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I am doing school every morning with my 5 and 3 year old and they are doing great. The only problem is that my 15 month old wants all my attention. He won't play on his own with toys for more than a minute, he can't do play-doh or coloring because he eats everything. I have tried giving him special toys just for school time and he wants me to play them with him or he is not interested. I have tried doing school in the afternoon while he is napping, but my 5 year old is not anywhere near as productive in the afternoon as the mornings. He is too big for a play pen and he would climb out anyway, so I have just ran out of ideas. I have also tried having my 3 year old play with him while I do LHFHG with my Kindergartner, but they always end up fighting and my 3 year old would much rather be at the table doing school with us or doing a puzzle or coloring. What can I do? I can give him a snack in his booster and that buys me 15 minutes, but what else? Any ideas? I feel so bad, like I am trying to get rid of my 15 month old for a while while we do school. I don't want him to feel ignored. I know he needs my time and attention too! My oldest two kids had all my time at that age because we didn't have to do school everyday. Does anyone else feel guilty about this? Any thoughts?

I'm not sure how much time you are needing for school, but if it is say 1 hour, maybe you could get your youngest in a routine like snack -15 minutes, mega blocks- 15 minutes, lace-n-trace-15 minutes, magna doodle - 15 minutes. That is just my suggestion because I know mine loved mega blocks, magna doodles and the lace-n-trace (and still enjoy the lace-n-trace ). I just mean to get the littlest one doing several 15 minute activities right in a row...maybe some things only allowed during school time, then do it consistently so he/she will know what to expect. I would also recommend giving the littlest one about 15-20 minutes of your undivided attention before you start school to fill his/her cup so to speak.

One more suggestion, I don't know how you feel about screen time, but my youngest one loved the Baby Einstein's: Baby Galileo and Baby Noah dvds.

Hope some of this helps!!

On top of filling his cup with lots of attention first..
I'm wondering if you couldn't Invest some training time in him this weekend.
I know when I spent time training My dd before I did the expected stuff, I found I had much more success because it was training I didn't really care if anything else got accomplished.

Tell dc Mommy is going to be busy I need you to be quiet till I return. (enlist daddy too help if you can ) put him in play pen.. have Daddy or you if need be keep a casual eye on him when he attempts to get out, have Daddy reenforce Mommy will come get you when she is ready stay in play pen ... Now 2 min later Mommy comes back praise praise praise... your still in play pen what a good baby.. keep doing it all weekend. Little few minute sessions of mommy needs you to be good etc.. up the 2 -3 then 4, 5, 7, 8, etc. Daddy can administer a hand squeeze to the climbing hands, along with the "no stay in play pen." I would try to do it 20-30 times over this weekend. These are Mini training sessions. Each time you do it, you show him Mommy needs you to be here for now. Getting out is not an option. Mommy will always come get you.

Get dc used to Mommy needing him to be good in play pen, and that you expect him to do so. You will soon have a wonderful tool again.. just because He can climb out of it doesn't mean he can't stay in there because its the right thing to do. It may take you 2 days or 7 days or 10 days but the investment in time will pay off in the end.

I remember coming to pick up my dc from my best friend and found said friend telling my baby to "Get in the street!!!!" eeep what are you doing!! she said oh were playing street. I noticed last time we went walking you told her to get out of the street, and she didn't, so we play street now... get in the street, get out of the street... get in the street... get out of the street... She is a wise woman... My kid gets out of the street to this day.


I Do want to encourage you I did something similar an at home Prayer meeting (they had no child care) we had about 15 pretend sessions on sitting quiet till Mommy was done just like I suggested above. The next time we went to prayer meeting I did not have to take her out. So it does work. and this is my special needs sensory dc.

The idea of pp sounds wonderful, but it did not work for our oldest - he was climbing out of playpen & crib by 10 months...and no amount of praise, repetition or correction of any kind was going to convince him otherwise. It works wonderfully well with my youngest...but...the oldest is very strong-willed to this day, a mover and a shaker. We did all the right things for months on end, and he was not going to stay in that playpen...so...all that to say each child is such a wonderful gift from God and is so different that what works well for one child may not work at all for another. And as parents we sometimes begin to think WE are doing something wrong...just remember, your treasures from God are so incredibly unique!

