How do you keep your kids working. My kids want to sleep to 8 or 9 which is fine with me since I don't get home from work till 9:30am. But then as soon as the neighborhood kids get home and the phone starts ringing at around 2, off they want to go. How do i keep my kids focused and keep them from rushing through their work. When I leave again at 1:00 they are working good. But when i check the work when I get home, I can tell its been rushed through. It drives me crazy......
With my oldest DS breaks seem to make him worse. He does better if he can get it all done in one sitting. It is also worse if I let him sleep in, or watch a TV show before we start. It's like once his mind goes somewhere else, it is a fight to get it where it needs to be.
Maybe that is the problem, they sleep in and then watch tv until I get home in the morning. hmmm......
I saw your other post about your DD having Inattentive ADD. I had never heard of that before, but after your post I looked it up and it describes my oldest perfectly. I am reading some sites about tips on how to help. Can't wait to try them!
We have the rule here no tv/electronics/freinds until school work is done. If it is rushed through I will give it back and have her redo it (that stopped the rushing for the most part after only a couple of days). We do not answer the phone until work is done. Do you by any chance have a phone that allows you to designate a ringtone? If so you can have a special one set for you and dh and then that can be the only one they are allowed to pick up durring that time.
I agree with no TV, video games, or other electronics BEFORE school. It always seems to distract my guys and we never get back to "full attention". My youngest likes to watch preschool shows some mornings and I'm going to have to stop those when school starts. (Seriously, what 14 and 12 year old want to watch Blue's Clues or Dora the Explorer?? But not only will they watch but they get "sucked" into the the whole thinking process.) I think a checklist to get ready for school and maybe some reading time or warm-ups you don't have to be there for. (Like spelling workbooks, grammar, vocabulary ect....) Let them get up and move into "school mode" as opposed to "play" time. HTH,
That's pretty much how we have to do it, Marta. No screen time before school. And if school isn't done with a minimal amount of issues, there is no screen time after either. We just started back for the year, and I have not made it a priority for DS to get enough physical activity every day. So starting next week (this week we are all recovering from sinus problems) he will have his scheduled Wii sports or outside time each day, too. That seems to help him sleep better at night.
What works for us (granted mine are young and lessons are 10-15 min) but we spread school out throughout the day instead of doing school from 8-12 or 7-3 or 9-2 we do school in spurts. It helps my kids feel like it's not dragging on forever. Maybe you could divide the day and subjects into two parts-say LA and Math has to be finished before 2-then they can have 2 hours of free time-if LA and math isn't done, then their free time is spent doing it. Then designate evening for Science and SS. Say it must be done by 7pm then they get free time again-if it isn't done, they loose their free time. Just an idea, but I don't have teens
I'm not at all a strict parent, but one thing my dh and I both strongly believe in and enforce is no sleeping in. If I didn't get my kids up until 9:30, and then I had to deal with breakfast and dressing and bathroom needs, we wouldn't be starting until close to 11:00. That would drive me nuts. You drive a school bus, right? Why not get the kids up before you leave (no screen time is a given) and then they can eat, shower, dress, chores, or whatever you need them to do, so that when you get back at 9:30, bam, you jump right into school.
You know that isn't a bad idea. I do drive a school bus. I always feel guilty that I have to leave. But they are plently old enough. I have so much weight on me when school starts. So simple but I guess I never thought of it. Thank you
