Ni Hao Y'all

when east meets south

four weeks in

Not ashamed to say it. Just four weeks into the new year and homeschooling an 8th grader and a 6th grader is kicking my hiney.

More specifically, an 8th grader who is taking a high-school Biology course, doesn’t manage his time extremely well and can’t resist a game of hide-and-seek with his sisters.

And a 6th grader who never misses an opportunity to distract his brother and can usually be found shooting baskets instead of finishing his handwriting practice.

The school day around here has lasted until 5 PM on more than one occasion.

Mama just can’t do that.

So we all sat down and had a talk. And took away some screens.

I’m happy to report, the boys have made great strides towards staying on task and completing their work on time.

chairandahalf

Learning that a little motivation goes a long way.

Comments

  2. Not sure about your kiddo, but my BIGGEST motivation with an AWESOMELY comfortable chair like that would be a serious SNOOOOOOOZE!!!
    Much love to you and your beautiful family…
    xo
    Val in Ohio

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  3. Totally there too… We started a point system for chores and daily healthy habit type things. I have limited screen time and the pts add up at end of week for extra screen time. It may be helping a bit. But today was aweful. So… shrug… But on another note: I LOVE the pic!!!! Noah is so happy.

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  4. Noah sure looks happy!! My homeschooling friend had to designate an area of her home as “school” where all school activities took place. During the day school behavior is expected and school rules are followed. (they were prominently posted!) She found that it helped her kids transition from home self to school self and it kept her from losing her mind. She also made it clear that home school is much harder than regular school and requires more self discipline and if her kiddos couldn’t find that self discipline they would be returning to regular school. As it turns out, one of her kids agreed with her and actually returned to public school. I think it is definitely a trial and error situation. Best of luck to you all!! 🙂

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  5. yep. i have 1 really good time manager (my 5th grader) who gets done first every. single. day with excellence– she spoiled me for the rest of my brood. my 3rd grader is pretty good– but his handwriting is worse than our chickens’ so he always has to re-do everything… and my 2nd grader has the attention span of a gnat and loses focus every 5 mintues- so it takes her the longest- then there’s our 1st grader and K who i have to do school with– but that’s more fn. oy. i have no free time:P

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  6. Oh, my 8th grader is kicking my behind too! We school year round for many reasons, one of which is so we don’t have that dreaded “kicking and screaming” back to school thing–we take breaks when we need them, and always keep just enough momentum going so that the transition into the official school year is fun and not hard. Until this week. Oy, vey! It does not help that this was the shortest summer in the entire history of summers (I don’t know how it is possible, but all my friends agree it feels like we’re just now getting into our third week of summer. Although maybe living on Monterey Bay is part of the reason–the summer fog just lifted a few weeks ago and we finally started to see hot days–and maybe it’s because we were a little too busy this summer, which made it feel like we never got a summer (because of course to me summer = lazy). And of course once life calmed down and the sun came out blazing it was time to start school again, and I think I’ve been the most rebellious one of all. Our homeschool charter officially started Aug 16 (what, in the stinking middle of SUMMER?) but we were too busy trying to squeeze in some last ditch efforts at fun to do school, and I’m thinking now that perhaps this was the wrong way to start the school year. ; )

    So glad you worked out your solution for now! I’m thinking I’ll be happy if we have things running smoothly by October. . . .

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  7. ohhhhh…i hear ya!!!! big hugs. we’re homeschooling, too – and it’s wonderful…but we’ve also been doing math at like 9pm some nights…eeek!

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  8. Can’t give too much feedback on the “homeschool dilemma”, however, that “sweet dog snoozing beside your son who is totally engrossed in a book/lesson” is PRICELESS!!

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  11. Grace my dear, it takes lots of grace. I have been homeschooling 13 years and how my days ‘look” is constantly changing. I have taken ipods away during the week with limited computer time after work is completed for the day as well. It certainly helps us keep our focus!
    The picture is absolutely priceless! I hope you send a copy to Noah’s breeder. She will treasure it I am sure.
    Keep on keeping on! There is so much more gained through homeschooling than just book knowledge!

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