How do I end up being sooo long winded???? My twins are first graders. My (Apparently attention starved) daughter is 3. This first week was a big wake-up for reality. First, laying out a lesson plan on paper is an excersize in humor, when chaos is not factored in. I am moving to "Themed" weeks and months... Meaning next week everything we do will relate in some way to weather and earth science. We do most everything from the library, childcraft, workbooks and internet printouts. So we can flip o a dime. But I am still searching for what works for us. The thematic units approach sounds like a winner... so we are going to try that approach.... Albeit, I will be making them myself... Second... chaos is in pink bloomers! Sasha, the three year old, wanted to sit in my lap for all of "Class time". She wants to do everything the boys are doing. She gets mad, if she does not have the same sheet that they have. (She has 348927 wokbooks of her own, from real ones, to fluffy Dora and Disney PreK work books) But, of course, those are NOT as cool as WHATEVER brothers are doing! AARRGHH! It is financialy and legistically impractical to make a third copy of all of our work, for her to scribble on.... She doesn't do the work, of course, becasue it is jibberish to her, and yet she freaks, like I do not love her, if she does not have the same sheet they have... (So, I pull out more hair) I spent the week trying to work like this... *All three kids are included on what we call the "Opening ceremonies". This is where ALL THREE mark their calendars (For learning dates, calendars and time). Take turns being the "Weather Guy", noting this on the weather chart, and saying the morning prayer. Then, me and the boys and sasha will do "Board work" (Work together) with whatever the subject is, such as Sentences (Capital letters to start and basic punctuation). With Sasha in my lap. She works with us by doing things appropriate for her, such as pointing out the letters,, numbers, colors shapes or whatever... Once the boys are confident that they understand the concept, I have them do their written work (Worksheets, or what have you) And I concentrate on sasha. We do alphabet flash cards, or her worksheets, or play one of her games. Then I ask her to color in her color book, but she always refuses. (We are all in the same room, the master bedroom, which is actually the "Classroom / Playroom" So it is LARGE!) So when the boys are done with their first subject, me and sasha have basicaly run out of things for her to do and I still need to work with the boys, but she wants ALL of my attention. SIGH... Perhaps it will get better with time, but I dunno. This is a result of raising them like tripletes... The twins were two, when she was born and she is only 4 inches shorter than them, so they are like triplets. (They just turn 6, she will be 4 this Dec) I do not purposefully hold her back, but their are only certain things a three year old can do. And first grade work is not one of them.... She is sooo thirsty to learn to read, and she has the alphabet down, and we are working on sounds... I just need her to give me and the boys some time for a few momments at a time... If she is two feet away and watching, coloring in her books, paying with her toys, anything.. it would give me and the boys a few momments to do our work in pockets of time, to not have too large pocket sof time between when she is given attention... But it is not working, yet. But how do I get her to work independantly or occupy her, while I am in the "Instructional" phase of the day with the boys. (Again, she will NOT watch her DVD's, play her own games, or color in her fav color books, even though she is in the same room with us...) I do not want to foster her feeling like an outcast, but I need to be able to concentrate on the boys when we are doing something new.. There are a ton of miss-spelled words in the post. Deal with it. I am tired and I am too tired to correct them... Older moms.... HELP!
Okay...so I'm not sure how much help I'll be...but I'll state my observations. My eldest is in 1st grade. She was always precocious. Learned her alphabet by herself...I had NO hand in it! One day she just started saying them when pointing to pics (18 mos!). It is true to say that girls are MUCH different than boys. My son is very laid back. Keeping her involved is good...but is there time for you to spend some individual time with her on her things? Sorry, like I said, I'm not much help!!!
Well, I started homeschooling my dd when she was also in first. My ds was then PreK 2 (2-3 yrs old) that year. I included him in the daily routine. We did many things together like you. We did calendar, storytime, journal, etc. Then, I tried to have math together and such. It wasn't easy because he was like your dd...a toddler. So, we just did the best we could. However, my ds would sit to watch educational dvd's and books on tape. He also loved to go play as long as it was in the room with us. I had tons of educational toys that were enticing for him to play....Leapster, LeapPad, electronic games, etc. His older sister would get upset that he was having so much fun and didn't have to sit and do "real work". But, it helped to keep him busy. You might try making her a special workbook with printouts and color sheets. I make my own workbooks and such using a very inexpensive binding machine and my computer. For example, my ds (K) has one that I made for learning the color words, one for his journal, and one for science. Maybe if she had her own special workbooks then she would feel better. She could even help in planning the books. She could pick out color sheets, worksheets and such from the internet with your help. My ds and dd do science and history together. Their workbooks (I put together) come from resource books from steck-vaughn). His worksheets are on the same subjects as hers, but his are on k/1 terms and hers are 4th grade. This way he is included in everything but his work is easier. Does that make sense? It makes it simplier and more organized to do as many subjects together as possible. We also do music, art, spanish, computer, journaling together. This year I am having them also do the same subjects at the same time even if they are not in the same book...like math, phonics, and reading. I don't think there are any easy answers though. You just have to keep trying things until you find something that works for your family.