For my 2yo, we did playpen time, also...if the pp's ideas work...then great. Ds got books, special toys, etc. But, when he was younger, he also had highchair time. He - at 15 months - ate everything, also. I gave him "edible" paint....warning, it is very messy, but oh so fun! I used whipped cream, pudding, jello, yogurt, colored watered, applesauce, anything safe for him to eat at that point. Please don't think I am insane - he had a great time and I only gave him one or two "paints" at a time. He is very tactile and LOVED it! Sometimes we used Cheerios and "glued" them on paper using yogurt. I gave him leftover spaghetti noodles to play with - as he progressed, I had him string cheerios on cooked spaghetti noodles. If you are an always need to be clean kind of gal like one of my closest friends, then this idea may drive you crazy (it did her )...so, just throw it out Anyway, he had fun and the other two kiddos had my attention for school. Of course, most days I had to mop the floor under his high chair, but that was a small price to pay for the time!

Trusting God to give you the wisdom you need to accomplish His purposes in your home school day...and continue to enjoy the treasures He has given you! I can't wait to read the insight of other moms in this area! Blessings to you!

That stage can be a challenge! They are just mobile enough to be a danger to themselves. However, this too shall pass, - which I know you already know as you've got some older dc. The advice given here already is so good - I think I've actually used a combination of all of these good suggestions over the years! Overall, taking time to train my toddler to move from thing to thing, about every 15 minutes, was life-changing for me. He thrived on the routine of it once he got in a routine with his little day. A few things that seemed to universally help all of my 3 dc at that stage (and believe me, they were very different from each other )...
*starting homeschooling the others at the table while toddler finished his breakfast in his high chair
*including toddler in the songs part of HOD; we marched around the kitchen singing all together
*having a safe place for toddler to play near us with rotating toys
*low cupboards in the kitchen for toddler to have his own stuff in to pull out at will
*Johnny jump-up in doorway by us
*educational video in safe place near us but not in same exact place as us (or other kiddos end up watching - could your LHTH child watch with toddler maybe?)
*snack in high chair
*big paper taped on high chair and fingerpaint or big crayons
*10 minute activity with me in the middle of his rotation of things

Does your toddler take an AM nap yet, or just a PM one? If so, I'd put the phonics during the nap. Here's another great link for ideas to try with toddlers:

What to do with toddlers while schooling:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=198&p=33557
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4987&p=36744#p36744

In Christ,
Julie

I SO feel your pain! We have been using nap time, because I just have not been able to find any sanity amongst the 3 of them. But, naptime seems to be getting later and later. It was around 11, which worked fine for us, but now it more like 12:30 or 1 and that just does not work. My 3yo dd is longing for her "own school" but I just haven't been able to find much time for it, but it is more than that (whole other post...not now). We seem to be slacking right now and needing to get back to our "schedule", not that I could ever seriously call it that, but you KWIM.

I need to try to implement some of these tips myself. Hang in there though, they will be over this stage before we know it and I will be missing having my sweet baby tugging on me.

@4hispraise Oh how true!
My dd was like a wild animal when we first started (and I have the bite marks to prove it ), kids from orphanages are S.U.R.V.I.V.O.R.S. The weak well they tend not to make it. DD1 has never wanted to please me, so every little thing was/is a struggle. Guy at the adoption conf this weekend said it so well "High structure and High Nurture" only way to handle these kiddos. For 6 months I never ever thought I was ever gonna get this one to behave. then I was introduced the the fine art of training. Consistency and training worked wonders. I found some thing that works yippie!!!

@ shaffer96 Don't be discouraged! Maybe its not the play pen, maybe it's a play corner. But I have found My kids are like water they tend to rise to the level of my expectations. For me continual distraction, upon distraction for dd1 was far more work in the long run than the train ever was.

Here's a few more threads that may be of help: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6869

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6412

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4462

I'll also paste below a response of mine when my little guy was 2:

I can empathize with you, as my own 2 year old has suddenly decided to let his little voice be heard! He has descended into the "No" phase with a vengence and is exercising his little will like crazy!

