Somewhere I Went Wrong… "Bored" 6-Year-Old and Skeptic Relatives

Laying Down the Rails is awesome for habit training!

Maybe he might enjoy living math books…reading and math at the same time. ;0)

Okay, so I am going to go against the grain a bit here.

First, I do agree that you could literally ‘put it all away’ and your son would be better off. By put it all away, I think we are all saying that you can put away the formal instruction. Put away the formal, sit down ‘lessons’. And also put away the guilt and pressure from relatives and your own expectations.

Put THAT all aside, because this isn’t really about whether your child is at the right grade level or not. This is about WHO your child is becoming – not WHAT he is becoming. And this is where I am going to rub you (and probably everyone else) wrong…

What you cannot ‘put away’ is the fact that you are in charge of your child’s education and that he needs to understand that there are going to be things in life that are required of him that aren’t his favorite things to do.

Do you enjoy waking up early to feed a young child, or to take care of them in the middle of the night when they are ill, or disciplining them when they do wrong? I know I don’t! But the point is that we do these things because they are our duty. They are important, and our God-given vision for our children, along with our love for them, requires this of us. Remember Charlotte’s motto: “I am, I can, I OUGHT, I WILL”.

So, even though your 6 year old can’t understand all the ‘why’s’ of schooling, he should understand some ‘must’s’:

He must bend his will to yours.

He must submit to your authority and leadership.

and

He must understand that it isn’t ‘his way or the highway’ in your home. He is not in charge. That is the first lesson he must learn if you want him to be a child open to receiving your instruction. This isn’t done harshly. It isn’t done through fear or intimidation – but it must be clear who is in charge of your home, or you will never have a willing pupil or a child who understands how to submit his will to God’s will!

Practically speaking:

Remove the impediments. Absolutely ‘put away’ the obstacles to his real learning (like workbooks and desk work). At this age, you do not need them.

If you spend money on nothing else, spend money on Laying Down the Rails. Spend it on a good children’s anthology. Start reading to him, in short periods. Require attentive listening skills. Start with the habit of attention.

Obedience is not obedience if it accompanied by complaining. That is compliance…but not obedience. True obedience means that your son is willing to do what you require of him because he recognizes that you have the rightful authority to require it of him! Continue to work on this with him. A child who is not obedient at 6 will not magically become obedient at 15. This is the other habit that is necessary for him to accept instruction from you!

If he balks at handwriting, math, etc…be creative, but start with (very!) short lessons in the things he doesn’t like. Start with one letter. Spend a few minutes on it. Then move on…The next day, come back to it, maybe increasing the time a bit.

Build on the tolerance for disciplined studies little by little until he is doing a full 15 minutes without knowing it.

He may not enjoy it. But that is okay! The point of a CM education is not that our children are happy, happy, happy all the time!! It is that they are respected and gently led to what is good for them for their entire life.

I am sorry if this seems harsh. I know these principles are difficult to instill.

Every single person on this forum is working on these things every day with their own children! But we continue because we see that when we are consistent in implementing them we have incredible, educated, disciples of Christ! That is worth every bit of effort that we put into their training.

Blessings to you as you begin this awesome journey.