horseshowmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2000
My recently turned 7 yo is becoming a nightmare to homeschool. He fights every single thing I say we are doing. Including games. I am just so tired of it I could cry. I don't want to fight with this child everyday but I don't think he would do well in a school setting either. I don't know what to do with him and need some suggestions. What he tells me is that he doesn't want to go to school and he doesn't want to homeschool he just wants school to not exist at all. I have tried just taking some time off but then all he does is whine about watching TV or playing computer games or whatever he can think of to complain about. Help!!
And a secondary question--if your kids are playing productively do you interupt them to do school? For instance, my boys right now are making a rocket ship out of a box. They have a whole plan, they have taped on controls and decided what each one does, are making up a story line etc. Technically we should be doing table work at this time of the day. They are 5 and 7. What would you do?
If it were me, I would not fight the issue. I would tell them that school is non-negotiable. I would also tell them that we can't watch TV or get on the computer until school is finished. Furthermore, since we can't accomplish anything with whining and complaining going on, it looks like we'll have to hold off on school. That, in turn, will delay any form of play, TV, computer, etc.
Don't let them have any form of entertainment while they're pouting, etc. (in other words, it needs to be as boring as possible).
At their ages, I suspect just sitting on the couch will get old pretty quickly. Tell them that when they're ready to have school, let you know, and you'll be ready to get started. The sooner school is done (and done correctly, not with an attitude), the sooner other options are available.
As far as the rocket goes, I don't see a problem with letting them continue it from time to time, but I don't think it needs to be a daily issue. One of the problems that I've seen people run into is that while homeschooling can be (and should be) pretty flexible, they let the flexibility get out of control and wind up having to extend their school year much longer (and not getting to have a regular summer break).
Anyway, these are just my opinions.