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doris
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| Posted: Jan 06 2009 at 5:44pm | IP Logged
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This seems like a really daft question, but here goes.
Can you give me some tips on how to manage homeschooling with a toddler? My little one is now crawling like mad, and when he's not getting into everything he shouldn't, he's grizzly and toothy and coldy and wanting to be picked up... Even then, though, he's not content to have a quiet cuddle while I, say, read aloud -- he wants to be grabbing everything and generally being a little pickle!
He's also a very poor sleeper and my befuddled brain is struggling to function.
I know that he's just being a normal 11 month old baby. But I've just realised (duh!) that I haven't ever homeschooled with a baby this age -- dd2 was nearly a year older than this when I started hsing my eldest.
So -- any strategies? At the moment everything -- housekeeping, read alouds, home ed -- has to happen while he's napping. Ie, most of it just doesn't happen and I'm going more than slightly bonkers. 
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 06 2009 at 5:55pm | IP Logged
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have you tried any baby wearing? you could get one like an ergo or wrap that would let you put him up on your back.. keeping those little hands out of reach.
I don't do it much myself but I have friends that do and find it very helpful at that age.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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doris
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| Posted: Jan 06 2009 at 5:59pm | IP Logged
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Thanks Jodie. I'd love to wear him, but I've got a bad back and have had a prolapse  so it's not really an option.
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 06 2009 at 6:20pm | IP Logged
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ah.. yeah that would make baby wearing difficult..
it's such a busy age.. very hard to distract.. can the kids take turns entertaining him.. I know it wouldn't last long but you could get a bit of individual time with each of the olders that way at least.
sometimes that's just part of doing chores here.. one person get to hold the baby while the others work.. we trade off frequently.. and they like that better than mom doing all the holding and directing 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Jan 06 2009 at 9:46pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth - I'm in much the same boat. Katie is just starting to walk now and is into absolutely everything!!!
I stripped the learning room a couple of weeks ago of everything under 4 feet. I had the older kids crawl around the living room and learning room and if they could see something that was on her level that was a no-no they put it into a basket for re-location.
Then, we set up some baby/toddler zones for her to play in. We set out small play centers every 2 or 3 feet. Each play center has a small basket or bin and contains just a few toys for her. We did this in the living room and learning room. I didn't buy anything special for her to play with, but took the existing baby toys we've always had and divided them up throughout the rooms.
We put together a special basket for her when we sit down to read - it is filled with her books - and it only comes out when we sit down to read so that it seems not so familiar and may provide a few minutes of activity for her.
There are certainly times she still wants to be in my lap and that's fine, but it is a help to have made her spaces safer and filled with attractive play areas. This seems to work better for us than what we had before which was just one big laundry basket which just gets dumped and ignored.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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doris
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| Posted: Jan 08 2009 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Jodie -- I do get the olders to help out with him, but often only Mummy will do... But I did use that strategy a bit more today for short stretches, and the child responsible did feel very proud and helpful, so it was a win-win.
Jennifer, I like your idea of little play centres dotted everywhere. In our case, the toys strewn everywhere sometimes fulfil the same function! But I like the idea of being intentional about it. The trouble with our space is that it's all open plan, but I'm working on some (really obvious) modifications that will mean that I can relax a bit more. (Eg, get a fireguard so he's not constantly crawling towards the sooty fireplace! Duh!)
Thanks for helping the glacially slow mental process... 
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Home educating in London, UK with dd (2000) ds (2002), dd (2004), ds (2008) and dd (2011).
Frabjous Days
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Homeschooling with a toddler
