Why My Children Can’t Sit Still

Last week, I went to homeschooling group and there was a fellow homeschooler with 3 little boys who were lovely.  They sat there and played quietly and nicely, then went and ran around at the play place for a while, then came back and played nicely.  They were really lovely kids!  Lady P is wonderful and happy and full of life and energy!  I can’t keep up!  But she cannot keep still!  She is fidgety all the time and hates to sit!  All of my homeschooling activities MUST HAVE kinaesthetic activities involved or else she gets bored and says she doesn’t want ‘to do school anymore’.  I have heard from many people who have sons that boys usually can’t keep still and are high energy.  Girls are good at playing quietly…HA

Don’t get me wrong, I love Lady P’s energy!  In fact, my parents say I was the exact same when I was little.  I seem to remember my mum saying, ‘keep still!  Do you have worms?’ (I smile as I write this because I say the same thing to Lady P!).  So rather than getting annoyed at her, I’m trying to embrace the active lifestyle she is developing within me!  I don’t want her to slow down, I want me to speed up!  A friend of mine and myself went to IKEA with our 5 girls once and they literally ran from place to place.  They never walked!  My friend said, “Imagine if adults had as much energy as children!”  So to test what it would be like, we copied them.  We ran from place to place, touched everything and laughed a little too loudly!  Besides the odd looks, we were exhausted within minutes.

Baby S can’t even sit for a story!  I have to speed read so I can get to the end!  The only thing that saves my exhausted mind is the fact they both nap in the afternoon, and no wonder!   I’d nap too if I never stopped moving from 6:30 am until 1pm nap time!   Phew!  Over the past few days, I’ve been reevaluating my homeschooling style (not that I have one yet) and I’ve revamped it a bit!  I love Montessori for its hands on approach but the quietness just doesn’t work for my girls!  I know, I know, I’ve read all about how children who used to be loud and fidgety, completely turn around once they go to Montessori schools and I’m sure my girls would too…but do I want that truly?  I love the fact that Lady P will talk to everyone (although I know that isn’t always safe); I love that she has just started climbing trees (I’m so proud of that one, she likes princesses so much, I was beginning to worry she’d never climb a tree); I like that she has to run EVERYWHERE; I even like that she has to have one last run in the house before bed, like a cat that has one of those crazy running moments where their spines go all fidgety…

Lady P climbing her first tree

I have decided that it doesn’t matter that she’s loud and boisterous and likes running!  I’ll just take her outside more!  That’s the freedom of Homeschooling!  I can learn about my children and what their educational needs are (because they all have them!) and adjust my curriculum and teaching style to match their needs.  And if that doesn’t work, put on Dora the Explorer to get 30 minutes of quiet…(until that cartoon girl tells them to shout for the backpack!  I hate that part!)

Sniffing Daffodils

Picking leaves up, then throwing them down again…an activity that took 30 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To make this morning literacy based, we are working on the letter Y this week, so I showed her how to make a letter y with two sticks and then she made them too.  She was quite proud of herself for doing this!  She likes to make the letter y with her arms too.  We will will be doing some jolly phonics at home as well.

Letter Y

Learning the letter Y