mommyto4 Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I am on Week Three of home schooling and am wondering if the tantrums over having to do lessons will ever stop. We wre doing so well today, but then my oldest son flipped out when I asked him to write something. Pencils were flying, tears were streaming down his face.... Sigh. I will keep trying to find ways to motivate the kids, but I guess I want to know if there is an end to this or at least a reduction as time goes on. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tissakay Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 (edited) I'm not sure of the solution, yet. I'm dealing with the same situation. Last night at the grocery store I let DD 7 pick out a bunch of candy and cola. these are not normally availabe at our house. I told her that if she completes her lessons in a timely manner with out any outbursts she may choose one item from the box that day. She was finished today by noon! I'm not sure if this will be a long term solution, but I'm hoping that it will help. Tonja Edited September 9, 2010 by tissakay mistake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipling Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I had this problem with my oldest last year (she was 6). I dealt with it by telling her, "Obviously, you are too tired to do school. You need to go back to bed." I then sent her back to bed (with no books or toys, etc) for 20 minutes or so and then restarted the day. The first few times I did this, I had to send her back a couple of times before she was ready to do school. We didn't shorten the amount of school we did, so the extra rest time cut into her play time that she would have had later in the day. I don't think we have had any tantrums this year (so far), and definitely had fewer by the end of last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie in Oh Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 that would help us to know how to deal. If it is 12 yos breaking down, that is completely different than 6 yos. KWIM? Also, did you pull them out of school or is this all they know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrsjamiesouth Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I had to get real tough with my ds10 at the end of last year. I ended up giving him instructions and walking away. If he didn't finish by lunch (with at least math and grammar) then he didn't eat. As soon as he finished those 2 subjects he could eat. My ds does not want to go to school, so over the summer we had a talk about school. I explained that being homeschooled is a privalege (sp?) and having lessons was the law. It is the law for them to be learning from somebody. I am not going to wreck my day and fight with you over it. Your choices are do it for me without complaint or you can go to school and sit in a desk all day. Before school started I reminded him of this, and so far no complaints. We are done most days by 1pm, and we don't start before 9am. He went to public school for K-1st grade so he knows how much nicer our days are now. I also spent time researching his learning style and finding a curriculum that would work best with him and me. I am guilty of adding in too much extras, so this year I kept it to bare minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicalTwins Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I am on Week Three of home schooling and am wondering if the tantrums over having to do lessons will ever stop. We wre doing so well today, but then my oldest son flipped out when I asked him to write something. Pencils were flying, tears were streaming down his face.... Sigh. I will keep trying to find ways to motivate the kids, but I guess I want to know if there is an end to this or at least a reduction as time goes on. Thanks! We added a clock to our room where we do school. I think we have been guilty of doing one thing for tooo long since my dh (he does it on days when I am at work) and I have no idea what time it is while we are doing school. If they are young then 15-20 mins/subject is about all they can take. We also take short wiggle breaks in between subjects if they want and it seems to be helping......today, tomorrow may be a whole new story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 One suggestion I have would be to evaluate the work that is triggering the tantrums. Do the assignments reflect skills that they can complete and experience success? Is it possible that the assignments are too difficult or too broad or too vague for them to feel confident in what they are doing? Many kids will have meltdowns when their workload and abilities do not match. Is it possible that the writing assignment was on a topic that needed to be narrowed down into something more manageable or perhaps he needed more specific information on the topic so that he felt he knew the subject matter? Perhaps breaking the assignment into smaller steps would have created less resistance? (for example......brainstorming, word mapping, topic sentence, outlining, etc?) I have no idea if that might be the case or not......just thought I might offer it as an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnemom Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 My oldest is only 5, but I have noticed than any time I am experience behavior problems with her (tantrums, uncooperativeness, whatever), it is much more effective to find and treat the source. In general, it is because of her not getting enough sleep, or not getting to bed early enough. Some of the time it has been caused by too little structure or too much time "on the go," with not enough down time. Other times it has been too much time with grandparents spoiling her. I am no expert in parenting, but I frequently see parents whose kids are acting out and as I talk to them I realize they are letting their kids stay up until 10 pm and eating pop tarts for breakfast (or something along those lines). Or they drag their kids around all day, to the gym, the library, out to lunch, to grandma's house, etc. Which might be fine for some kids but for a child who is introverted, this would take a toll. I think many kids need more structure, routine, and predictability than we parents give them these days. So my point is take a look at what is going on in your life and see if there is something there that could be a trigger and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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