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Truly, Homeschool Moms, what happens when you leave the house and leave


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your 11-15yo children (with appropriate aged babysitter is needed) to do their school work?

 

IOW, you have a doctor's appt or a 1-2hour errand to run. Not much gets done at my house when I leave my 13.5yod and my 11.5yos home alone to do their math, spelling, etc. They know what to do - but they don't do it.

 

Instead, they usually talk, visit, dilly-dally, procrastinate OR read a novel or other nonschool book. They have been known to even turn on the Wii or a video. Btw, I live out of town and so they usually are left for at least 2 hours when I have a daytime errand or appt. to run.

 

Usually I leave a schedule, like, "Okay, I'll be back in 2 hours. Do your spelling til 10 a.m., then take a 10minute break with the timer and then do math til about 12Noon when I'll be back....."

 

LMK the scoop?

Lisaj

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Ooh, I should have mentioned, I have 5 kids. Currently only 3 are hsing, so I usually take the 8yob with me. I found consistently taking 5 with me a bit over the top stress-wise if I had doctor and such appointments. Also, most of my (maybe 1x a week during the day) trips to town are 3-4 hours....

 

However, even in the past, with olders, the work output really went waaaay down when I was gone. Even tho it meant they had to do it later.

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Mine don't do their work while I am gone, either (except my very enthusiastic eight-year-old who can't get enough of school).

 

Sometimes I take them with me if at all possible. They bring their assignments.

 

Sometimes, they will work if I leave a strong enough motivation:

Either have this assignment done before I return at noon, or add an extra assignment, or extra chore, or loss of privilege, or whatever it is that works.

If the work is done, perhaps they earn a reward or privilege (invite a friend over, or a family outing, picnic, movie night at home, etc.--it doesn't need to be expensive).

 

Sometimes, the threat of homework while everyone else has fun, or fear of Daddy's discipline and wrath, is enough. Making Daddy the bad guy (school principal and disciplinarian) works well here.

 

I have to be sure one is assigned to little ones, or a rotation outlined, or all will use the toddler as their excuse for not working.

 

The best solution, though, is to plan my errands and necessary outings outside of school time. Perhaps we have a Saturday school day or evening school time to make up for a vacation day when Mom is not available to supervise.

 

Good luck with your own solutions!

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My DS12 does his school work if I am not home.

 

He knows what is assigned. He knows if he gets it done he can have his free time. He knows I will check when I get home, and it is not done, or being worked on, then possible grounding would occur (if the work was not done, and he was reading/video game/etc).

 

Granted, in this scenario you described, he would be home alone with no other distractions, ie sibling because my younger two are too young to be left home.

 

But for the most part, I schedule those type of appointments for the afternoon, when he would mostly be done with this schoolwork anyway, if at all possible.

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My kids are a bit younger (8 and 9). They get left with my 16 year old brother occasionally. I tell them that it is their responsibility to get things done while I am gone and not his responsibility to keep them on task. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. They won't play video games or anything but they will simply goof off and play. I try to plan any errands for lunch time, so they can eat and play and hopefully start reading before I get back (I will text my brother at 1 to tell him to remind them.) :) Reading time when I'm not there involves more goofing off than when I am there, which confuses me because I don't really have to keep on their case most days when I am there. :confused::)

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Well, not much would get done. But then again, I recall in public school if the teacher left the room all work would stop, too. ;-)

I would try and not run errands during school hours. Even if the kids did not NEED me, I needed them to KNOW I was there.

 

Doctor stuff - if is not to often, just schedule schoolwork around the appointment. If they decide they'd rather get their work done while you are gone (to have free time later) that would be a good idea on their part (and then you could praise their maturity for not needing you in hover mode to get their work done!)

Edited by JFSinIL
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Mine get it done. I have a very compliant 10 yr old--she works thru a list no problem when I'm not here (now it's ps homework and chores/music practice, not homeschooling).

I'd often leave ds21 home with work when he was in high school, and trust him to complete it. Most of the time, he'd do so.

 

Maybe it's the fact that there are two of your kids, kinda close together in age?

 

You'll find a solution--either make compliance really rewarding, or make non-compliance really uncomfortable.

 

Or change what you require.

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The 14.5 year old will have it done and most likely lunch made and a plan for supper. :001_huh: She's just like that. I'm just grateful. She'd make an hour by hour schedule for ME with a checklist if she could.

 

 

The 11yo would have it half done, with the good intention of having it all done, but would have an interesting story of how he got sidetracked with a good joke to make me forgive him at the end. :D

 

They are very different people.

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My DS12 does his school work if I am not home.

 

He knows what is assigned. He knows if he gets it done he can have his free time. He knows I will check when I get home, and it is not done, or being worked on, then possible grounding would occur (if the work was not done, and he was reading/video game/etc).

Same here. My dc (two are graduated now) always have/had an assignment list for the week. If I go out, they did their work because otherwise they lost out on free time later. Or if I was annoyed enough, they might lose out on more.

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My oldest would usually get her reading done, but not much else.

 

My middle works diligently whether I am there or not, but I do have to make sure to tell her to switch to something else before she gets too frustrated. She's my Aspie and will get extremely frustrated when she doesn't understand something and she has a hard time making herself move on to something else when that happens and I'm not home to help her.

 

My youngest will do reading and guitar practice on her own, but nothing else will get done unless I'm home.

