Keeping Him Busy

One of the biggest challenges of homeschooling for me has been to keep Naynay busy and happy.  When Jojo was in Kindergarten, Nana was young enough to not be interested in what we were doing.  In the fall when we started first grade it quickly became apparent that this year was going to be different!  At first I kept Naynay busy with videos, but that didn't work too long because he isn't interested so much with sitting there and watching a movie.  Plus, Jojo would rush through his work hoping that if he finished quick enough he could go watch a movie. 

Then I brought Naynay in the kitchen with us and he was happy to be occupied coloring and cutting papers.  This actually worked for a while until Jojo just kept getting so distracted by him. 

Recently I've had to pull out some old tricks out of the bag.............things I used to do with Jojo when he was little.

 

Nathan loves playing with water and so did Jojo at this age.  I 

basically just set up two bowls with water and he transferred 

dinosaurs back and forth.  This actually kept him satisfied for

an hour and he was actually having a blast.  Another day I put 

yellow food coloring in the water in one bowl and blue food 

coloring in the water in the other bowl.  He was quite surprised

when the water began changing to green.

 

Another day I got out our tub of dried green peas with little toys

hidden inside.  He basically just sticks his hand into the tub

and pulls out the little toys.  He also gets spoons and mixes the 

peas around.  This little activity kept him busy for up to 2 hours

the first day.  The rest of the days he played with the tub for at

least one hour.  Of course water has spilled, clothes have

gotten wet, dried green peas on the floor, etc. but at least

it has kept him busy.  He is also in the kitchen with us but I

keep him away from the table so Jojo isn't distracted and yet

Naynay feels like he is getting some attention.