Then whatever you do with the boys, make an extra worksheet for her. Give it to her, and let her scribble all over it if she wants. Or tell her what specifically to color. There is absolutely nothing wrong with telling her sometimes that now is her brothers' time, and she needs to sit by herself for a while. Set the timer; when it goes off, she knows you will spend time just with her. This is a "training" thing. Probably won't work well at first, but BE PERSISTANT!!! It will pay off in the long run! I would start with maybe one or two fifteen minute intervals, maybe once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. (Or does she take naps?)
Amen, Well said Jackie I agree with you. Give her, her own paper and let her go to town. You might be surprise what she does. So, what if she messes it up it's hers. Also, I agree with Jackie tell her she has to be a big girl now and it's time for mommy to work with her brothers for awhile so she needs to go sit in her area and work quietly or color or go in another room for a movie.
Jen, Your post reminded me of a thread from awhile back. Here is a link to it. http://homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=2768 Jen, Be sure to take a look at this link for ton's of ideas for your 3 year old. http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/preschool_activities.htm
YOu guys are all awesome. I wanted to restate that she has her own folder and her own sheets and her own bookshelf for workbooks and so forth. (If you have seen a picture of our room, you wouldn't doubt it..) Ans she refuses to watch a DVD, or color in her books, or play with her leap pad, or with her care bears, or with her ponies, or in her own "School Work" folder, unless she is in my lap with me paying attention to her. It is an obvious jelousy problem. I just need to get tough. Bu it breaks my heart when she gets mad and whimpers off, alone to the other end of the house. WHich I don't want, so I call her back in... Sigh... I was always the "MonsterMOmmy" who was always tough, what HAPPENED to me?? hahahha! I am a WIMP, now! hahaha! It is like I know what I need to do and that time will solve most of it. But I guess I just needed to vent and hear that others go through it too, you know? That is why I like comming here.... You guys make me feel normal! haha! Again, I have sunk about 2 grand (Over time, like 3 years, mind you) into our learning "Supplies". And this child has her own books, and leap pads, and workbooks and sheets and so forth. What she is mad over is 1. She wants to do EXACTLY what the twins are doing and the moment it becomes obvious that she cannot spell "Cat" she freaks and has a melt down. 2. She wants my full attention. It will get better with time. I just need to toughen back up... jen
I'd let her whimper off alone at the other end of the house. Once she learns that you're not going to come chasing after her and are quite content letting her be miserable alone, she'll stop trying to be miserable with you. It's a lot like tantrums. My kids knew they could fuss all they wanted, as long as it was done upstairs in their bedroom with their door closed, where no one else could hear them (yeah, right!!!). When they would start in, I would ask "Are you planning on fussing? Then do it in your room, and let me know when you're done...."
I agree with you, but when did I become such a wimp? I mean, I owned a website called MONSTERMOMMY.COM for a reason... She makes me so weak.....DAYNG!
She just wants to be on the team. :wink: I hate to tell you this but....she is approaching 4 and girls always start earlier than boys but....ugh! She will whine she will cry (too bad Charlie!) Tell her that this is her math (or whatever subject) for today and tear her pages out of her workbooks. You will have to get use to telling her how to do her page and then telling them how to do their page. It's not easy!!!! Our 3 soon to be 4 year old typically doesn't even sit down on the chair when he does his work...he lays all over the table. lol We have a school room with a child size height table and chairs...luckily it is rectangle and long. :wink: They have to learn to wait their turn to talk when you are talking....this is just another one of those lessons. Not sure if you have a scanner/copier or not but...it's real easy to throw the page that she really wants up there and make a copy. She probably won't want every single one but...give a little and teach her that she has to as well. Find something that is special that she can only do during school (when you need to focus on the boys). Whiteboard, play doh, making a necklace with pretty beads...whatever her hot button is. Most of it is just teaching. We slowly starting working ds2 into the mix and he does pretty well now. Before??? Not so much. He would keep asking "is he done?" No, sweetie he's only been in here 5 minutes. :lol: Deep breath. BTW...be careful with the appeal of Theme units. They can be fun but...if you've already got your hands full with Ms. 3 year old then....you might get burned out a little too quickly.
I'm new to this and my kids are younger, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I agree with the other posters, could you make another copy of the pages your sons are doing? Even just one or two pages? I know you said she has her own workbooks, but she wants what they have. I can see with three kids how this happens, she's the odd one out here. Would it really be that expensive to copy a few extra pages? Second, could you come up with some kind of reward system for her for good behavior during school time? I mean, there has to be some currency that works for her. Could you do something like the marble system where for every day she's good and plays independently while you work with the boys she gets a marble, and for any day she doesn't she gets one taken away. At the end of the week if she has X number of marbles in the jar then the two of you get some special "Mommy & Daughter" time to go do what she wants? Good luck! I have to say, I really like your sense of humor. I got a good laugh out of your post!
okay, without reading through everything on this thread I wanted to share how I got around 'Little Johnny" wanting to do what the other two did. I had them each have individual time with me, and I know you have twins but if you can do it so that you repeat yourself or whatever to teach even them seperate for a while she will feel part of the group with out the other two getting slighted? Just a thought because that was the only way I could teach my older ones, each child had seperate Teacher time, and that way he thought he was having his time too. So Occastionally send one of the twins to play with her at something while you work with the other twin.
