Sometimes, you need a full stop.
Let me explain…
Sometimes You Need a Full Stop
This sweet little guy had a rough morning.
Then, his Cheerios got soggy.
Then, he cried about how brushing teeth is “SO BORING“…
…and then he fell off the bathroom stool and banged his noggin.
“Some days are like that, even in Australia.”
I knew that we needed to switch gears to get this guy smiling again, and so I took a page out of Kara Stephenson Anderson‘s book. I decided we needed a full stop. (As Kara would say, “Trying to learn while hurting is like trying to eat apple pie while crying. Sure it’s apple pie, but it’s not like you’re enjoying it.”)
And so that’s how we ended up at one of our favorite farms. I grabbed a coffee and bought him a muffin. Then we played card games in a sunflower patch.
Do you know what? His smile came back, as you can see above.
Plus, he was learning.
Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I get to read books and play games all day. Some kids never grow up!
In case you’re curious, here’s what we played during our “full stop”…
We picked two of our family’s favorite card games:
And speaking of my homeschool sister…
Did you hear that we hit #1 in the K-12 Education category on iTunes?
Please continue to rate, review, and subscribe to The Homeschool Sisters Podcast. It helps us so much. We are so grateful for you!We’re connecting with our sisters, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Yesterday! With sick kiddos, we just needed time to watch The Magic School Bus and Little House on the Prairie for a few hours.
Hope everyone is feeling better soon!
Last week we had a stop or at least a pause. I was desperately trying to work through a lesson about nouns before the teething baby woke up. Much to my chagrin, both of my students were kicking each other behind me on the couch, kicking me, wiggling and making potty jokes over my teaching. I reminded them that their behavior was not particularly respectful and they stopped for about 5 seconds and then continued to be disruptive. They were just unable to listen and learn! I was getting angry, feeling the pressure of getting things done while we could focus on school, but I decided to stop and try a reset. We all got up and played a very active game of Simon Says. They each got to be Simon and make me do silly things including standing on my head till all the blood rushed to my face. After 10 min of giggling we sat down and they actually listened. It wasn’t perfect, I’m not sure they could tell you all the things we discussed about nouns, but we did the lesson and they participated. One of them may have even liked it. I want to be more willing to audible and change directions when we need to stop or divert in order to regain our smiles but I don’t want them to think that if they act badly they get out of school…I’m working on the balance and discerning the real issues at hand when we’re having a rough day.
Thank you Cait for your encouragement!!
Well, to me it sounds like you are rocking it 🙂 Would love to cross paths soon and catch up on everything! <3
Games are always my “full stop” solution. Or going outside!
The best!!