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Do you restrict break time during the school day?


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I usually let DS do whatever he wants during breaks. He tends to play with his toys or Legos and does stop playing soon after I tell him it's time to work again. I do have directed breaks for therapy or chores too but usually free time too. I only allow directed screen time during school (brain pop, computer read alouds, etc).

 

Today DS was playing with a new toy in a creative way that broke it (after I warned he shouldn't do it because it may break). The school day was over the minute it happened because of emotional fragility. I don't like restricting how he plays with toys often unless he's being destructive, which he wasn't.

 

Now I'm thinking I won't allow playing with toys during school except directed therapy toys/games but it sounds controlling to me, especially as I must control so much of what is happening in his life because of safety or whatever other reasons. Does this sound reasonable to restrict?

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I dunno, it sounds like a learning experience itself.  Can he have input in what happens given that he himself knows that the rest of day can be thrown off by something like this?

 

I thought you were going to ask about breaks that go on and on, or the "need" for breaks that comes shortly after starting...   I do think that restrictions of some sort are likely to be needed, but not playing with toys during school does sound like it might be too much of a control.  More reasonable to me seems maybe something like a one week ban on playing with any type of thing that results in lost school time--thus giving him a chance to learn more self regulation about the sorts of things that happen.

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I restrict break time to no breaks.  We took/take breaks by switching to a different type of work.  I also schedule tasks so that the most demanding occur first thing and the least demanding and most enjoyed occur at the end of the day.

 

I started doing this with my older son when he was 7yo.  He is 2E and has/had dyslexia, ADHD, and various sensory issues.  I found that breaks were more trouble than they were worth and what he really needed was a change of pace or focus.

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For us I think it just happened the stars were aligning negatively. I used to think DS needed breaks but I now wonder if switching subjects would be better or just transitioning to a therapy. Usually we break for long work periods, or after super hard subjects (writing). We get interrupted by DD often so those become breaks for DS but I'm trying to minimize that this year with some independent work for DS and DD ready to prevent that and change our routine too.

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For us I think it just happened the stars were aligning negatively. I used to think DS needed breaks but I now wonder if switching subjects would be better or just transitioning to a therapy. Usually we break for long work periods, or after super hard subjects (writing). We get interrupted by DD often so those become breaks for DS but I'm trying to minimize that this year with some independent work for DS and DD ready to prevent that and change our routine too.

 

I found that alternating OT or VT homework with school worked well (as long as the therapy work wasn't taxing).

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Since you have a meltdown SN kid, I think it is fine to restrict activities in order to make the best use of your school time/day.  As someone who has lost countless half days to school after meltdowns, I know how frustrating and pointless that is.  My best strategy with my SN kid when he was younger was to feed, read aloud, then complete the heavy academics early.  We didn't really take breaks until the heavy academics were done.  It was easier and worked better to power through.  Not sure if this is an option for your child.

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 Now I'm thinking I won't allow playing with toys during school except directed therapy toys/games but it sounds controlling to me, especially as I must control so much of what is happening in his life because of safety or whatever other reasons. Does this sound reasonable to restrict?

 

 

It sounds perfectly reasonable to limit or restrict what he plays with during school time. Think of what it would be like if he attended a traditional school.  While homeschoolers can adjust to what best fits our particular child or family's needs instead of rules to control a whole classroom of children, we need to establish some house rules and guidelines to facilitate our children's education. 

 

I'll add what we do to help answer the thread question: Yes, we restrict breaks, but we do take them. Some breaks are built-in, like after lunch we go outside to play. Many of the school materials we work with fall along the lines of educational toys, like math manipulatives or puzzles, etc.. During times when I read aloud, I permit quiet play or coloring.  We got a small trampoline for one child, who used it frequently between subjects or when he just had excess energy. (He's a teenage now and uses it far less frequently. Things change as they get older.) Particularly with my younger children, play is structured into our school day, but it's not "free play" until their school work is completed.  

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You could think of it more positively instead of negatively.  Instead of "you may not play with this," make a page of all the CHOICES *you* are cool with and let him choose.  Or even at the beginning of the day give him 3 break coupons, saying he can choose from the page each time.  (That's what we're going to now.)  Or schedule in breaks.  I do schedule in breaks (snack, quiet time, etc.), but those are more like our flow to the day.  The break coupons are what ds can just select and say I need a break NOW.  And then he can pick a thing from the page and use the timer to know how long.  That's the structure we're working on.  

 

He also has a leisure card as part of his choice cards for the day.  Hmm, do you notice a theme here?  Choice, lol.  Anyways, try more positive.  Like it had not occurred to me to put a cover over the table where all my open toy bins are and put a STOP sign on them.  Like, duh, I don't need to hide them in some closet where *I* forget even, lol.  I just need a structure that tells us from 8-3 those things are closed and after 3 they're available again, kwim?  And that's really specific to each person's house.  I'm just saying working through that thought process helped me.  It's tricky because we have toys and educational things, and we don't necessarily want them accessing all those things all day long even though we have them out in plain view.  That's where the simple idea of a STOP sign placed on a bookcase or shelf made a lot of sense to me.

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