OH Lori Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 This is the first boy I've home-educated. His four older sisters are much calmer and more attentive than he is. It wouldn't be so bad if one of his older sisters wasn't his twin. When I sit down to do school with them, he interrupts and distracts/disrupts for 5 minutes out of each 10 minute session. At least. I am so very frustrated with him. Please, you moms of boys, please give me some tips here. And be aware that my hubby is of the opinion that they have to actually do schoolwork rather than be unschooled. Not that there are probably very many unschooled classical educators, but just thought I'd make that plain. Thanks, OH Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 How old is he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OH Lori Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 How old is he? Sorry, he's 6, 1st gradish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn in OH Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Well he sounds like a perfectly happy, healthy, well adjusted 6 year old boy! My only suggestion is short lessons and frequent "bouncing breaks". That's what I had to do with my boy. He needed frequent physical activity sessions to be able to sit and be focused for 15 minutes. Ask him to not interrupt you during the lesson and ask all his questions after you have said what you need to say. This may or may not work. Other than that, attentiveness and the ability to sit still do get slightly better each year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stansclan89 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I have b/g twins also :) The only way I could school with ds9 when he was that age was to do his completely separately from dd9. I had/have to find something for ds9 to be doing while I am working with his sister. It wasn't easy. I had him at that age play educational computer games. Or not educational games. It wasn't what I really wanted him to be doing, but it was the only thing I could find that he would do and leave us alone. Now I have him do his chores, but at the age of 6 he wouldn't stick with the chores and leave us alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookfiend Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 My suggestion is don't try to teach him to read for another year unless he is specifically initiating the process. A thirty minute run outside first thing in the morning (before school) is very calming, repeat at lunch and at 2:00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Based on Faith Academy Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 If you figure out a way to get your son to pay more attention please let me know,lol. I have been teaching my son for six years and he still has a tendency to get side tracked very easily. Between my son and myself we found out that the best time he works is when his sister is napping. Then it is quiet time. This though did not happen until about two years ago when he finally felt he did not need a nap anymore. Before that he was easily distracted no matter what. In order for us to work together I must have something quiet for his sister to do separately in another room. Even before his sister was born he had a hard time concentrating. One of the biggest helps this past two years is that his father who is not living with us, has finally taken an initiative in helping with the consequences of failure to do his work. He knows that if he goes to see his dad on the weekends and he has not completed his work for the week, then he will have his privileges taken away. I wish you all the luck. Wish I could be more helpful. Christina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 (edited) This is the first boy I've home-educated. His four older sisters are much calmer and more attentive than he is. It wouldn't be so bad if one of his older sisters wasn't his twin. When I sit down to do school with them, he interrupts and distracts/disrupts for 5 minutes out of each 10 minute session. At least. I am so very frustrated with him. Please, you moms of boys, please give me some tips here. And be aware that my hubby is of the opinion that they have to actually do schoolwork rather than be unschooled. Not that there are probably very many unschooled classical educators, but just thought I'd make that plain. Thanks, OH Lori A few things: I've found that my boys can usually either sit still or learn. So I have to let them wiggle and figit, or even stand if they want. Visually, it drives me insane. If we are working in a group (instead of 1:1), they have to raise their hand if they want to comment. It sounds schoolish, but 5 boys can easily get out of control, especially as they get older and are truly funny and make me laugh and then they try to out-funny each other. I'll often ask them if their comment is related to what I'm teaching, and greater than 50% (I'd guess even closer to 75%) of the time it's not so they aren't allowed to make it. When they are doing independent work, they each have a help tag. Each boy has a laminated card that says "Help!" with a clip on it. When they have a question, instead of interrupting while I'm working with someone else, they are supposed to bring the tag and either clip it on me or place it on my desk, and when I have a minute I answer their question. They know to keep working on whatever they can until I am able to help them. It's not a perfect system, but it helps. We don't believe in delaying academics here, and at age 5 my boys are required to do lessons, but I do keep the lessons short and pay attention to their cues. Edited October 5, 2010 by JudoMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 My mom didn't homeschool us, but she had 4 girls, then she had my brother. She said parent/teacher conferences were a whole different story when it came to my brother! She was not prepared for how different boys are! Both my boys are fidgety and interrupt me every 5 seconds. I let them stand or kneel to do work because it seems to help. We are working on not interrupting so much, but it seems they can't help it much of the time. We intersperse lots of physical activity in with the school work, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OH Lori Posted October 7, 2010 Author Share Posted October 7, 2010 Thank you all for your help! I'm trying to remember that he needs A LOT of activity. Telling them BOTH that they couldn't ask irrelevant questions really helped tremendously today. And remembering that I would have to think outside my little box helped today. The boy was having issues with keeping on task with his reading. Writing it on the driveway and having him bounce through it helped a lot! Thank you all again! Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Cute picture! :) I have a very active, fidgety 7yo boy. Here are some things that work for us (not perfectly, but they do buy me more "teaching time"): - Let him run around/get some exercise in the morning before lessons start. - Have a healthy snack available at the table where you're doing lessons, preferably with some protein since it tends to have a calming effect. Mine likes to constantly jump up to go get a snack - if I have it ready at the table, that eliminates that problem. - Provide manipulatives that don't interrupt the lesson. For example, yesterday I let DS string beads onto pipe cleaners while we did the first part of our lessons where all he had to do was listen - he sat still for at least 30 min. - Frequent active breaks (playing outside, etc.) - the key is to make sure he's active on his breaks rather than sitting down. - Keep each individual lesson fairly short and to the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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