5LittleMonkeys Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) Three girls, 12, 11 and 7. The two oldest are best friends. Their silliness during school today is so distracting and time-consuming that I'm having a hard time keeping my cool. They are right now working on history summaries that should have been worked on at 1 but because of their behavior its now 2:30 and they are just now getting to it. They are upset because we should be done by 2:30 and they still have another hour of work to complete. :confused: I don't want to squash their enthusiasm and I don't want them to think that I want our school time to be somber and ultra-serious but I'm apparently having a hard time getting them to understand moderation. I have said at least 5 times today, "Okay, its great to have some fun but lets stop the silliness and get back on task." This is not an everyday occurrence but when it does happen it seems nothing will keep it in check except me coming completely unglued and going into a rant. Which I always try very hard not to do. I haven't really considered it misbehaving (they aren't being bad) until today. No matter what I have said they are still, even now, being silly and not getting their work done. They broke into signing the oompa-loompa song and then I snapped and told them that they both just lost their screen time for the day. I wouldn't care except that I can't be finished until they are! They still are whispering and giggling and not focusing at all on what they are doing. I had to walk away. I've tried really hard to temper this type of behavior and as I said, I have tried to be nice about it and explain that a little silliness is fine. I myself have been silly many times in the course of teaching something, but it seems they are incapable of reigning it in once they've started down that path. So I'm thinking maybe I'm looking at this wrong. I think maybe I need to treat the silliness the same as I would treat them smarting off or talking back. Should I look at this as disobeying once I've asked them to stop? What would\do you do with this kind of behavior? Edited to add: it was 2:30 when I first began typing this. It is now 3:09 because the whispering and giggling escalated into a burping contest ( yes, I'm so proud of my dainty little ladies) I made them both sit in silence while they wrote and I had to stand over the top of them to keep them quite! These girls are 11 and 12! Edited August 13, 2010 by 5LittleMonkeys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 :grouphug: I'm right there with ya! Except here the burping is usually followed by tooting! Lovely. :glare: TGIF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 :grouphug: I'm right there with ya! Except here the burping is usually followed by tooting! Lovely. :glare: TGIF! Yes, well that's usually reserved for after dinner...they have their standards after all. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Yes, well that's usually reserved for after dinner...they have their standards after all. :001_huh: :lol: Where's the laughing guy w/his fist pounding the table? That's the one I need! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I give them a 15 minute break to regroup and then separate them while they finish work. Have you tried one of those desk separator things? The name is slipping my mind. But, you use one of those Science Fair presentation boards and they decorate it. Then they work behind it. That way you can have more than one child at a table, but they aren't looking at each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatCyndiGirl Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Can you separate them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denisemomof4 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 it's good they're your girls and not mine, because I'm probably one of the goofiest adults ever. BUT, two things. First, I *always* separated my boys. If they were doing their schoolwork near each other, it would be hard for them to concentrate, and even harder not to talk to each other, or in SOME way distract each other. Also, it's WONDERFUL that they actually have the opportunity to do this. If they are near each other and the sillies start, tell them they have 15 - 20 minutes to get their sillies out and then you expect them to get back to work, FOCUS, and get it done. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 My thought is that they can work on their own in separate rooms at that age. Its not nearly as much fun to be silly be yourself :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I'd give them a couple of clear warnings/chances, and if it got out of hand again after their last "chance" was used up, they'd have to be separated for X amount of time, or for the rest of that particular assignment, or whatever works for you. Make sure they are perfectly clear on the procedure ahead of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 Well, I teach them most of their subjects together so I've always had them together...they do everything together(even share a room). I'm having a duh moment here because it never even dawned on me to separate them! They are almost like Siamese twins! They will probably go into withdrawals if I separate them but I bet it will work! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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