If you have just 1 student (3-5th) and a toddler....

[monalisa]

If you have a toddler along with just 1 student in the later elementary grades 3-5th (not K-2 where they are just needing an hour or two per day), Please, PLEASE, tell me how you are getting it done! I want all your best secrets!!!!

 

I have a 20 month, active and loud girl, who takes one nap from about 1- 3ish. She gets up at about 8:30, and school starts about 9 (dd9 gets up and gets ready, eats, and does piano by 9).

 

I have a 9.5 year old 4th grader who I'm trying to do:

MFW ECC

CLE 400 math

IEW SWIA (alternated with WWE 3)

R&S 4 English

LOE Essentials (which I haven't yet started since I just ordered it)

HWOT cursive

The fourth grader is just barely able to do anything independently. In the SWB lingo, I'm still pretty much the parent at elbow to keep her working. My goal is to move her to more independence this year.

 

Trying to do several hours of "real work" with the 4th grader while the toddler is awake is insanity, but it also doesn't work to try to cram it into when she is asleep in the afternoon. The 4th grader is not at her best in the pm so trying to do math and english after lunch is not good at all, so I have been doing the skill stuff in the am, and ECC in the pm.

 

If I had 1 more child to take turns and occupy the toddler, I think it would help me, but I do not. I can't find a way to work 1:1 with the 4th grader for more than a minute or two without the toddler making so much noise and distraction that it is impossible. I am finding myself just throwing sets of toys at her all morning long trying to keep her from completely distracting the 9 year old. And I'm sitting on the floor the whole time with her because if I sit a the table she goes crazy. Sometimes I can stand and try to teach for a few minutes. She will sit in a stokke chair for a very short time and "color" but that doesn't last very long.

 

Please tell me what you do that works! What is your daily schedule? How do you occupy the toddler? Thanks in advance for your best secrets!

[Momof3littles]

At that age, DS2 spent a lot of time in the Ergo. That way I knew where he was, he was getting mama time, and even if he was a bit grumpy, it was often easier to know where he was. He couldn't rip up the house, climb on tables, chase the dog, etc. ;) I have three kids, but I thought I'd suggest that in case it helps you.

 

Can you shift some work to evenings if your SO is home at that time? Some work on weekend mornings if your SO is around at that time?

 

eta: my DS2 is now approaching 2.5 and is finally starting to sit for a few mins to do "tot tray" types of activities like gluing beads in the shape of a letter, small Montessori activities (tongs, scooping, etc.). In nice weather I sometimes would fill up his water table and let him play while I read Shakespeare to the older two, or he'd play in the sandbox while I'd work with them. Outside was sometimes easier than inside. It would have been even better if our yard was fenced, but he is pretty good about staying in the yard. Ride on toys, sidewalk chalk, an easel with chalk or watercolors? I know, at that age, sometimes you spend longer setting something up than they spend engaging in the activity. That's why we resorted to the Ergo a good bit!

Edited September 11, 2012 by Momof3littles

[PeterPan]

Oh dear, hehe, we have the 10 year gap, and that age WAS hard. That was insanely hard. This year he's approaching 4 and it's finally going better. So if it's any consolation, about the time she actually needs to do lots of work, your toddler will be chilling out.

 

When I first looked at your list, my first question was on all the LA. I know you think it needs to be there, or you wouldn't have put it there. However you don't have to do it ALL AT ONCE. Also, did you do a tally on your expected times to make sure you're being realistic? Seriously, the goal is not to fill her whole day, lol. The goal is to be in and out, get it done. Grade 4? Well that's 4-5 hours a day, where 1-2 hours of that is reading (her private reading). If you consider educational games and read alouds or audiobooks (another hour daily), that time you actually want to spend teaching her and working with her and making her work goes down to 2-3. That's 1-2 hours in the morning and another hour of formal in the afternoon. Then you play games, listen to audiobooks, do kits, and go play.

 

Ok, for that 1-2 hours in the morning, yes I did high chair time where I physically strapped him into a chair and funneled toys to him, one thing after another. I invested in stuff, made stuff, found stuff. He had board books and big huge pop beads and stacking cups and alphabet peek a boo blocks and all sorts of things. I had a ton of it and I'd just go through the pile, handing him one thing. We'd do that for a while. Then I'd sit on the floor and play with him and she could continue working.

 

That CLE math ought to be relatively independent. I think you could stagger your writing. For instance, throw caution to the wind and save the IEW till next summer. The world won't end. That way you're not doing it on top of everything else. For spelling, when my dd was around that age we enjoyed the computerized Calvert spelling and a FABULOUS workbook series by Jim Halverson called Spelling Works! I know LOE is better. We used SWR at other times. There are just stages in your life where you have to be practical. Be practical, knowing in a year it's going to be very different. Trim that R&S grammar (yuck) to 10 minutes a day and see where you're at.

