I have twin 3 year olds. I also have a 2nd grader doing Adv and twins doing K this year. (and a 10 month old, but he's the easiest.ruppster02 wrote:We are in our our 2nd week of HS for this year, im HSing a 1st grader and a K and i also have a 3 yr old. I was hoping to be able to do the 1st and K together at the same time, but split my time between the 2. It seemed tho very early on that that was not going to work as my K is very active and very easily distracted and pretty much need me keeping him on task the whole time, which is ok.
My question is what do i do with my 3yr old. He wants to hang out with us so badly, he will color with us or paint but he talks, talks, loudly talks, talks, doesnt.stop.taking. and its distracting to my K. I feel like im pushing him away if i send him in another room or with my 1st grader to play, and he gets upset. Any ideas for us. I dont want him to feel like homeschooling is when he gets pushed to the side, but at the same time we really need less distractions for my K.


At 3, I find that you can enforce some quiet. You tell him he can color with you, but he has to be quiet (relatively!) or he has to go play somewhere else. And, then you do that. As long as he is relatively quiet, he stays. If starts getting silly or won't stop talking, then send him out. It isn't like he is banished for the whole day. You have 3 children (at least) and sometimes one or the other is the priority at the moment. That is life with several children and the 3 year old can learn that and be completely okay with it as he gets older. This is what I do with my 3 year olds. They have April b-days. So, they are 3yrs 4 months. Of course, there is some leeway. They are 3, but they can start to learn some self-control.
Do you have the pre-K set from MFW? We have all those Lauri toys and even several I got from Lauri directly. My kids, namely the 3 year olds, really enjoy those. I have also found that if I give them a little direction and attention before I start with everyone else, they are often happier to run off and play because they have had some of mommy first. It only takes 10-15 minutes and it's worth the time. Mine LOVE cutting and gluing. What I'll do is cut strips of construction paper. I give them those and "safety" kid scissors. They cut up the strips into little squares...or whatever shape it comes out. After they are done, I'll give them a coloring page with a big letter on it. (Found by Googling) I put glue all over the letter and let them glue the little pieces of paper they cut to the letter. That keeps them busy and focused for a while.
I understand the distractable 5 year old thing. My oldest is VERY distractable. He is getting better now that he is in 2nd, but it's still a big challenge. In K it was almost insurmountable. LOL! Unfortunately, he is going to have to learn to do his school work with his siblings around. Again, you have 3 kids and still have to be Mom while being teacher too. Until he gets better about it, you just have to constantly redirect, which is frustrating, I know, but it's part of schooling with a distractable kid. For mine, I know if it wasn't his siblings, it would be something else, especially when he was in K.
Then, the other thing I always say is just keep going. Through all the interruptions, just keep pushing forward. We get distracted and derailed constantly, every.single.day. But, I just keep refocusing us back to school after the interruption is over. It does take us longer to complete our school day than it feels like it should. That's okay. This is my life with many littles. HS'ing in my house is no small feet. It's crazy and stressful and oh so fun! I have learned to love it. I can't wait till I have a classroom full of students!
You are only 2wks in. It takes a while to get settled and get used to the reality of homeschooling. We all have this picture in our minds about how we think it will be and often, especially with littles, it's nothing like what we expected. That can be hard to process. But, it will get better and you'll get used to what reality is. Pray lots and relax.
