Do your kids sing during schoolwork?

[El...]

My kid hums or sings pretty much all the time. My husband does it sometimes, and so do I. Now I find myself saying things during school work like, "Stop singing! I'm talking to you!! Listen to me!" Surely a kindergarten classroom is not rife with little kids each singing her own song, right? Right? How do school teachers make it stop while they teach?

[Murphy101]

I have several kids that do that. We joke that a certain daughter's, the worst offender, life is a musical. ;)

 

They are oblivious most of the time and we just tell them to please knock it off and they do. *shrug*

[violamama]

Mine does worse. He beat boxes. Incessantly.

[boscopup]

Mine sing too... The Star Spangled Banner (aka, "The Hockey Song", according to my 4 year old :D), various Star Wars theme music, various LOTR theme music, various Tron theme music. I mostly get it from oldest and youngest kiddos. They sing all.the.time. When my DH takes my oldest on a trip, he knows he's still following close because he can hear the constant singing. :)

 

Sometimes I do have to say "no singing" while I'm teaching. Just like I have to tell them to stop playing with crayons (making them fight), etc.

[justamouse]

My kids sing and hum all the time. It just is. I figure they're just happy.

[Bearcat]

Humming, singing all the time here.

All the time.

I don't help matters though. I am always singing or humming something myself.

We even have times when we sing instead of talk.

Like we are living in our very own musical.

My youngest (3 years) likes to accompany us on the air cello.

We can get a bit....interesting here.

 

[justamouse]

Humming, singing all the time here.

All the time.

I don't help matters though. I am always singing or humming something myself.

We even have times when we sing instead of talk.

Like we are living in our very own musical.

My youngest (3 years) likes to accompany us on the air cello.

We can get a bit....interesting here.

 

Lol, I do that to my kids, too, We sing conversations. Or, best, when I tell them what to do in an operatic falsetto. Wagnerish. They LOVE that.

[Arcadia]

My older loves to sing opera especially while doing math. He sings opera in english, latin, german and don't care if he does not understand the verses. My younger would join in and both can sound louder than a choir. I have ear plugs.

[happypamama]

Mine hum or sing all the time too. I personally cannot stand it, but that's me, and I know I am overly sensitive to excess noise. So I deal, most of the time. The problem here is that if one child starts singing or humming, it distracts another child, and some of mine are easily distractible, and then everything derails. So we are making our schoolroom a quiet work room. You can talk yourself through a problem, or discuss something with Mom, or play/read quietly, but if you need to hum/sing, you need to go elsewhere (and we have plenty of options -- kitchen table, upstairs sofa, a bedroom. . . ). Light toddler chatter is no big deal, but it's not the place for large, noisy play.

[melbotoast]

DS sings or hums when he concentrates on anything. Drives me crazy sometimes.

[Forgiven]

Oh, yeah. All three of mine sing while doing school work--well anything that takes their full concentration. Two of them are the worst offenders. If it's just one doing it, I'm fine--no problem, but when you have three different songs going on at the same time, and I'm trying to work while they're doing their thing, I can't concentrate. Ugh! I feel bad that I have to tell them to stop because it's obviously something that helps them to think, but I can't think when they're all doing it.

[Farrar]

It's a sensory integration thing for many kids (not in a you need to get your child checked for issues - we all do little things to help maintain our focus). I actually *have* taught in a classroom where lots of kids were doing it all at once. Sigh. But, yes, in many classrooms, it will be schooled out of kids. That's fine for most kids, who can move to a different, less disruptive method (chewing their hair, biting their lip, etc.) or just focus enough without the humming but I think it isn't necessarily the best. If you're able to let them hum, I say let them hum.

 

My kids do it occasionally. I usually turn on music when they do. There's a student in the co-op I teach who really, really does it, but only where there's serious concentration going on, so I always take it as a good sign.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

My dd hums all the time. I don't get how she can hum and read at the same time but she does and is understanding what she is reading so unless the humming gets too loud I let her.

[Dmmetler]

Constantly-singing, talking to herself, humming, drumming, fidgeting...

 

Yet this is the kid who, in PS K, had a PERFECT behavior record. I figure, looking back, that either she held it in all day, or she had a super-tolerant teacher (she fell asleep in the car on the way home almost every day-so I think she may have been really fighting herself all day to keep that perfect record).

[nd293]

Dd12 is now in a Montessori school. She's been there nearly 18 months, and is doing very, very well. I get glowing reports. At the last meeting I was feeling so good, thinking how all my choices - parenting style, homeschooling, academic focus - had worked out for the best when the teacher said, "And she's stopped talking to herself now!" It turns out she talked and sang to herself all the time when she first started there. I gather this was taken as an indication of the effects of homeschooling on socialisation, although the teacher was too kind to actually say it!

[Mandy in TN]

Ds hums whatever violin or mando piece he is working on. He sings pop songs. He drums with his hands or pencils or books or his cup.

 

He does all of these things, but has no problem stopping if I tell him that it is distracting me. :)

Mandy

[DavidArchuletaFan]

I have a 6 yo who seems to whistle constantly! Even my husband asked who was always whistling the other day because every time he rings home, he can hear whistling in the background. The problem is my other kids seem to be taking on the behaviour too! I can handle a little happy whistling but CONSTANT whistling...ugh!

[AK_Mom4]

I play loud music - always - when they are working on school work. At least that way, when they sing, it's all the same song!

