My kids are 7, 5, and 3. If they are expecting me to entertain them, they complain, whine, moan, gripe, fight, and irritate each other if I am not being "enough" for them. (And it is hard to EVER be "enough" for any person who doesn't want to do for themselves!)
However, if we do fun things together, a little tiny bit of "school-y" stuff, and then I make them turn off the TV and suffer through the 20 minutes of post-tv crabbiness, they usually end up all three playing together really nicely and creatively. But I have to be really direct that I am BUSY and I will not entertain them. I usually offer chores they can do if they are so "borrrrred" and can't find anything to keep themselves occupied. The last few days this resulted in the most fantastic playground being constructed for our pet rats, lots of LEGOs all over the house, some outdoor water play, list-making of foods the rats enjoy and don't enjoy, and lots and lots of dress-up and pretend play.
For us, it is all a matter of forcing them through their annoying bored-ness and into finding something to do. Maybe "calculated activity-planning neglect" is a description for what works here.
Are you happy with how much schoolwork you're doing? If it's too much, you can likely do much less and see great results. We typically do about 8 hours per week. And they seem to fill in the rest alone.
