DS just not "into" it =(

[janie_ranae]

A big "Thank you!" to everyone in this thread for sharing your wisdom and experience! Having read the replies here, I've had "professional development" as a mom & teacher and am ready to begin the new year with renewed enthusiasim!

May God bless each of your homes as you train up your children.

[pjdobro]

There is great wisdom already shared here! I've gained so much reading this thread.

Whitney, I also wanted to mention something that I noticed just this past year in my ds. If I allow him any media time be it hand held games, wii, or tv before we do school, he is a zombie for school and doesn't seem to comprehend what he hears. It's almost as if it puts his brain to sleep. He is a very visual learner and I think those things just put him into a hyper visual mode and shut down what little audio processing he has. Whatever it was we decided it was not a good idea to allow these things before school. I know some people allow some play time before school, but I found that to be negative for my dc too. If I allowed them to play first, then it was like I was interrupting their play to do school, and they resented that. So around here, school is first on our agenda and play and free time come after. It seems obvious, but it took me until this last year to figure this out. This might not apply at all, but just in case I thought I would share.

[netpea]

Patty, we find the same thing to be true. Play before school means they find school to be an interruption to THEIR day. We have a no media before school rule here.

[3sweeties]

A big "Thank you!" to everyone in this thread for sharing your wisdom and experience! Having read the replies here, I've had "professional development" as a mom & teacher and am ready to begin the new year with renewed enthusiasim!

LOVE this--100% agree!!! Thanks for such a great thread, everybody!

[chillin'inandover]

Just encouraging all HOD'ers that it is a long haul but so worth it! I don't remember much of my school and I am relearning or really learning along with my children. I only remember a few teachers but don't have any contact with them. Those beginning years are skill development-reading, writing, dictation, and arithmetic, etc. and are life long skills. It is hard and often thankless but persevere for the end is sweet. As they get older they will retain facts that interest them and want to have a dialogue about that information. The relationships established with your children because you are alongside on this journey-"the good, the bad, the ugly of school" is sweet. I agree with quick lessons at that young age. I hope our kids want to play as this is a skill too! My son loved Benjamin West because he wants to be a painter and he enjoyed Einstein the scientist who didn't like the structure of school but he doesn't remember any historical dates. He enjoyed having a pile of books on right to complete and watching it go down, down, down. He didn't like to do the work but he liked to watch that pile disappear! Summer is here and he truly needs that break from school.
Tammy
dd 19 grad HS HS
dd 17 HS HS
ds 9 HS
dd 5 HS

[anniam]

My ds, 12, is very much like your ds. I just want to encourage you to keep plugging away. He may never be enthusiastic about school but HOD works and so do Carrie's methods. My ds pets the cat, picks his toes, watches the grass grow, etc while I'm reading BUT he DOES remember. Maybe your son is retaining what he hears but it just doesn't look like it. I pretty much let my ds do his quirky things while I'm reading as long as he can narrate back to me. I have 5 daughters and 1 son, and I tell ya, girls are waaaaaay easier imho!

Just a thought, have you looked at some of the stuff on Timberdoodle like "thinking putty" or those bouncy ball/chairs?

[annaz]

So I've finally had a chance to sit down and read this thread. What a wonderful group of women! As a mom who has only one guinea pig this has been an inspirational thread for me to get planning on next year. I love HOD, but really was dreading starting. My dd is the one who tells everyone she hates school, hates homeschool. (sigh) She's always been more boyish in school thinking. Play, play, and non-academic (although she's smart) type.

After everyone's answers and Carrie's I see where I've made many mistakes and I see now where fixing this goes. For me, I need to see how certain rules look in the end result and I see now how her attitude and fixing it will take her in the long run. I see the "learning as the bulletin board" as someone mentioned and I now see those examples of constantly testing dd or adding on more is more of a hindrance. It's okay to "just get it done". Isn't that what we want when we do laundry as well? I know we'd choose it to be enjoyable a long the way, but sometimes it's okay to get it done.

Thank you so much for this thread and all these answers! For us who only have one, we never see the end result till it's done and we can't use those ideas on other kids. So people that have been there done that, is so helpful for us who have one chance to get it right!

Another printout. More ink. More inspiration. Yay!

[annaz]

Patty, we find the same thing to be true. Play before school means they find school to be an interruption to THEIR day. We have a no media before school rule here.

Ditto to this. This year I vow no pre-play. We chucked any tv prior to school and it made 100% difference. Now to chuck play.