Homeschooling with humor

Let's face it.  Our kids are going to get on our last nerve.  We are also going to get under their skin.

I love it when traditional school parents say things like, "I could never homeschool my kid, I don't have the patience, temperament, etc".  All I could think is, "I don't have those things either"... yet I homeschool.

How do I do it?

With humor.

Here are some examples:

Child is in the middle of a melt down on the floor (this could be at home, or in a store).  You stop, bend down, pat them on the head two or three times, and nonchalantly say "you're gonna be ok".  Make sure your sarcasm is dripping.  Then walk away.  They won't have any choice but to stop.

When your kid is telling you what he will or won't do, tell him it is completely up to him.  He can
do either A. or B.  Make sure B is very, very unpleasant.   For example, kid doesn't want to do multiplication today, maybe even ever.  You reply, well you can do multiplication for 15 minutes or your can go scrub the toilet.  You win either way.

Oh, and my favorite... Kid says something crazy.  Mom gets to say something crazy.  So they look at you and say, "why'd you say that?"  You reply... "I thought it was crazy statement day".

I realize this sounds a lot more  like corporal punishment than humor, but understand I say all these things with a smile on my face and a laugh in my heart.  My body language says, You must be kidding, surely, you're kidding right?  It's all that usually needed for them to spot their own absurdities.

I don't just use humor to keep them in line.  I try to make humor a part of our everyday lives.  I pay attention to what they think is funny and try to get a good handle of their sense of humor.  I send them jokes, present them with funny gifts, and just try to keep our home environment as light as possible at all times.

I joke and tease when they are good, and I joke and tease when they are bad.  Keeping such a light hearted feeling in the home, in my opinion, reminds us that we are not in a school with strict rules and dress codes. We are in our home, and we should be enjoying ourselves.



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