Is it so very hard to understand if I say, "When you finish your work you can go outside," that the more time you spend delaying your work, the less time you'll have outside? I don't think so, but I could be mistaken. Apparently this concept is difficult for the six and nine year old members of our household.
It was absolutely gorgeous outside today. Sunny, 65 degrees, slight breeze... perfect weather. JT had very few things on his list to accomplish. There were no compositions or brain surgery labs. A little math, a little grammar, 15 pages of science and a worksheet to go with it, and he could be on his way. FOUR hours later he finally wrapped it up and went outside. Unfortunately, we had to leave for Odyssey of the Mind practice 45 minutes later. When the moaning and whining started, I said, "If only you had done your work more quickly earlier, you would have had more time to play."
Is this a developmental milestone he may not have reached? Should I be concerned? I played with an idea for hammering it home. What about a jar with beans representing segments of time for play that slowly deplete as the time is being wasted? That just seems like it would teach him to rush through the work. I feel like I spend too much time saying 'I told you so'. I guess I'll have to brainstorm on this one. Now that the weather is nice, it will certainly be coming up more often.
The funny thing was, when they finally got out there, he gathered up his entomology 'supplies'. He took a jar, tweezers, a magnifying glass, notebook and his field guide and loaded them into a backpack. He collected several insects and wrote very detailed journal entries including sketches into his book. He did more for his education in that time than in the 4 hours I had him. Maybe today should have been focused on the great outdoors from the start. However, I know if I had suggested he do that, it never would have happened.
One more quick thing...while the boys were outside, their differences became so apparent. EM was dribbling the basketball in the driveway while JT was lying on the sidewalk writing in the notebook. EM yelled, "Are you open, are you open?!"
The entomologist made no reply.
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2 comments:
All I can say, is if you figure it out, would you let me know??
I keep hearing that one of the wonders of homeschooling is that the children become self-directed in their learning. Could someone tell me when that happens? I mean a date and hour???
Joking aside, I've found that sometimes I can get them to work independently if I talk them through breaking up the work into steps. What do you do first? Great idea. How can you build on it? What should you tackle next? Etc. I leave them with a plan, and they often take off and do well.
Don't give up hope. Tomorrow you'll wake up and they will have researched circuitry and rewired the house for you. :)
What I've learned through hard experience is to have A play outside for a set amount of time before coming in to work. It's almost as though he NEEDS that time outside to work out the kinks before the thinks. ;) Kinda like how yoga is body preparation for meditation. I've discovered that it seems to work here...I just don't always remember it. ;)
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