Here are a few things that have lead to instability in my children, making our homeschooling journey difficult at times. It can be wrongly perceived as willful rebellion in your child until you realize there are other factors involved.
1. Poor Food Choices. It's easy to just let them eat anything they want when it's already so difficult and time consuming to prepare healthy foods that everyone will consume. One way to combat this, without spoiling your kids, is to have some things prepared in the freezer like healthy muffins or homemade healthy waffles with real fruit in them. Then if your kids can't decide say, "I have A or B, which do you want?" It usually solves the problem. If not, Cream of Wheat is always a great fall back option for kids of all ages, especially this time of year when it's so cold out.
2. Lack of Sleep. Here again, it's sometimes easier to let your kids stay up late than to make them go to bed. I've recently seen a couple of examples from families. One family makes their kids go to bed by 8:30 even though they are not toddlers anymore. They do great in school and have energy and are not typically moody unless they feel bad. In contrast, I've see another family who lets their kids stay up late and watch a lot of T.V. They do fine in school, but are moody and have hardly any energy and have a hard time getting up in the mornings. In my kids, when they do not get enough sleep, they fight every little thing we do and then throw tantrums when they don't get their way. Extremely frustrating when you're trying to homeschool.
3. Allergies. Poor Rachael. She has had allergy issues for several years. Because of this, she hasn't been able to eat right and sleep right, even when she tries. Medication doesn't seem to do much other than make her drowsy or hype her up. The only solution is for me to be patient and understanding. Yes, I struggle with that at times, but I really do feel bad for the kid.
4. Environmental Frustrations. No, not Global Warming...I mean, Climate Change...ha! Noises, bad lighting, too hot, too cold...you get my drift. Even me being the least bit distracted causes issues in our homeschooling efforts. One day, I thought I would catch up on email and check the news while Rachael was assigned to a project. All she did was sit and stare at me. Some days, we have pajama day because they wake up cold or extra tired.
Patience goes a long way. Try to remember that they are little adults and that they have the same needs and challenges that we do. Think about how hard it is for you to learn something new when you get distracted or when you don't feel well. It's the same for them, but much worse because it's intimidating to have someone bigger than them who has authority over them telling them they have to do something when they don't feel that they can.
I hope something here helped you and your children. Merry Christmas from us!
I had planned to post Rachael and Alice's photos with Santa. However, I've just discovered a connection problem. You can see them at: http://www.amysgravelroad.blogspot.com/.