 

I usually try to schedule things for early morning (so that I'm back by 10:30am) or for mid-afternoon or later (2pm or later). Those are the times that work best around here. My youngest is the only one I have to keep on track. Her first 1.5 hours is all stuff that she does on her own, so I can be gone during that time with no problems. She's done with school between 1:30 and 2:30, so any time after that is fine.

Edited by AngieW in Texas
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Well my daughter is only 10 but I don't usually expect her to do school while I'm gone. If I'd had time to get her started on something she can do independently before I leave, I'd probably say "finish this and then you can go do your own thing" or I might tell her to read some of her book (whatever she happens to be reading independently at the time) but that's about it. It seems easier to be there to supervise it myself.

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I only have one, and I don't leave him home alone during school hours on a regular basis. When I do, I make it clear that if he wishes to have the freedom to stay home alone during school hours then he must have enough responsibility to complete his work. I must remind him every time. He has lost the freedom on occasion. He hates running errands with me.

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Mine does her work. On the other hand, if her dad is home . . . Nothing gets done! :glare:

:iagree:My girls will do their work if I leave them alone or babysitting their 3 year old brother. But if Daddy is home, forget it! He's like a 13 year old boy in scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck.

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Mine do their work.

They know the wrath of mom would rain down on them if they didn't.

:D

 

What she said. For us, it's the same as it would be if I told them to do anything else...if they didn't do as I asked, there would be consequences. I do leave them at home quite often while they are working, and it still gets done.

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My kiddos (13 & 11) get their school work done when I'm out because they know the consequences of NOT doing it! The one and only time they did not do what I assigned, I gave them double work for homework that night. i.e "Didn't do your math? Okay, you can do it now and then do an extra lesson tonight for homework." I don't think I'll ever have to worry about it again.

 

Signed, Mean Mom

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Mine wouldn't work if I left the room, let alone the house. Thats how I developed a WTM board addiction. We all had our desks in the living area and I paid bills and surfed the net, and came here, so that I coudl stay in the room with them and keep them focused.

 

Its just the way it is. Sometimes i gave consequences but I also just rarely scheduled appointments or shopping in the mornings. Mornings were sacredly protected to do school.

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I have two kids, 10 and 6. I have to leave twice a week to take the 6 year old to our local ps for speech therapy, OT and PT. I can be gone for about 2 hours. We started doing this in september. My 10 year old opts to stay home and finish school rather than come and sit in the hallway at the ps and finish his school. He is very responsible and does everything I ask. I give him a list, show him the assignments, go so far as to open the binders, run through my expectation and I leave. The school is less than 2 blocks away and he knows how to find me there or call if he needs anything.

 

I think the second time we tried it, he didn't do anything. I walked in and he blurted out "my brain stoped working when you left!" :lol: It was such a Homer Simpson moment. He was shocked and stunned that it was hard to do his work with no supervision. I realized that he was learning a great new skill and didn't feel the need to discipline. We talked about what he did when he was alone (play with legos) and why it was hard to stop and do work. We talked about how to cope in the future when that happens. Since then, it hasn't been an issue. I make sure to build in some 'lego time' as his reward when he finishes his work.

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My 11 and 13 year old are on their own for a few hours regularly some weekdays. They do their school work. They know what they have to work on without me providing a detailed schedule.

We have no problems. They know this is the only way they can be homeschooled - if it did not work, they'd have to go back to ps. Which they don't want.

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My dd7 and dd5 are way too young to be left home..but when I do have things to do I schedule them either later in the morning or after lunch...and dh will be left to supervise for school. Although he isn't on top of them like I am....they do get their work done because if it's not done when I get home...they get "homework" for that evening. Meaning they will not get TV or "playtime" until the work is completed. Their original lesson PLUS an additional worksheet of work.

 

I'm assuming the rule will apply when they are older as well.

 

I've only left them with school work a couple times with dh when I had to run a late morning errand and when I returned one time dh immed. said they did so good on the first lesson he let them take a break (an hour ago:confused:)...so it wasn't their fault...daddy got the yellow card for the day :lol:

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I only had a problem with schoolwork not getting done once when I left the house. When I returned and found they had messed around rather than work I told them to get their books, they had another full day's worth of school to do. I made them do it, too! They were up until 10:30 that night and learned their lesson. Well, most of them did...

 

My 13yos has a weakness for videos and the Wii. He was grounded for 8 mo from the Wii and a year from all movies. He finished up the movie grounding and knows we are serious about boundaries and staying focused.

 

Now if one of them continues to show that they cannot be left alone then they come with me, schoolwork in hand.

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What happens whe you leave your 11-15yo children (with appropriate aged babysitter is needed) to do their school work?

 

Lisaj

 

Nothing for my 14 year old with adhd. It would have been true of my 16 year old too (no adhd) but he is in school now. (and doing well)

 

My 12 year old is actually incredibly diligent and will do things if I am very clear what they are and if there is a deadline or consequence. (ie you have to finish math & physical science before I drive you to Boy Scouts.)

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I leave my 14, 12, and 8 yo home while I am at class, at the doctor, etc. They get what I tell them done.

 

Like a pp said, the fear of the wrath of mom takes care of it. :D I don't even have to really threaten anything. I've been mean their entire lives, and they know better than to test me. They also really enjoy their schoolwork, which helps. I don't tell the older two what to get done, as they have due dates and they manage thri own time between our class meetings. But I know they are working, and they do any household things I ask them to do while I'm gone.

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