My 7yo daughter has a very hard time staying focused (schoolwork, chores etc). Her teachers have all commented on this and last year she routinely missed out on the educational games, free reading, and recess because she hadn't finished her seatwork. That is one reason we are homeschooling! She catches on quickly and is perfectly capable of doing the work, she just needs help staying on task. I have found she does well completing her work orally. She panics if I ask her to complete xyz on her own while I work with her brothers. Often for math I allow her to dictate to me and she does great. With new or difficult problems I walk her through the process but with others she can dictate each step to me or jump to the correct answer in her head. My question is am I helping or hurting her in the long run? I would eventually like her to be able to complete a few familiar problems on her own (stopping to ask me questions if needed) while I work with another child but right now she can't do anything unless I am working with her, not even if I am sitting right next to her but helping someone else. Any ideas strategies to help her? We haven't had luck with timers or something fun after she finishes.

Me! 30 weeks with #4. I didn't have any symptoms until about 8 weeks and they were mild so that worried me but so far everything is perfect! Congrats and best wishes to you!

Wow, that's amazing! Thank you for sharing your experience. I want to take a few months to establish our routine and work on these skills before we start exploring other options but it is encouraging to hear a success story. My completely uneducated opinion was that some families turn to medication as the easy way out when they don't want to put the effort into training, nutrition and other lifestyle modifications but I know from years of reading your posts that you are doing all of the above to ensure your kids thrive!

Thank you, thank you! I feel like I spend just as much time, if not more, teaching these skills as I do on actual academics. I absolutely agree that it is well worth my time if I want to educate more than one child. It is very encouraging to hear that even if the presence of neurodevelopmental challenges, which I suspect she may have, it is possible for her to learn to work for a 5 minutes with minimal refocusing. I am completely happy to answer questions. I do not want to be a nag. Thanks, Wendy! Now for the HOW

Thank you! This is what I am talking about. We are a long way off on most of these items. I have been working on the morning routine with all the kids (currently I am still in the room prompting for most steps) and want to expand the training into our school day.

This is our first year homeschooling and my oldest ( 7yo DD) has always had a hard time staying on task and doing things independently, not just schoolwork. I am making a big push right now to teach all the kids independence and responsibility in all areas before baby #4 comes but it would really benefit our school day as well. I am hoping to develop a routine where I can get the 7yo started on something and she can chug along while I work with my 5yo. She catches on quickly to math concepts but struggles to stay on task to complete practice problems. I would like her to be able to practice the recorder herself and do some copywork without constant prompting. All of her teachers (preK, K and 1st) have mentioned her trouble staying on task; it was a big issue last year in 1st grade. Anyone have suggestions on how to help her? Thank you!

So how much longer do I have? My kids are 7, 5, 3 and one on the way!

Local schools started this yesterday. I am 90% psyched NOT to be doing that this year (it is our first year homeschooling). I see friends posting pictures at the bus stop at 6:30am. No thank you, I was just being woken up by my 2 youngest who were climbing into my bed for morning snuggles. We went on a hike with friends, did reading, math, science, Bible, practiced music, did chores and spent much of the glorious fall day barefoot outside. Life is good 🙂 Still had some behavior issues to deal with but at least now we have a lifestyle that allows time to actually deal with it correctly. How are other homeschool moms feeling about school starting for everyone else?

Anyone generate income blogging? I am considering starting an academic blog geared towards exercise science majors (quite a niche, I know!) to introduce students to the current literature. To replace my current job I would need to make about $1000/month. I would absolutely be worthwhile even if I made nothing because it would keep me accountable for staying up to date on the happenings in my field while I'm home with the kids, which I have not done these past 7 years. I just don't see myself having time to do both. I would love to hear from anyone who has done this successfully!

Hmm... ok, it must be a personality thing that timers just don't work for them. We usually do a big pick up before we go outside after rest time and it can easily take them an hour to clean up books, markers, legos and dinosaurs (which I could do in 5 min, it's not that bad). I had to stop in the winter because we only have an hour of daylight after naps and I feel very strongly about them getting outside time. When they are hungry they get overwhelmed by the littlest things so before meals is even worse. They don't have a good enough sense of time to realize that if they take longer to clean up they have less time at the playground or whatever. I have my 7 yo do the math sometimes to figure out how long they have to play if it takes 10 min to clean up vs 1 hr but even she doesn't really know what 1 hr feels like vs 1 hr 50 min. The boys don't get it at all unless it gets to the point where we have to cancel the activity altogether. That is really unfortunate as often we are doing something that is beneficial to their well-being (library, outside) and I really want to do. Having new library books and plenty of outside time set them up for success the rest of the day.

