silly kids!

[MeganW]

Why are my kids so SILLY all of a sudden?? I don't mind a bit having fun, but it has gotten to where they are SO SILLY that it is keeping us from getting 10 minutes of lessons done. I don't feel like I have them sitting too long by any stretch, and they get PLENTY of exercise. I feel like I am a decent combo of strict and fun. What is wrong here?? Is this a normal young 6 year old phase? Just part of getting started homeschooling (we are in the 3rd week)? Testing me? How do I deal with it?

 

At the moment, all lessons have been stopped and all the kids are laying on their beds b/c they were making me insane. There has to be a better way!

 

As far as the type of silliness:

- intentionally giving wrong answers ("today is... MONDAY!!") - everyone dies laughing at the hilarious joke

- pretending to fall out of chair

why I can't I think of more examples - there were about 200 before I gave up this morning

[Snickerdoodle]

Welcome to my life.

[4maybabies]

:lol:

I could of wrote this myself today!!!:tongue_smilie:

[nikkid]

I know what you mean. This happens to me. I wouldn't have thought I would have this problem since my kids are 5 years apart, but the 3yo really gets my 8yo going. The thing is my kids like to see me get upset and yell, so I have to do everything not to do that. Sometimes I declare recess for 10 minutes while they run around outside so I can clear my head. Sometimes I have to separate them. But what it comes down to is there is a time and place for extreme silliness and it's not during the lesson part of school. My husband, who is a college teacher, has told me to talk about appropriate classroom behavior and appropriate discipline for when the behavior gets out of hand. I know this sounds like classroom management that we thought we wouldn't have to deal with in homeschool, but I see some of what he's trying to say. I've struggled with how to implement this, but essentially his premise is if you cross the line between mom and teacher it confuses kids and makes them think anything that goes at playtime is good during the school time that's serious time (as opposed to the fun school time we can have with other subjects or lessons). So if you need to correct school behavior don't take away privileges that come from mom regardless of school, take away school privileges or discuss what "getting no credit for this assignment" means or "how will you feel if you don't receive a good participation grade today". Now I KNOW this sounds strict and each family is different. Many of us, myself included don't want strict structure in our homeschools, and we are probably not going for the school-at-home feel. But it's the start of some ideas that we may be able to apply in our own ways, myself included. I'm still finding my way. As soon as I think I've figured some way out to handle being the teacher, my kids come up with a new curve ball to make me think I know nothing about what I'm doing. But I think I'm finding if I can keep my emotions under control when things get out of hand, be matter-of-fact about what's expected, and have clear consequences (even ones the kids have helped come up with) then as long as I can be consistent :) things seem to go better.

HTH!

Nikki

[MeganW]

Definitely some great food for thought - thanks - very helpful!

[mom2boys030507]

I know what you mean. This happens to me. I wouldn't have thought I would have this problem since my kids are 5 years apart, but the 3yo really gets my 8yo going. The thing is my kids like to see me get upset and yell, so I have to do everything not to do that. Sometimes I declare recess for 10 minutes while they run around outside so I can clear my head. Sometimes I have to separate them. But what it comes down to is there is a time and place for extreme silliness and it's not during the lesson part of school. My husband, who is a college teacher, has told me to talk about appropriate classroom behavior and appropriate discipline for when the behavior gets out of hand. I know this sounds like classroom management that we thought we wouldn't have to deal with in homeschool, but I see some of what he's trying to say. I've struggled with how to implement this, but essentially his premise is if you cross the line between mom and teacher it confuses kids and makes them think anything that goes at playtime is good during the school time that's serious time (as opposed to the fun school time we can have with other subjects or lessons). So if you need to correct school behavior don't take away privileges that come from mom regardless of school, take away school privileges or discuss what "getting no credit for this assignment" means or "how will you feel if you don't receive a good participation grade today". Now I KNOW this sounds strict and each family is different. Many of us, myself included don't want strict structure in our homeschools, and we are probably not going for the school-at-home feel. But it's the start of some ideas that we may be able to apply in our own ways, myself included. I'm still finding my way. As soon as I think I've figured some way out to handle being the teacher, my kids come up with a new curve ball to make me think I know nothing about what I'm doing. But I think I'm finding if I can keep my emotions under control when things get out of hand, be matter-of-fact about what's expected, and have clear consequences (even ones the kids have helped come up with) then as long as I can be consistent :) things seem to go better.

