So, I need your best advice/hints for stopping whining & complaining RE: school work

[KIN]

I have allowed whining to happen in our school work. We are able to get our work done, but my blood pressure rises along with the whining/complaining. I'm determined to kick this habit of whining this year.

 

I've decided to do limit lesson times. Also, I have taken a strong, hard look at our work to be sure it isn't too much for each child. Now, I need your advice so that I'm prepared, LOL! What do you do when you say "School time!" and they moan? How about when you start a new subject "Time for spelling!" and they whine?

 

I know a lot of people say they have zero tolerance for whining. That's what I want, but I don't get how to make it happen! :) I've tried many things, but it still was a problem last year. We will overcome it this year! So, again, your best advice for whining and complaining please. :)

[Closeacademy]

We do short intense lessons focusing on math and language arts. I also let them pick topics and do lapbooks which take us about 2 weeks so they are learning about something they like.

 

I have them "eat their frog" in the morning. So they have to do the stuff they do not like so much first and then they get to do their project.

 

We do have whining sometime and this is what we do:

 

I leave the room and tell the child to tell me when she is ready to do her work. (This really works quickly.)

 

If it is beyond that I have the child eat protein. ( A lot of times they just need that boast for their brain.)

 

And sometimes, I have them run around the house.

 

A lot of times, it is just a matter of the child being overwhelmed and needing to calm down before we work through the steps.

 

Good luck and hang in there.:001_smile:

[Ottakee]

If you are sure that the work is appropriate for their ages/learning levels then I would try:

 

Make sure they had a good breakfast with protein

 

Give breaks for physical activity

 

If that doens't work and the whining continues then you give them the option of NO school--either for a set time like 15 minutes up to the whole day..............BUT the kicker is, if they do not get an education now, the jobs they will have when they are older will be physical labor jobs, and they must practice for those jobs.

 

So basically, if they are not going to do their school work, they must WORK---sweeping/mopping, cutting grass, weeding, moving wood piles, cleaning bathrooms, etc.

[Trivium Academy]

Whining and complaining means they want more work. :D For every grunt, complaint, add on 6 practice problems. For my dd, we just had to have a talk about what is her job and what is my job as student/teacher. We have fun stuff after our lessons so if she wastes my time during lessons, then our fun stuff is not able to be done. THere is only so much time in the day.

 

She also knows that if she wastes my teaching time, she will not have me available when she finally does get to the work. We don't really have this problem anymore. We also have shorter lessons.

[Snickerdoodle]

:lurk5:

[KayT]

I hold my hand out and say " Give me the gameboy". Then she says " Sorry Mom" I'll do better and that's the end of it.

Now, I have one whiner...dd 10 and last year she lost her gameboy for days at a time...that just wasn't working. So I took it away for 1 month along with her games. After the month she had to earn her games back by having good attitude. No, problems after that. She knew I meant business.

 

Now that said I also realized that she is a child that "needs" to know what is expected of her and having a schedule with her day planned out has helped her tremendously...it seems to give her control...she likes checking off the list and going through her day without being told what to do.

 

I hope you find something that works well for this because it sure is a pain in the butt when they act like this, and last year was pretty rough some days before we came to our little " understanding".

[JFSinIL]

I have the kid's daily work listed on a piece of notebook paper, so she can see what needs to get done each day. That paper is on the table next to me, and everything that gets done she sees me check it off. After every three items she gets a break. (I keep each days paper in a binder, too - it is my record of school if I ever need it ;))

 

I usually have 9 - 12 items per day - some obviously take longer (math/history etc.) than others (spelling is a five-minute quick item).

 

Math, which neither of us likes, is done FIRST and then out of the way!!!

 

I also am known for my annoying statement "That is why it is called schoolWORK, not schoolPLAY." ;)

[WTMindy]

Whining and complaining means they want more work. :D For every grunt, complaint, add on 6 practice problems. For my dd, we just had to have a talk about what is her job and what is my job as student/teacher. We have fun stuff after our lessons so if she wastes my time during lessons, then our fun stuff is not able to be done. THere is only so much time in the day.

 

She also knows that if she wastes my teaching time, she will not have me available when she finally does get to the work. We don't really have this problem anymore. We also have shorter lessons.

 

We talk about this a lot when we are not in the heat of the moment, especially with ds. It isn't so much that he whines, but he blocks his mind from learning. It is very frustrating to me, so we are talking a lot about not being stubborn and being open to my teaching, etc. I also add more work for this kind of behavior. Part of getting this under control is consistency in not letting it slide. I know that when my ds is driving me the most crazy is the time when I haven't been consisitent in consequences. Best of luck to you. I think this is one of the most important things we can teach our kids.

[5wolfcubs]

Not sure if this would help the situation but I made my two boys (8 & 6) pockets out of small envelopes. The pocket on the left says Schoolwork, the pocket on the right says Done! In the left pocket are different colored 3x5 cards, one for each subject. When all the 3x5 cards are moved, school day is over for that child. The only together subject they have is Five in a Row.

 

I had originally planned to do "loop" scheduling based on some posts on the curriculum board. But I (the teacher) just wasn't keeping up with it. This independent yet controlled method is working very well. My older girls have an assignment sheet that they check off, but the younger boys needed something more tangible.

 

Neither boy is really a whiner (well, my 3yo can be!) but sometimes days would go by and certain less-desirable subjects would slide. This way we do everything, every day. It frees me from making fun but time consuming lesson plan decisions and them from having a "do we have to do that today?" attitude. :D

[sleepy]

BUT the kicker is, if they do not get an education now, the jobs they will have when they are older will be physical labor jobs, and they must practice for those jobs.

 

So basically, if they are not going to do their school work, they must WORK---sweeping/mopping, cutting grass, weeding, moving wood piles, cleaning bathrooms, etc.

 

There's a little devil inside me that just loves this! :001_smile:

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I say, "That'll cost you 25 cents. Care to continue?" (or something along those lines). We tie their allowance to their attitudes. Any whining is an automatic 25c deduction. We use the same tactic for any bad habit we're trying to break (leaving used tissues around the house, picking on little sister, etc.)