Because Home Schooling Is Fun.
9:00am
“Boys! It’s time for school!”
moan, groan, moan…
“Come on, guys. Come to the table. Let’s get this done quickly.”
grumble, grumble, stomp, stomp..
“Here’s your books, have a seat.”
“Whyyyy… Why do we have to do school?”
“You know why. Now, let’s get to work.”
This is how my week has been. Now, it’s not always like this. Sometimes they’re excited! Sometimes they come willingly and sit down and enjoy working with me. Our first week was like that.. last week. But not this week. It has been a fight every step of the way. I’m really hoping that by the end of the month they’ll get over it.
“Kieran, please write the word ‘threw’.”
blank stare
“Kieran? Can you write the word ‘threw’?”
“I’m thinking.”
“What letters make the ‘th’ sound?”
“T and H.”
“Okay.. write that..”
blank stare
“Kieran?”
“I’m thinking.”
Now, I won’t lie. I’m pushing them pretty hard right now. But not harder than they’re capable of handling. Just harder than they want to work. They are finishing up some work left from last school year because mom got lazy and totally slacked off last spring. Then she totally slacked off during the summer too. So now, we’re trying to make up for it. The boys are doing about 3-4 days of work each day for their reading/writing/language work. Plus about 2 days of math. BUT, it’s not hard work and they know how to do it. They’re just getting it done.
“Aidan please read the sentence.”
“The boy…” stares at me..
“What sound does that letter make?”
“Umm.. ‘w’?”
“Yes, can you sound out the word?”
staring at me “Work? Will? Worm?”
“Aidan. Look at the word, not me. It’s not on my face.”
“Oh….” looks at page “walked down the…” stares at me again..
With those several days’ worth of work each day come fun activities and such that they get to do as well – activities like building a volcano, making paper snow flakes, building towers with clay and toothpicks, cooking authentic Bible food, making a family tree, and so on and so on.. However, the boys often don’t get to the activities because they sit and stare into space and moan and groan all the way through their lessons instead of just doing them. Sad. Really.
“We probably won’t have time to make a family tree today after all.”
“Whyyyy???”
“Because you’re working to slow.”
whine, moan, grumble, whine..
“That’s not helping. If you’d stop complaining and work faster, it might fix the problem.”
But, what can you do?
I’m frustrated. I’m very very short on patience. And yes, by the end of the day? My brain is like mush.
During my first week off of blogging, I actually did have some inspiration for a couple of posts. But I never got around to writing them. Because if I take care of my responsibilities, I just don’t have time. But in the past two weeks? I can hardly even think straight. However, I do find myself feeling bored now and then.. I’m hoping that soon, I may be able to sit and work on my book during that time. For now, I’m reading books. Which is nice. Since I haven’t been much for reading books since I started blogging 5 years ago.
Anyhow.. Some of you have kept up with my updates on my xanga blog, so you’ve seen this. But I thought I’d share with the rest of you one of the more rewarding moments of home schooling.. Here’s a very short video of my kids and their first volcano (which we constructed with clay).
We also made a lentil stew this week as the boys were learning the story of Jacob and Esau. It was quite tasty! I modified the ‘authentic’ recipe a bit to jazz it up. I was looking forward to having leftovers, but the whole pot was devoured! Here’s how I made it:
Heat: 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large pot
Saute: 1/2 of a large onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
Add: 3 Cups dry lentils
4 Cups chicken broth
2 Cups water
Bring to a boil.
Add: 1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 Cup chopped spinach
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Cook for 30-45 minutes or until lentils are tender.
We served it in pasta bowls (it’s very thick) with fresh baked biscuits and honey. Everyone loved it and I will definitely be making it again!
So, that’s what I’ve been up to during my absence. Sorry it wasn’t more exciting. I wish I could say that I had actually banded together with some ninjas to battle a zombie invasion.. but I didn’t. Or did I?..
