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Attitude about school
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Hello, all! I haven’t yet posted but I have been so encouraged by reading the forum over the past year. I’m hoping for further encouragement. 🙂
I began homeschooling my son in February of last year, pulling him out of his 3rd grade class. At that point, the goal was to simply finish the year at home, but over the course of time we agreed homeschooling was absolutely the best thing for him and we’ve kept him home (and brought home his younger sister) for this school year, and probably indefinitely.
My concern is his dislike of anything “school.” He’s cooperative and will do his work, but he does the bare minimum and does it as quickly as possible so that he can “get it over with.” A prime example: I asked if he wanted to do a new language program he discovered as a part of his school day, or just in his free time, and he said in his free time “because once it’s part of school it’s not fun anymore.” (It’s the SAME THING! Just with a different label!)
I absolutely see him making connections, and his narration has come SO far compared to last year. I just wonder if this is something that he will eventually (sigh….EVENTUALLY) grow out of wiith continued CM methods, or if this is just his nature and I will need to learn to deal with it. I know it hasn’t even been a full year, but then again…it’s almost been a year…
Thoughts?
It sounds like he was never given a period to deschool…. recommendations are about 1 month for every year of school (including K, preschol, daycare….) so he needed about 4-6 months of no schooling to recover from school, so to speak…. oh, not really including summer vacation in that…
It will eventually get better, I think…..
My kids have this attitude sometimes about their morning ‘disciplined’ studies. The fact is that is takes discipline of mind to accomplish math, language arts, etc…Some of that has to be learned.
BUT – Remember what Charlotte said, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”
The atmosphere of the home makes a HUGE difference in determining how open your child is to receive knowledge. Is your home (in non-school hours) a place where there is art, music, color and life? Are you talking about the Lord and his precepts? Are you going outside to explore and discover?
I do not know of any child who doesn’t respond to the atmosphere of a life-giving feast of knowledge in the home. Children are created to learn this way! Do your children like to snuggle up with you and read? Play games that involve math, or go outside and take a closer look at God’s creation? These are all ‘school’!
I agree with suzukimom – give him a good, healthy dose of creating a non-school atmoshphere in your home. Then, gradually, train him to do the more disciplined studies in short lessons. Build up these lessons until he is used to them and doesn’t feel burdened by them anymore. Hopefully, a season of refreshment will help you all to relax and learn to enjoy the learning experience!
“Educating the Wholehearted Child” and the free SCM ebook, “Education Is” are great resources for understanding how to create an atmosphere of learning in your home!
Suzukimom, that’s an interesting point. We were focused at first on just “keeping up” with his classmates so he could go back, so you’re right–he never did have any “deschooling” time.
ServingwithJoy, I do think we have a wonderful atmosphere in our home; as proof I give you both my kids teaching themselves to read before kindergarten because we read together so much. They just LOVE to read, and yes, one of his favorite things to do is snuggle up and read with me, even now. The one thing you mentioned that we struggle with is outside time: he has asthma and severe seasonal allergies and frankly, being outside isn’t always that much fun for him. But we try to make the most of it when we are able. 🙂
I worry about scaling back studies right now….I feel like we just got a good rhythm and routine going. But if it would help him in the long run, I would definitely consider it. Thanks so much for your input!
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