you find the right fit for your crew.

Wow! Amy's ideas are great!
We're having the same trouble here except my problem isn't old enough to use scissors and glue. He just runs around wreaking havoc on the house. When Luke was Sam's age, he spent a lot of his school time on the computer playing learning games. There's a website I've used called starfall.com. It's good for letter recogintion and reading preparation. Abbie and Luke liked it.

My only other suggestion is... send Sam outside when he gets done with his work. That's what I used to do when Caleb and Luke were finishing long before Nathan did.

Good luck!

Popular subject.Good job Bec. Lots of great comments. I will be praying for you and Sam.

Becki
I know what you mean about trying to work with the older ones while trying to help the little ones. My Rebekah is in first grade and Bethany is in 6th, I usually get Bethany going on her Science or Health because it requires alot of reading, so while she is doing that I work with Rebekah on her workbooks, then when I have to give my attention to Bethany I let Rebekah play educational games on the computer or just play around.

He's just tooo cute to tie up!

Surely there are other mom's on the internet with the same problem. You could probably google:"how to keep younger children occupied during homeschooling" and go from there.

I didn't start homeschool until my youngest was in 8th grade...so I dunno ;)

You know what Jackson LOVES? Mazes!!! I found some really cute ones online (help the bunny get to his carrot, etc.)

You might try that.

Hi Bec! Wow! Lots of schooling fun. Andy drives the other 3 crazy with saying "A says .... B says... C says....." Sometimes I have to send him to the other room. But I school a little different. Twins have 3 subjects of their own.Beth has 2. Then we have 2 we all do together. I really really like that for our family. I think that Andy picks up a lot that way without me "trying" to teach him. Sounds like Amy and Em had some good ideas !!!! I might have to try some with Andy and Beth :)
OH..... BTW I did post new photos!!!!! Love ya