I don't know if you have gotten a chance to see my schedule on the scheduling thread but that may help you. One idea from Managers of Their Homes that I really liked and used was the Mommy Tape or CD. I recorded myself reading short Bible stories, nursery rhymes, counting, saying the names of family members, singing short little songs like "Jesus Loves Me" etc. to last 1/2 hour. I said my little one's name over and over all throughout the tape, like I was talking to him. I played it every day while my little one had time in his room with his toys (we do that time in his crib for safety reasons).

Another wonderful thing that is well worth doing is to clear out a lower cabinet in your kitchen and stock it with just your 2 year old's toys. I only allow my 2 year old to have one toy at a time out of the cupboard. Many days he just spends a lot of time taking out one toy, scattering it on the floor, picking it up, putting it away, and getting out another one. We did put child protectors on the cupboard doors, which he CAN open, but it slows him down and keeps him from just unloading the cabinet. We try to put toys in the cabinet that have many pieces and storage boxes WITH LIDS. This keeps him busy for at least 30 minutes every morning, again in the afternoon, and in the evening. It is the first thing he heads for when he comes downstairs, as he knows it is his. We also have a playroom with his toys, but he only ever wants what is in the cabinet.

Some examples of inexpensive things to place in the cabinet that you may already have on hand would be a bucket of cars, a lidded container with macaroni noodles and a measuring cup, play food that he can cut or put together, a can of tennis balls with a lid, a container with a tweezers and small objects to pick up with the tweezers (like small pieces of yarn), a Cheerio book if you have one (where kiddos put the Cheerios on the openings in each page, if no Cheerio book make your own using coloring book pages and drawing circles where your kiddo should place the Cheerios (and then eat them), a container with trains and a track in it, a magnadoodle, anything he can pound like a ball pounder, an empty egg carton with a big button or other object in each slot (make sure they're not a choking hazard though), colored cups with a small container of legos chosen to be the same color as the cups (sort the colored legos into the matching cup), a lidded tub filled with stuffed toys, a container of megablocks, possibly some tractors or other vehicles, etc.

Last, I've found that if I schedule some time to be one-on-one for 10-15 min. with my little one, early on or mid-way through the morning, then he is more willing to go play on his own. Even reading a book or singing a couple of songs with him will give him that one on one time.

Hope this will get your creative juices flowing. The moms on the board have done such a great job of giving you ideas. It is a blessing that we can pool our thoughts to come up with things that will hopefully be of some help!

Blessings,
Carrie

Just watching.... We've taken a break from curriculum for a few months until DD4 gets a little older. I'm working more on training DD2 and DD3 to play with her than I am working on her right now. I'm hoping the few months of maturity will help us out!

Just today I got about 30 minutes of somewhat quiet school time by putting my 3yo and my 18 mo old in their high chairs beside each other and giving them those Crayola Color Wonder markers and coloring books to doodle with. The 18mo bit the end off one of the markers and spit it out, but other than that it was not a big mess and pretty harmless. Another day this week, I gave the little one a cup of yogurt in this high chair and just let him eat it and make a mess with it. When he was done, I got Noah doing one of his more independent things while I got Boone into the bath and that bought me enough time to get storytime done. It's a constant juggle around here, but we are finding a few things that help. HTH

Just wanted to add also, that I too struggle with feeling guilty about having to put the younger children aside in order to do school with the oldest. There are so many more things to get done now than when my oldest was younger. It's really hard sometimes!

I just wanted to encourage you too that as your kiddos get older, you will eventually get that special time with your youngers that you have had with your olders. Either you will have older ones who are old enough to be of help with the little ones (to allow you a bit of time to school your school ready kiddos), or your young ones will grow up and one day there won't be anymore young ones. In the meantime, through HOD, your older kiddos will get your time when they are younger and then move toward more independence as they grow, keeping back the great character training and Biblical discussions (along with a few other fun tidbits) that are so important. As they grow in independence, it will make time for your youngers. This is why we write the guides moving systematically toward more independence as we do, knowing that this will allow you time to teach your youngers rather than pulling them behind your older ones for years to come.

We are beginning to see what I am sharing above, as I have time with my two youngest now as my two older kiddos are getting older.

Blessings,
Carrie