Thanks! My 3 yo is a hard worker and probably has the best focus of any of them, even if there is no "why" or urgency. My 5 yo is lazy as all get out. He has many other wonderful qualities and in many ways is the easiest child but he would just lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling. I have to be right by his side helping him and nagging him for anything to happen. My 7 yo is capable but very distracted (we have not had her tested but I would not be surprised if she had a diagnosis) and also very sensitive to fairness issues, like if she is doing more work than her brothers and will stop if they aren't putting in equal effort. We usually don't have a ton of different toys out. Books, legos, markers and a bin of sea creatures are the only toys available on the main level of the house so that is what we are dealing with. I could clean it all up in 5 min flat if I did it myself so 3 kids working together should be able to do it in less than an hour, right??

Thanks! Do you have any punishment/reward system tied to the timer? My kids do not care one bit about timers if there is not a consequence for failing to do xyz before the timer beeps. It's not the kind of thing I want to spank for, a time out just wastes more time and losing TV can only happen once a day. Looking for other ideas! Thanks!

This summer is the first time in a while that we have spent so much time at home. It has been wonderful and I think it is what we need. However, we spend a ridiculous amount of time picking up, doing chores and activities of daily living, I am concerned about being able to get our work done. My kids are 7, 5 and 3. They are so distracted it takes them forever to get ready, the norm is about 40 min when I am standing over them, nagging, helping. Since I got pregnant I have really been on them about cleaning up after themselves, and they will if I stay on them, but they are very slow moving and constantly distracted. I also spend a lot of time correcting behavior and having them practice how to treat each other nicely. I am constantly interrupted when I am trying to make or clean up from meals, get myself ready, pack to go somewhere, set up an activity etc so it takes me a lot longer than it should, leaving them in "free play" for longer thus allowing time for more messes to be made. I think all this is very important and am glad we have the time at home to work on these skills but am concerned about being able to get much done once we start homeschooling in full swing. We have been doing some this summer but it's hard to imagine getting more done without sacrificing outside time or rest time. Any advice on helping them stay focused and move quickly would be appreciated! Or just encouragement that it is worth all this effort!

I am looking for read alouds for my 5 and 7 year olds that are set in Biblical times, picture books or chapter books, just something that helps bring the time period to life. Currently we are doing old testament but eventually I will want New Testament as well. Thank you!

As a follow- on to my last post.... Scrap the idea of having live-in child care (we really don't need that many hours), the local private school is looking for host families. Can anyone share their experiences? Things to think about? My kids are 7, 5, and 3 and another due in Dec. It is our first year homeschooling. I really like the idea of being able to expose my kids to other cultures as part of our homeschool experience and the stipend would allow me to not work if I didn't want to. I feel like the time we invest in a student would fit better into family life than my work schedule, but I have never had a teenager before let alone one from another country. Thoughts?

YES! We are 6 miles away from the state university and near the bus route. I went there and now teach there as an adjunct. Unfortunately they discontinued their childcare/classified page so while I am sure there is someone out there I am having a hard time finding the right place to look.

Our community is looking for host families and we do have an office that could be converted to a bedroom. The website also had a link to au pairs and that option is really appealing to me because we are having baby #4 next fall and it will be my first year homeschooling. But we don't need 45 hrs a week and couldn't pay the $350/week. Is there a lesser option? I would be more than happy to provide room and board for 5-10 hrs a week and she could work/study elsewhere the rest of the time.

Thanks! Do you have a favorite you can recommend?

Well, yes. That was a big issue with my first especially because she was the most difficult but with subsequent babies it was fine. He would take the older one(s) and I would do the baby. Like for bedtime, he would rather put the big kids to bed than deal with a cranky baby and I was happy to have that time to just snuggle the baby, go out for a walk etc.

Yeah, pretty much! The gym issue is pretty much the only "con" on my pros/cons list about having another baby. The past several years working at home I either had all kids napping or 1 or 2 at school so at most I had one kid with me while I worked out. Next year we are homeschooling and I don't think any of the older kids will still be napping. I can have them do rest time but that is also my chance to get done all the other things

I took 6 years off from teaching and just worked out at home. Now I teach at 5:30am (and only once a week) so the kids are still in bed and my husband is home. The other days I bring them or workout at home.

Thanks for the encouragement! I wouldn't do it every day. I can tough it out through interruptions etc several days a week but it would be great to get two days at the gym. My husband doesn't do babies. They are pretty much all mine for the first year. But on the weekends he would watch the other kids if I could get the baby down for a nap or took the baby running with me.

I was a fitness instructor before having kids, worked out at home for 6 years then joined the gym last school year. I still do half my workouts at home. I only teach one day a week and that is at 5:30 am so I don't bring the kids. I will not be teaching that early with a new baby so either I will take time off until the baby is sleeping well or switch to a later class.

We will be doing pre K, K and 2nd grade math. Do I need the teacher's Manuals? Do I even need the textbook or can I get away with just the workbooks?

So... I am giving this way too much thought but if my other kids are still in contact with the masses and then are all over the baby, what's the difference? We are doomed!