Day eight of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts

Trying to get my boys to sit while I read to them is impossible.  This is so central to everything Charlotte Mason, which is what I hold dear in homeschooling, that I am trying different approaches to see what works.  Of course, with my boys, what works one week may not work the next so I need to keep looking for ideas.

A few days ago, I was reading about the causes of the Civil War in Eggleston's A History of the United States.  They both had a Boomwhacker in their hands (a long plastic cylinder) that they used as swords because they wanted to act out what was going on in the chapter while I read (no battles in this chapter, but I wasn't going to stop them.)  They narrated fairly well afterwards, though ds#2 continues to struggle with narration.

Today, I read about Nineveh and Babylon in Hillyer's A Child's History of the World, followed by a chapter of A Door in the Wall while they each had a ball of modeling clay to fiddle with.  The clay worked remarkably well to keep their fannies on the couch, their mouths quiet, and their ears open.  I hope this technique works for awhile...