Yvonne Laborda

I have 2 girls (4 and 8) and one boy (6). My oldest every morning asks
where are we going today o who are we seeing? If I say that we don't have
anything special or planned she says... ok... But looks kind of "sad".

We don't have any un- homeschooling families nearby. We need to drive for
an hour to meet them. I think I could offer her more things to do at home
but with the other 2 it's sometimes difficult to meet everybody's needs.
And when there're problems about deciding what we can all do I just leave
and cook, wash... I know that if I think/feel I should be doing more means
that I'm not doing enoungh otherwise I wouldn't feel the way I do.

My eight year old can't read yet and sometimes I think that if she could
things would be different... She loves making things, crafts... she is
really creative. My 6 year old son is very active, he needs moving all the
time and "bothers" his sisters...

Thanks in advance.



--
Yvonne Laborda.
www.welivelearning.blogspot.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Andrea Q

If your oldest wants social interaction, you could try Skyping or FaceTiming with friends and family. One of my girls would love to be on the go every day. Video chats (usually with FaceTime) with friends and Grandma have helped a lot. Playing on public Minecraft servers has also helped.

When we can't all agree on one thing, we alternate choosing activities if there's not an option for someone to stay home. I think the more you work at trying to find solutions that keep everyone satisfied, the easier it gets to brainstorm ideas.

Andrea Q

--- In [email protected], Yvonne Laborda <yvonnelaborda@...> wrote:
>
> I have 2 girls (4 and 8) and one boy (6). My oldest every morning asks
> where are we going today o who are we seeing? If I say that we don't have
> anything special or planned she says... ok... But looks kind of "sad".
>
> We don't have any un- homeschooling families nearby. We need to drive for
> an hour to meet them. I think I could offer her more things to do at home
> but with the other 2 it's sometimes difficult to meet everybody's needs.
> And when there're problems about deciding what we can all do I just leave
> and cook, wash... I know that if I think/feel I should be doing more means
> that I'm not doing enoungh otherwise I wouldn't feel the way I do.
>
> My eight year old can't read yet and sometimes I think that if she could
> things would be different... She loves making things, crafts... she is
> really creative. My 6 year old son is very active, he needs moving all the
> time and "bothers" his sisters...
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> --
> Yvonne Laborda.
> www.welivelearning.blogspot.com
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Sheryl Lentine

Could you do park days or something with the "more schooly" but local homeschoolers?

ckasse

I just started giving one day to each of my kids to plan. Between monday and friday, i plan 3 days, which include grocery shopping, friends I want to see with kids that we can all play with, or an outing I think they'd like, or dr appts. the older two (ages 5 and 4) each plan the main event on their day. choices have been biking, a mall that has amusement rides, and i also give them a bunch of ideas to
choose from which fit our time and money constraints. today my 4 year old chose "stay home" and bored by that prospect myself i asked if hed like a friend over. he said yes so a favorite of his is headed
over. each knowing they get a day gives the understanding about the plans on other days. Saturday is a religious holiday for us and Sunday is mom and dad split day and both get free time. kids don't plan weekend days.
-Carmiya
mom to ages 5, 4, 2

Annie Regan

My eldest is also an 8 year old girl who asks every morning what we are doing/who we are seeing. She would happily go out every day, while my other 2 kids, and I, function better if we have some home days in between our activity days. Caitlin seems to accept it more easily if I say 'today we'll be staying at home' rather than saying that we've got nothing planned. Sometimes she then thinks of something she'd like to do at home, other times she wants some help finding something to do. I've started leaving my grocery shopping until after my husband comes home from work, so then Caitlin can come with me and the others can stay at home. She's also doing a few activities that are on later in the day, so again, one parent can take her and the others can stay at home. This way even if we have a fairly quiet week she does get a number of outings. I also have friends come and pick her up if she really wants to go out and we don't - although this is harder if you live an hour away from friends - many of Caitlin's friends though do go to school so sometimes one of their mums picks her up after the school pick up and I go and get her later. If she knows there's a social thing happening later in the day she copes with being home for the rest of the day. She also talks on the phone to her best friend a lot, several short calls a day. Her friend doesn't have Skype yet but when she gets it I imagine they will spend a lot of time on Skype.

Another thing that helps is after I've said we're thing home for the day we sometimes talk about our plans for a future outing so she is reassured that being at home all day is not a permanent way of being. She'd still like to go out more and see people more so we're always looking for ways to help that happen.

When we are at home I don't expect everyone to be doing the same thing, they are often all working/playing at their own thing and then come together when they are interested in what the others are doing. So I might help caitlin get started on some jewellery making while the others are playing Lego or watching tv, and the day flows from there. I buy lots of craft and creative activities from op shops and discount stores so that I have lots to offer Caitlin when she feels stuck at home.

(And it doesn't always run as smoothly as it sounds, but I'm working on it)

Annie

Sent from my iPad

Sandra Dodd

-=- My oldest every morning asks
where are we going today o who are we seeing? If I say that we don't have
anything special or planned she says... ok... But looks kind of "sad".-=-

What we did (still do) was the night before, part of family chit chat, and part of winding down for night time (depending on the kids ages) was to talk about what we were doing the next day. It often had an impact on what we needed to do that night. Some things involved certain equipment or clothes or food, and we would get those things ready, or thawing, or in the laundry or whatever. Some things involved going to sleep early, or taking a bath or shower, or putting down extra pet food, or finding something we were going to deliver to another family, or place.

If it becomes the discussion of the night before, there are lots of advantages.

-=-it's sometimes difficult to meet everybody's needs.
And when there're problems about deciding what we can all do I just leave
and cook, wash...-=-

You said "just." If you could rephrase that (just above here), it would help you, I think.
-=-I just leave and cook, wash...-=-

There must be other things to do besides out with friends, home with crafts.

There are ideas here:

http://sandradodd.com/youngchildren
Some might be "young," but many probably are workable.

http://sandradodd.com/physicality

Sandra




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Karen

>>>>> I know that if I think/feel I should be doing more means
> that I'm not doing enoungh otherwise I wouldn't feel the way I do.<<<<<


I posted a question similar to this a couple/few of years ago, and Sandra said that if I felt I wasn't doing enough, to do more. It was good for me. I was looking for a reason to be complacent. You may not be. I was however, and her comment got me thinking about ways I could make our home more interesting.

Ethan, my son, likes to be home. So, I focused on the home. I purchased some fun posters, and put them up in various places around the house. The kids loved those. I would set up fun chemistry experiments. Again, a big hit. I downloaded new games. I put several movies in our Netflix cue and ran them in the background while we played. I got a couple new toys, and set them up. I brought out old toys, and started playing with them.

I did all of these things to see what captured Ethan's interest. Some did. Others did not. But, it made our home more vibrant. More dynamic. More like a place that celebrated life and learning.

I think if you feel like you're not doing enough. Do more. Have fun. In my experience, it's truly contagious!

Karen.