I'm having a rough go-at-it right now. Mainly with Ethan. How is it that the child who probably will benefit the most out of homeschooling, is the one that is giving me the biggest fits? Today he spent the greater amount of the school day in his room. I just couldn't take it anymore. I sent him to his room and Ashton and I got along with our school day just fine...can I tell ya...it was easy peasy schooling just ONE....
Ethan should be the one to have something to relate to since he spent Kindergarden at TFA. He knows how long of a day it was there...here, our school day is about 2 hours long!!! I mean, come on, which one would YOU take???? Did he roll his eyes for his teacher? Did he whine and moan "is this almost over?" And let me tell ya...I'm not tooting my own horn here for bravado, but I'm a cool teacher! LOL I mean, we do FUN stuff...sure, we have to do the three R's, but goodness gracious, it's not THAT much out of the day.
Today he's lost his afternoon movie priviledge and he's also lost his priviledge of playing football with Daddy when he comes home (although I forgot that we'll be at church tonight anyways when passing out the punishments). I feel like I've talked thru scripture, we've had lengthy discussions, he's received discipline, and he'll say he gets it, but then the next time rolls around and it's back to square one.
I really really really love homeschooling, but is it possible to have joyful children too? Or is this what I should expect from here on out? How can I "make" my children enjoy school? I can't take away math and reading and it just all be about playing all the time. I'm not into unschooling, need more structure than that.
On a positive note, Ashton and I had more one on one time today and I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but we started righting down the "at" family words (ie. cat, fat, hat, sat, etc...) and he blended the sounds together all on his own and READ THEM! We were both so excited. It was awesome!!! He told me that he wanted to learn some more right away. So, I guess I'll start a reading program for him too. That's good stuff...makes all the bad stuff worth the aggrevation!
2 comments:
Hang in there! This too shall pass.
The bliss and frustrations of homeschooling run in cycles. Last year I read about a mom who had successfully homeschooled four kids give this mantra, "It doesn't have to be fun, but it does have to be done." My son hates hearing this phrase, but he also knows he's not getting out of what has to be done. We have also let my son know that if he thinks school is boring now, he hasn't seen anything. At the encouragement of my husband, we picked the subject he complained the most about and had him work on it for 2 1/2 hours. It worked beautifully. He hasn't complained since. He's improved in this subject too as a result of the extra practice. :o)
I absolutely want to hit my head against the wall when Jake doesn't want to do something or acts like he's had enough. I can't stand it - I'm the BEST teacher ever, I planned for this, we're doing FUN things, what the hay?! I think it's because it's "mommy" he thinks he can try to get away with more. And I feel like I say, "would you say that to Mrs. Tina? Then DO NOT say it to me." 100x the first month of school.
We've cut school and done chores instead -and boy oh boy a 5 yr old would rather do math than pull weeds! ;p (shh, so would mommy)
Keep pressing - you're doing a fabulous job! And whether he knows it or not - this is what he needs!
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