Posted by Monica on November 04 2009 at 12:52:58:
In Reply to: maybe I want advice, maybe I just want you to say posted by Elodie on November 03 2009 at 10:34:52:
Elodie, don´t know if I have any advice that will work. Just wanted you to know that when we were homeschooling I had the same issues at times with both daughters. There were days I just wanted to pull my frigging hair out.
Having the girls in private school now has not corrected the situation. We still have days that I want to pull my hair out when it comes to them getting their work done. (or for instance practicing their instruments which I keep threatening not to pay the rent on them if they don´t do it...) Don´t get me wrong - not every day is like that and I´m sure it´s not for you as well. We´re dealing with kids here and so I think that we all will have days and even weeks when it can be frustrating.
My older daughter came up with an idea when we were talking about it at one point a few years ago. She decided that she wanted a timer to be set when she had a paper to complete or a specific task that needed to be done. This went against every thing that I know and love about flexibility and enjoying the learning process - but we tried it anyway. It worked for her and helped her to stay on task for 15 minute increments. There were many times when she beat the 15 minute timer and was happy about that. Some times we had to reset the timer for another 15 minutes.
I don´t know if that would be helpful or even palatable for you and your son. It´s something to think about and in any case I wanted you to know that I don´t think any of us would judge you harshly in any way - as we all deal with kids who drag their feet at times and also just generally act like kids. I have read of studies being done on kids who didn´t get the (what might be considered) ´ideal´ education at home for a year because of illness in the family or other hardship and it turns out that those kids progressed satisfactorily in spite of that situation. That is something to remember too - that the education that you are providing him, although it may not be perfect (and it rarely is perfect for any of us), he is still going to be fine and very well educated. Much more so than if he was in a school setting - IMHO.