Do you mean besides fighting with each other???? We were gone a lot during the school year, but now summer has hit and all of their activities are over for a while we are trying to find our footing. We are in the middle of moving, but once we have moved, we will spend most of our days at the pool. Two of my kids tend to fight (with me or each other) if they are not doing something that involves physical activity. Winters are long here My oldest loves reading and would read all day if she could and my youngest plays.
My kids play outside, whatever the wheather! I have to beg them to come in to eat dinner! Kids are 8, 6, 5, and 2.
Wow thanks! Your kids are so self occupied. Mine seem bored and unable to entertain themselves. All I hear all day is I'm bored.
"I'm bored" usually results in me giving a chore or a book to read (of my choosing), more school type work (the boring worksheet type stuff they hate), etc. It doesn't take long for them to stop complaining and find something to do on their own.
I do the same thing here, but I usuallu do not hear it much. They do legos, scooters, bikes, skateboards, basketball, football, video games (ps3, computer, DS and phone), and wrestle. Their main activity is to drive me insane and when they feel like they have succeeded, they invite 5 more teenage boys from the neighborhood over to do it again! Oh yeah, another thing they like to do is DIRTY MORE DISHES!!
we are not home all day, we have band in the first class, then one day he has chapel, then I do a bible study about same time and office work. Then we get home and work on the subjects as they come. Next year we will work on a time schedule of classes because one is outside the home, and possibly a second one each day we will do school starting at 9 away. then be home just before lunch, do a easy class, then lunch break, and then the harder courses after lunch.
:: smiles: : you will find over time on top of your normal schedule your kids will develop a schedule of thier own as well... you may be spending alot of time at home now, but (and im not her to speak for all homeschooling parents, i'm just telling you what i've been told lol) your childs activities , interests , and such will soon fill up your free days ... trips to the library , "field trips" extra classes you child expressed interest in, etc. all of the homeschool families i know are rarely at home. And i myself am beginning to see it for my family, we're likely going to have to get a second car so i can rin the kids around while daddys at work!
Well, the 2, maybe 3 days out of 7 that we are home, ds (10) likes to make vlogs and tutorial videos, claymation, mod nerf guns, perform various experiments, build crossbows or paper dart shooters, practice his Diabolo, watch movies or survivalist shows, shoot hoops in the backyard, practice his Ripstick, cook, train the parrot, sketch or do cartooning, play Wii or DS, organize his Pokemon cards, chat with friends on the phone or on Facebook, make some sort of art project, and read. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of. Just as a side, we do academic seatwork maybe 2-3 hours a day. Ds's afternoons are free (a la Charlotte Mason). Most afternoons are spent on field trips, scouts, homeschool classes, on errands with me or dh, or out with friends.
Depends on the day I guess. Some days it is legos, other days it is computer or video games and others it is outside all day.
..... sounds like i may need to work on my lego stash ... right noy my little girl is really into play doh.. i tried making some home made, but the texture came out tooo crumbly, it was too sticky before that ..... lol Also my little girl enjoys cooking with me , my little boy just watching for now , otherwise he is attempting to steal big sis's kitchen stool! my children are still to young to read on thier own but im sure as soon as we get the hang of it she will be a leisure reader too!! She already enjoys her books sooo much!!
DD (16 y.o.) Works on school work most of the day. That includes her piano playing. She also helps around the house, and with her little siblings. She is also in two different choirs (gospel church choir, and classical homeschool choir), so she has rehearsals and practice time for those as well. She also has regular pet sitting/dog walking jobs in the neighborhood. DS (13 y.o.) spends a little less time on school work. He participates in the same activities as DD, but he also plays basketball, is writing a fantasy novel, does some computer programming, and has a little lawn-mowing/snow removal business. DS (2.5 y.o.) Plays with abandon, and can often be found speeding around the house on his radio flyer bike. DD (6 weeks) Eats, sleeps, and loves to be held.
a little t.v., a little computer, bikes, draws,reads, plays with some of her toys...pretty much the standard 8yr old type stuff
Usually whatever he wants to do. Ride bikes, riding his 4 wheeler or snowmobile (depends on the weather), play with legos and toys, watch t.v. and movies, play on his video games, play outside, make forts in my living room. Also anytime of year there is mud to be made, he is on the side of the house making a mud pit to drive his trucks through. Big mud bogging fan! Summer time we are usually in the mountains hiking and camping, or out catching frogs, bugs, crawdads (crayfish SP?), working in the garden (he loves to take care of his garden), riding 4 wheelers, anything he asks to do most of the time My children don't sit and read unless they are asked to do so. We must be the odd ones here. Also we are home 98% of the time, another set of odd ones. I don't have the urge to have to run and run and run. If we are not able to get out activities done at home or in a day or so of running here and there then it doesn't need to get done. IMO.
Jo Anna I wanna come hang out with you guys this summer! I do get us to the beach usually and to the camps two weeks =3 camps basically. vbs-camp-camp. We work them this year all three of my "team" will be working age at all three so we will get more fun out of it as my ds does not have such ridged rules to follow as the only one of the team younger last year! lol I can use his helping hands more too!
Jo Ann, you are not alone. We are mostly home and my kids are not big readers. But, we are not as productive as everyone else seems to be. We spend a little too much time on the computer and tv, which we do limit. My dd likes to listen to her music and practice to be an actress. She's also started doing a little drawing. My ds spend a lot of time complaining that his sister doesn't want to play legos, Bakugan and Transformers like she did and asking when he's getting together with his best friend.
we stay home alot,too. In my determination to not to be one of those super-busy,over-scheduled families, we have gone to the other extreme and become homebodies! During this time of the year, the kids play in the water alot(todays high was 97), they play with play-do, computer, ride the golf cart, ride bikes, play on the wii, today was our hs group play day and we had a bounce house and the hostess has a pool, so they did that today. My kids don't take any kind of classes or lessons or play sports so we just come up with stuff to do on our own.
If you saw my back yard, you'd know what they do. It looks like one of those pictures of a WW1 battlefield. Landscaping is out of the question.
I love this!! I am not the only one. My FIL bought my kids real little shovels and my dad buys them dump trucks and tractors. They move dirt all over the place. I think mainly it is in the kitchen floor.
Grandson (getting ready to begin preschool at home in the fall) loves playdough and cutting with kids' safety scissors. He also loves being outside on the swing/slide set, and mowing the yard with his little bubble mower! Another favorite of his is helping me dust the furniture and swiffer sweep the floors.
