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My son is six and he is one of those children who is always moving, has the shortest attention span and acts on his impulses to move, ect. I have thus far not focused on his schooling hoping he would grow more able to focus. So far no progress on that but that is ok, God has a plan for all this energy! So......

Do any of you have one of these wiggley little boys?
How does this work for you?
How long does a day's worth of lessons take for you?

I am so worried that I won't be able to get him to sit still!

I actually just finished our first day of LHFHG a few minutes ago with my hyper 6 y.o. boy, lol. I broke the lessens up throughout the morning and afternoon instead of doing everything all at once. So it was like...history reading, play, phonics, play, math, play, you get the picture. He did great and I think this is going to be a great homeschooling year!! I'm not really sure how long it took to do everything... I would say about 10 mins. per box. HTH!

kissesmomof4,

I have 4 boys, and two of mine were supreme wigglers and the other two were not as wiggly. So, I can certainly feel for you! We've found the activities in the guides and the short lessons in each box of the daily plans to be great for our wiggly little boys! But, I'll move this post over to the Main Board, so more moms will get a chance to chime in too.

The folder you originally posted in is for testimonial type posts, which is why you aren't getting many responses. All new posts begin on the Main Board. We're glad to have you here!

Blessings,
Carrie

My 6 year old is super wiggly too. He is doing Beyond with his big sister. I have to remind him to stay focused, but he is improving. When he does written work, he is usually standing on his chair leaning over the table. I don't care as long as he's working! I agree- the short lessons in HOD are great for wiggly children. It helps him to sit right next to me (or even on my lap) when I'm reading aloud so he can see pictures (or pick out words that he knows).

Also, my grandma is buying the children a mini-trampoline with a handle for Christmas. I'm planning on letting the children take turns jumping on it for quick breaks!

To answer your question, because of everything we have going on (baby, 2 year old!), school usually takes us about 4 hours, but that includes stopping for a quick snack and lunch. We have lots of quick unscheduled breaks because of changing the baby's diaper and running the 2 year old to the bathroom when he says he needs to go! As much as the interruptions frustrate me, I think they are actually good because they give the children a quick break here and there.

I am doing LHFHG with a very energetic 6 yo boy too!! We also alternate between "sit-down" and "move around" boxes which helps a lot. We also usually take 2 or 3 "recesses" during the day.

My ds also leans over the table when he is working!

One thing that I allow my ds to do is play with one of his small toy trucks during any reading portion of the day. He can only do this if he is quiet (no truck noises allowed) and if he can answer questions about the reading when we are done. At first I thought that this was really awful- there is no way a "real" teacher would allow a toy in class!
But I realized that was just a pre-conceived notion of what a "real" class should be. It was a huge help to my ds to just have something to do with his hands while I was reading. My dd likes to color during that time and also brings her "baby" with her to class!!

Hope that helps a little!! Have a great day!

kissesmomof4 wrote:My son is six and he is one of those children who is always moving, has the shortest attention span and acts on his impulses to move, ect. I have thus far not focused on his schooling hoping he would grow more able to focus. So far no progress on that but that is ok, God has a plan for all this energy! So......

Do any of you have one of these wiggley little boys?
How does this work for you?
How long does a day's worth of lessons take for you?

I am so worried that I won't be able to get him to sit still!

Two of my three sons are wiggly - one VERY wiggly. HOD has been a blessing in helping to keep them moving and active. In fact, I've missed it this summer because I don't do as good of a job of planning for their wiggles as HOD does. For my very wiggly ds, when he did LHFHG, he had to begin his day with playing first - for about half an hour. Then, we did the left side of plans, rotating between active and less active things. We also marched to the music as we sang it, and did the Fingerplays several times with gusto! We alternated rooms too. We did the reading on the couch, the table work at the kitchen table, the marching in the living room, etc. Then, he played again for half an hour. We finished by doing the right side of the plans, again alternating things to keep it as active as possible. I also did not drag out activities myself (something I need to watch personally). We finished in about an hour and a half with the school parts - adding in the playtimes, it took about 2 1/2 hours altogether. Each day went a little more quickly, and each day he became more able to settle down and dig in. You probably won't be able to get him to sit still at first - but don't worry, this will get better and better as the year goes on. HOD is awesome for busy little ones!

In Christ,
Julie

I think LHFHG is a wonderful program for my non-stop 5 year old boy. He loves it. He loves all the active things like the Rhymes in Motion but he'll sit for the readings too. As another poster said, I allow him to have a toy to play with as we read, if he wants. I also often read while the kids are eating. We've just started our 3rd week and he's finally able (and wants) to do a full day. Before that we just did half of the lesson plans each day, though he would often chant "more school, more school" when we finished.

We did a test run today. It was really hard to get my little guy to focus at times but he had a lot of distractions from his brother and sister who were doing other things and making noise. We got through everything but the math workbook page because the neighbor kids came to the door and I needed to make dinner. He will have no trouble adding it to the next lesson.

I think he will do just fine when there are less distractions happening around him. He just might need to get up and wiggle a little between boxes

i wouldn't say my almost 6yr old is hyper, but he has a lot of energy. Isn't this just the way they are made?

anyway, we break everything up for LHFHG, too. We do 1 or 2 things , then play a little bit, etc. He also, stands and writes at the table ( i think someone else mentioned this). if it works for him, it works for me. When I read the story-time he is usually playing with some dinosaurs, or robots or cars at the table (while standing), and he IS listening.

it seems we usually start at 9am to get things rolling. unless we have co-op (Mondays).

It seems like it takes long but it doesn't. it is just spread over the day. we do try to save any science or longer reading things for the afternoon when the 19- month old takes a nap.

i don't know how creative your little guy is , but my son will also draw things we are talking about or sometimes we make a simple flip-flap book or layered book out of construction paper or white paper so that he can draw something on each little page and write something about it. (Oh the joy of lapbooking! we are starting small).

I guess anything hands-on really seems to help us. i think the hands-on stuff helps me remember! I am very visual.

Hope this helps
Jenn D.