 

I now send him down to grandma's once a week for a morning or afternoon so we can get some stuff done that can't be done with a toddler/preschooler underfoot (science labs with lots of glassware, that kind of thing). If you dno't have a grandma handy, maybe pay someone. Seriously. They love variety and crave other types of activities. Life sort of sucks for them too, sitting around watching the life of someone much older and not getting a really hip version of their own. They're not getting taken to the park, etc. Or do the reverse and send your dd to Grandma's with a list of work.

 

We also have done Mom's Day Off where she had a list, had been previously told how to do everything, and she was expected to stay away and work on her own. It wasn't necessarily her regular work. I actually had to go out and pick alternate things for those days. It was worth it, because it gave us that time apart and a change of pace.

 

In the moment you think everything is very important. It is, but it isn't really, kwim? My ds was born when my dd was 9.5. I was really stressed. A year later I was getting more sleep and realized that a year of science kits and audiobooks and pleasure-driven history reading and THINGS SHE COULD DO HERSELF had NOT hurt her. The world will NOT end and it's ok to do some things differently. :)

 

PS. You could save that MFW ECC for two years from now and put her in the online VP history. That would be totally independent and give you time with your toddler. If you save the IEW for next summer and do MFW ECC after that, she'll be able to apply her IEW writing to the ECC. There's time for everything. :)

Edited September 11, 2012 by OhElizabeth

[Mommy to monkeys]

Obviously naptime is extremely helpful, but I totally understand that you can't get it ALL done in that time.

 

For a 20 month old I think I would probably start with 30 minutes of time in the play pen with some special toys. . .then a snack in the highchair for a bit. By the time they've been "cooped up" for awhile, they seem to do "free play" better.

[PeterPan]

Just as an aside, I wanted to do playpen time with my ds, and the playpens now are so SMALL. They used to be much larger, back in the day. Anyways, I couldn't find anything I felt confident my ds would stay in for any period of time, so I didn't buy one.

[Classical Country Mama]

Ok, for that 1-2 hours in the morning, yes I did high chair time where I physically strapped him into a chair and funneled toys to him, one thing after another. I invested in stuff, made stuff, found stuff. He had board books and big huge pop beads and stacking cups and alphabet peek a boo blocks and all sorts of things. I had a ton of it and I'd just go through the pile, handing him one thing. We'd do that for a while. Then I'd sit on the floor and play with him and she could continue working.

 

COOL!

 

I'm in a similar situation--I've got a rising 3rd grader and a 27-month old. And yikes. Geewillikers. My dh is mostly never home AND I work from home on top of hs'ing, and some days I think I want to die. (Make that MOST days.)

 

Love the idea of strapping the toddler in.

 

Last year I did "fun boxes," one for every day, that had assorted cheap toys in them he could only play with that day, separate from his regular toys. For example, one day has playdough with a plastic knife, spoon, and shape cutters. Another day has a chalkboard and chalk among other things. There's also games like Connect Four in there; some days he might spend half an hour just dropping the littles pieces in, getting them out, and dropping them in again.

 

I'll continue with the fun boxes this year (refilling with new toys, obv--and btw, I mostly fill them with things from the dollar store or Target's dollar spot), but this year I want to add some sensory activities too. Like little containers of beans, or rice, or raw pasta, all stuff that's a blast to make a mess with. But I hadn't figured out how to do that without creating a ton more work for myself--I'm thinking strapping him in his booster seat will be perfect! It'll be a great way to continue working on counting if I wind up with a little extra ambition one day.

 

I do sometimes let him sit on the kitchen floor and play with a bit of water and plastic cups. (But only on my very brave days.)

 

I've also just discovered he loves to cut paper. As long as he's sitting right under my nose, this year I might let him occasionally have blunt scissors and a piece of newspaper.

[PeterPan]

They make travel booster seats that come with a tray and straps, and I alternated between the high chair (at the dining table) and the booster seat (at the school table). It just depended on where we were working at the time. That strapped booster seat was around $20 at Target, and it got a LOT of use. You can use it without the tray then to pull them up to the table when they're ready.

[monalisa]

Thanks ladies...those are some good ideas! Wish I had the luxury of a family member close by but the closest is 300 mi away. I"ll have to rack my brain for ideas for anyone that might be able to watch her once in a while (all of our babysitters are school aged).

 

I do the high chair thing with the stokke chair (its a Swedish chair for toddlers and up that they can be strapped into), but she's still super noisy and wants to get up and down constantly and do the buckle. I tried the pack 'n play right after we first adopted her at 11 months and she makes so much noise in it that it is now in the basement school room (which we don't used much) for a "safe" place to be if we have to go down there where all the choking hazards are.

 

I guess my main problem isn't truly that I'm trying to teach for very long at a time. It is that I can't keep her occupied for more than a couple minutes and she is so super loud that it is hard for dd to get anything done with the racket, and I have to stay not too far away from dd9 to keep her working.

 

I appreciate the ideas!