Some days have been amazing, like when we did our scripture study together and said she wanted to keep reading. We read her favorite Book of Mormon story about Nephi cutting off Laban's head (plus our previous lesson) for a total of 30 mins, each taking turns reading a verse. Precious, precious moments.
Other times she has been so defiant that I've threatened to put her in school and told her, "I don't want to homeschool you anymore." (which I'm not proud of, but I want to be real on the blog) to which she responded with, "I knew you hated me!" Ugh.
We've also had a lot of fun together. Part of her daily assignment is to read for 15 mins by herself. She usually picks books from the library that she wants to read or sometimes she likes to reread her own favorites like The Cat in the Hat. I love to see her curled up on the couch reading and I especially love to watch her read books to Vince. Except for when he can't see the picture and grabs it out of her hand and she gets mad and then they start fighting. Life is full of bliss and hell every 5 mins. I never noticed that so much as I do now as a mother.
She tends to give up easily, so we talked about determination and what it meant to keep trying even if you make mistakes. After our talk I found this written on her notebook and was really touched. I need this advice as much as she does.
Charles has done a number of science projects with her since he's the science guru. She loves them!
Right now we feel good about putting her into public school next year so, I will try to enjoy this last year at home with her, even on bad days.
4 comments:
What a tough little sweetheart. You are brave for homeschooling her. Even a very docile child could drive a mother mad in that scenario.
Oh, Deanna, I know just how you feel, except when I started Kinder with Haley I had a 6 week old, instead of being 5 months pregnant. There are days that are downright ugly. When Haley was younger, we just took a day off for many of those days. Other days, I'd hug her and say, "We are having a rough morning. Let's start over. Hello. How are you today? I love you." Other days, when she'd rather continuing to watch TV or playing, I'd remind her that if she were in school, she wouldn't have any opportunity to do what she wanted for the 8 hours at school, and would she rather be there or at home? She always says school at home. It also can help to agree with your child when are resisting that the work is hard (or boring or taking a long time) but to remind them that they can be determined like you did, or I always say they are a hard worker. It helps to validate their feelings, and then they are much more likely to keep going in their work. It really really is the best of times and the worst of times homeschooling. It gets easier to handle emotionally as a mom the longer I've done it. But it's still rough. Just think... you can take some time off when the baby comes... I think I love school breaks more than the public schooling moms do. ;)
I have to admit that I don't think I have the patience to homeschool. I have thought about doing it during the middle school years as you had mentioned, but I don't think it would go well for me or my kids to do it now while they are elementary age. I think you are so brave for trying and I admire that!
I appreciate your honesty. I've thought/prayed/researched homeschool since before I had Lily. The best advice I read is that it will be different for every child, for every season. What is right one year may not be right the next. I think y'all are on the right track! Looks like you are doing wonderful things. Love her little notes.
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