Hi Crystal,
I am sorry to hear of your frustrations. I have had them also. I know what you mean about always having a baby – we have eight children: 12,11,9,7,6,4,2, and 11 months. It isn’t as easy to treat it as a season when it never seems to end! But the opportunity to bear children is a precious gift, and will not last, so I would encourage you to enjoy it while you can.
Our oldest son also did not enjoy reading at that age (he is twelve and NOW he does) and I think he went through a lot of what you are describing also. At that age, he enjoyed more nature walks (a little harder in winter, depending on your location), science experiments, drawing, picture books (he still sits and listens to our younger children’s read alouds). He hated to listen to anything for any length of time. Copywork – ugh! It was really tough with him too. Perhaps you could ask him to choose what he would like to be copying?
Do you incorporate any games into learning? Our children loves to play games – math games might bring some fun into it. Or Professor Noggin’s – there are a lot of choices there from nature and history. We try to have games on Friday while the youngest two are napping (or at least the very youngest).
One thing I would suggest with your son (I had to with ours) is to teach him that playtime doesn’t come before school starts. He is old enough to learn that, although it will likely be frustrating for both of you at the beginning. This is just my suggestion, obviously you should prayerfully decide if it is best for your family. We do bible time, breakfast, chores, then the kids start into some independent work and at 9:30 we have family school time.
Do you use a playpen at all? I need to with our two year old for interruption reasons also. He used to cry and yell, which was really irritating, but he knows now that he needs to stay in and play quietly for a time.
Remember, with your children being so young, try not to pressure yourself too much. Eight and six years old are good ages to enjoy picture books, nature walks, games, a few literature selections if you can find some they’ll enjoy, drawing/painting, science experiments.
I have found consistency in habits training a challenge also, particularly with a small baby around. I would encourage you to do what you can right now for habits training, and remember that the baby will be older soon, which will leave more time to focus on that area with the other children. There really is only so much that can be accomplished in a day, and you shouldn’t feel “bad” about that. The important thing is that you don’t give up.
Blessings to you,
Gaeleen