 

Actually, it's a habit I had from my early work years as a programmer - we all sat in these noisy cubicle farms. Headphones and loud music were the only way I could concentrate. I still play music, all types of music, while I am working and it helps us all concentrate.

[plath]

My five year old never stops singing and the two and a half year old seems to be following suit... I just figure it's one more thing they're "allowed" to do as a homeschooler that wouldn't fly in a classroom!

[Arcadia]

Constantly-singing, talking to herself, humming, drumming, fidgeting...

 

Yet this is the kid who, in PS K, had a PERFECT behavior record. I figure, looking back, that either she held it in all day, or she had a super-tolerant teacher (she fell asleep in the car on the way home almost every day-so I think she may have been really fighting herself all day to keep that perfect record).

 

Mine did not sing in school, he was too busy people watching. He was always hungry and tired when I picked him up.

Saw this website on Mathematical Music Theory and thought of your daughter.

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~tmfiore/1/music.html

 

[Ecclecticmum]

My son's life is a musical, and his sisters are his backup singers.

 

Everything is musical to my son, he remembers music, he listens to music, he'll copy any songs he hears, and most of the time he's so tuned out I can yell and yell his name and he doesn't hear me, I sing his name (even quietly) and his head will immediately pop up.

 

So he really sings/mimics songs.

 

His "back up singers" hum, sing, and generally remind me of barbie music even when they are sitting there looking at a book. They are constantly trilling.

 

But I'm a music person myself, I need music, whether its just listening, or creating my own songs & singing. I become a really crabby person if I'm seperated from music (round day 2 of no music I start becoming really rude, grouchy and generally a miserable human being. I don't even notice, it takes DH to go "hey,.....where's your iphone?" for me to realize I've forgotten to charge it, therefore no music, lol).

 

So the musical life of Chaos & his sisters is blamed on my genes. :p

 

Excuse me, my daughters made her own cards & card game, I have to go play :D

[Joker]

My dds' K teacher actually played music often in the room. The students could sing, hum, or talk quietly while doing work. Oldest is in ps middle school here now and many teachers play music after going over the lessons. The kids can sing, hum, and talk while doing their work. It works very well for my dds.

[Tillmalo]

My son is humming as I sit here typing. Lol! He likes to "sing" me his math problems and answers. It results in math time taking three times as long!! Sometimes it makes me a little crazy but most of the time it just makes me smile. (Maybe, if I sang through the process of paying my bills, it would be a more pleasant task..hmmm) I try to remind myself that someday, sooner than I'd like, he will be off on his own and I'm going to miss hearing that singing and humming.

[Critterfixer]

Sometimes I sing or hum during school....bugs my kids, though.

[Myra]

When my yougest first started to learn now to snorkel in the pool and he swam by someone you'd always hear a chuckle as other bathers heard him singing to himself underwater up through the snorkel....the ABC song! Now he sings in the shower or when he's playing video games or watching you tube or....whenever the unconcious mood strikes him!

 

Myra

[Woodhaven]

Wow! And here I thought my kids were the only ones who like to sing and hum all day long!

[wingedradical]

I think it may depend upon their age, how loudly they are singing, and how much it distracts them or other students/teacher.

 

My foster child is a teen who has a very nice voice. In fact, I suspect it is the only thing she was ever complimented for before she came to us. However, she is also diagnosed as having attachment disorder and being on the spectrum (as well as being bi-polar, but that seems under control at the moment). Since she loves to sing and it has been (and continues to be) a real outlet for her, I encourage it as much as possible. However, there is an appropriate time and place. Like, you don't belt out the blues when you are in the back seat of a small car. You don't belt out songs from Les Miserables when you are in a room with other people who are doing something else. Singing quietly is okay more often, but even that should be done when it isn't bothering someone else. And you can't always know when it is bothering someone. Some people are very distracted by noise (especially if they are on the spectrum). And my husband, who spent 10 years as a professional musician, can't concentrate on anything else if there is music. But if your kids are certain that the time and place is okay and it doesn't distract them or anyone else, why not? I tend to sing when driving alone and sometimes, when cleaning the kitchen.

[Donna]

My dd is constantly singing. It annoys her brothers. I relate to the post about our lives being a musical.

[TheBugs]

My daughter (7) sings constantly. She has a great voice, but it can still get annoying sometimes. Sometimes I tell her that her singing is too pretty and is distracting us from our work and that will give us a respite. There is a time and place for singing, but when we are writing or doing math, it can be very distracting for her brother. (Who is always easily distracted by anything).

[boscopup]

Today, my son was singing while I was teaching his math. So I started singing the math. He thought it was funny. :lol:

[Violet Crown]

Wee Girl hums her cello pieces incessantly. When her older sisters object, she replies smugly, "It's lesson work." Sometimes she moves them down a fifth, like she's playing them on a different string, which I wish I could do.

 

I've come to hear Suzuki Book 1 even in my dreams now. If I ever meet Aunt Rhody I will strangle her.

[soufflegirl]

Ds makes a weird not quite singing/not quite humming noise when he's concentrating on something. I've tuned it out over the years but it drives dh up the walls. Dd sings in the car.

 

I never really gave it any thought that he wouldn't be able to hum in school.

[SharonUF]

I would gladly trade singing for the constant barrage of Star Wars noises I hear ALL day!

[kbutton]

If we turn on music or radio, 90% of the time, my son stops making noise/singing. The other 10% of the time, my son starts competing with the radio or the music, and we know that sensory issues need to be our top priority.