HTH!

Nikki

 

Thanks for this post. I am dealing with many of the same things with my boys. I know many of thier friends get a color for what they were for their behavior at school for the day and their parents say it is a great way to keep track of how things are going at school. You make me wonder how something like this would work for us at home. Everyday they get to share with their dad the color they ended our school day on. Then we can have rewards/ consquences from dad for school behavior just like they would if they went to public school everyday.

[2_girls_mommy]

That is definitely food for thought. I had never thought of NOT taking away outside of school priviledges for inappropriate school behaviour. In theory I like the idea, and will be contemplating it.

 

Off of the top of my head though, in thinking about the colors thing, I know that my friends whose children get a report like this end up getting in trouble at home as in losing a play date or T.V. that evening if they have had a bad day at school.

 

So I can see doing that in homeschool as well (which is what we usually do.) But I will be thinking about this some more as our year is about to start. Thanks for posting.

[sagira]

Welcome to my life.

 

Ditto (and I have a seven-year-old!). My 3yo really gets my 7yo going too, and he's almost 8. Glad to read I'm not the only one with the problem. That said, I separate them. Dd is in the other room on PBS Kids.org and Starfall, ds is with me. Dd is going to go to VPK for 3 hours a day next Fall so I can more dedicated time to ds (third grade). We'll see what we'll do when dd comes back for K and I have a running toddler :willy_nilly:

Edited July 11, 2011 by sagira

[Critterfixer]

Out of curiosity, how many of you have noted a connection between screen time and silliness? I have. I have also noticed that when my sons play with their cousins for any length of time there is a brief silliness carryover effect for a few hours.

Sometimes silliness seems to originate with acting out for a little more attention, especially if it got a laugh from somebody once upon a time. It's annoying at times, but sometimes I find that it's a bit of a reminder to me to loosen up a very little bit. I'm not silly myself. It's a running joke in the family that I'd have to be dead to relax, so seeing my boys act silly reminds me that I need to find ways to relax.

This doesn't mean stopping school. It might mean that the boys need a quick break, and I need time to drink my tea and read the material to make it more to the point. If I had one of mine creating hilarious jokes about Monday, when it is Tuesday, I'd probably pull a face of horror and say, "Oh, dear. If it's Monday then that's the day we have to clean the (insert least favorite chore here). Are you sure it's Monday?"

Pretending to fall out of the chair could induce you to act all concerned and then fetch a baby chair, or a similar restraint device in case of falls. No one wants to look like a baby, do they?

[MeganW]

Out of curiosity, how many of you have noted a connection between screen time and silliness?

 

We don't watch much TV at all here. With same-age playmates who actually interact with them, my kids aren't very interested in something that just sits there. :) This is bad to say, but every now and then I just wish I could park them for a while and use the TV for a babysitter. No such luck! Even their fav shows like SuperWhy, I'm lucky if they will sit for 15 minutes to watch. So a total of maybe an hour a week?

 

My son is definitely the instigator. He starts out being excited, and it turns silly & is contagious, and so everyone else gets going.

[MeganW]

Sometimes silliness seems to originate with acting out for a little more attention, especially if it got a laugh from somebody once upon a time.

 

 

That is probably a lot more likely. I tend to try and do everything in groups for efficiency sake. I would never admit it to my mom (who really disapproves of "overpopulating the world" by having "too many" kids), but my children are not getting as much individual attention as they would like to have. Something I keep meaning to address, but somehow it always ends up on the backburner.

[MeganW]

If I had one of mine creating hilarious jokes about Monday, when it is Tuesday, I'd probably pull a face of horror and say, "Oh, dear. If it's Monday then that's the day we have to clean the (insert least favorite chore here). Are you sure it's Monday?"

Pretending to fall out of the chair could induce you to act all concerned and then fetch a baby chair, or a similar restraint device in case of falls. No one wants to look like a baby, do they?

 

GREAT ideas!!!

[ednkirstin]

Thanks for the great ideas! I have to admit, we have the same trouble here. My kids definitely stir each other up. I think a lot of where my frustration comes in, is that school is so much busier for me than it is for them. Individually, their schoolwork really doesn't take all that long. But collectively it adds up to a HUGE block of time for me. Every little distraction makes it that much worse and then I feel stressed!