Yesterday was not a good day for Jes.
This happens to him often. Though not usually as bad as yesterday.
He is a guy that is all about fun. He's super pleasant, easy to be around, and makes everything a game. I'm totally in love with him.
But sometimes those traits work against him. Like yesterday.
Regular school. All his siblings are finished. Momma wants to be finished too. But there sits Jes. Still on number 2. Not that number two is hard, its just that there are so many other interesting things to think about than math.
After several warnings I find him up, out of his seat, and checking out what his brothers were doing on the computer. Seriously Jes?
I hate it when my kids goof off when there's work to do. Our usually way of handling it is to assign more work so they can "practice" working diligently. So Jes got another assignment.
Now if I told him I was heading to the farmer's market and he could go when his school was finished, he would've knocked it out in 20 minutes. Both lessons.
As it was, it was 3pm with nowhere to go for a long time.
TaeKwonDo at 5:45 and the kid missed it. Because he was still working sitting there. .
That meant I missed it too. growl.....
He also missed going to Grandma's afterward b/c at 7pm he still wasn't done.
Finally he wrapped it up at 8pm. 12 hours of school.
I love having my kids home. But sometimes I wish I could just be the mom.
7 comments:
Just be the mom, eh? Whatever that means... You were being a mom!!!
Your honey.
just be the mom ~ oh, I hear ya!!
I know. But those kind of consequences are hard to follow through with. I envision some teacher that he would drive crazy and force into early retirement! Lol
i always hated math when i was young. when i took a class at college, something made it fun and interesting for me finally. wish it had happened earlier! but for so long it was just drudgery.
I have been thinking about Jess's problem ever since i read this post this morning, and i had an idea for something that might help him.
if he loves games, can you try to work with that and use it as a strength? can you make math a game?
What if you set a math timer? with a time limit and an extra little reward for days when he finishes even earlier than usual (maybe with a rule that work still has to be done well, it wouldn't count if it were shoddy... of course that would require someone checking it immediately so the reward could be immediate.)
perhaps if he sees it as a challenge and not just a chore that he's nagged about all day, it will be easier for him to focus? maybe you could set a per-question timer? have someone time him per question, perhaps. if he really CAN do it in under 20 minutes then this would not be a huge time investment.
how nice would it be for him if he could focus long enough to zoom through his math every day :D
No clue if any of these would help him, but as someone who had a very difficult time focusing on math, my heart goes out to him. if he can learn self-discipline with math now though, that kid could conquer the world ;)
one more thought... i occasionally did math standing up and hopping a bit. helped blood flow in the brain or something :D
i also did science, on rough days, in a recliner while munching chocolate chips that my mom surprised me with to help me think :D
I agree with Lana..
Thank you for the ideas Lana. I especially like the chocolate chips one! Your mom is one smart lady! I remember when I was young having a hard time memorizing my multiplication tables and my mom made ip a song for each one. I loved it!
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