Location Location Location

Purim is coming this weekend and we have had several lesson plans preparing for this joyous holiday. Yesterday's event involved making hamantaschen that were then packed in little boxes to be given away as shalach manos. Lucky for me, my mommy partner in teaching offered to make the dough and host us at her house to cook.

Each week at least one of the kids seem to act out and spend some time out of the room. Typically, my own kids are the ones who are removed. Well, this week while outside of their own home, my kids were generally pretty good. We had a moment when my younger one did some things that didn't make Momma proud but my 9-year old seemed to be on his best Hebrew time behavior. Much to my surprise, the one child who had to be removed from the activity was the other older child (8-year old) whose home we were visiting.

This situation made me realize that the issue may not be that the material is boring or too challenging. It is not always a function of having Mom or Dad be the teacher. It is location, location, location. My kids act out in their home and perhaps this other child felt more comfortable in his own home to do what he wanted.

We are requiring a shift in behavior among the boys in their home from "let it all out" to "this is an educational institution." So, how do we create an educational institution in our own homes? Should we find another meeting place that is neutral? This weekend, we plan to meet at synagogue for Hebrew prior to attending our synagogue's Purim carnival. I look forward to the next part of the unintended location experiment.