Teacher Notes

This week was again tough, but not in the way it was last week.  This week it was tough, but I kept my cool.  I kept my temper…at least most of the time.  Up until this week, I’ve had the 2 little ones watching some cartoon for the hour to hour and a half that I needed some quiet teaching time with 1 of the 2 older students.  Many times by lunch we’re done, or more specifically: I’m done.  As I’m getting lunch ready, and craving some peace and quiet, I send everyone downstairs to the playroom in the basement to watch t.v. until lunch is ready.

That has really been backfiring, because it seems once Silje and David watch some t.v. as cheesy and educational and everyone-be-nice type of cartoons they are (not like the Tom and Jerry of my generation) Silje and David have a marked attitude once I let them watch t.v.  Once they even see one show, they talk back.  The refuse to do their chores.  They whine and complain every step of every instruction.  I was so sick to death of these battles.  It wasn’t just daily battles, it was every 5 minute battles.

At one such time after lunch, when I had asked Silje to pick up some school things that fell on the floor in the dining room, and I asked David to go outside and get the eggs, (and I might note, they were the first “chores” I had asked them to do so far that day) they both melted down into a complaining, weepy mess.  They hated picking things up, they hated going outside, they hated school, they hated everything.

I had had it.  They were fine that morning during school.  This was only after they watched a show downstairs, and I had turned it off because it was time to do some chores.  They do not respond well to me turning it off.  So much to their screams, I unplugged the t.v.  I detached the dvd player, and the digital converter box.  I put them on a high shelf in the cold room (a storage room in our house the kids are terrified of because it’s damp and it’s were the mice live.)

As you may know, I take away the t.v. quite often.  I don’t like doing it because I don’t see anything fundamentally wrong with the t.v. and it’s awfully nice to have a few minutes of quiet here and there.  I don’t want my kids growing up too sheltered.  However, it seems my kids can’t handle it.  Every few months, we go 6 months or so without it.  I always reintroduce it at some point of desperation, and I always, ALWAYS regret it.  It’s like a drug that they get addicted to, and can’t seem to pry themselves away.  They can’t handle themselves without their fix.  Television shows start taking priority over obedience, kindness to others, and good old fashioned play in their hearts.  As a mother, I can’t just shrug my shoulders and let that happen.  I wish I could allow them a small amount, but a small amount hasn’t been working.

(I do make the older kids get dressed before school starts, but the little 2 don’t always make it into their clothes that soon.  I’m hoping by next week we will all be out of pajamas by school.  Baby steps.)

So it’s been hard having everything disconnected on the t.v.  The little kids are now into everything during school.  So far, they are content to have crayons and color books at the school table.  It’s tricky when Solveig climbs all over me during reading, but she really enjoys it too.  We’re making do, and we’re managing, but it’s an adjustment.

Creativity is returning to the kids, and that has made me happy.  Both Silje and David have initiated these extravagant popcicle stick craft projects, with painting and all.  I’ve been kicking them outside to play more often, and they’re fighting me less on that.

This week has been full of successes and failures.  I’ve had some low lows, and I’ve had returned hope that we can do this.

We’ve begun our study on Native Americans from North America all the way down to South America.  We’ve been starting a study of the Incas.  We’ve been doing some reading on Columbus.  We’re pushing ahead on math.  David’s reading is improving greatly.  Silje is showing she really has a knack for cursive, and is really enjoying that subject.  I’m tying it in with spelling, which is her worst subject, and she’s taking much more to spelling this year, with the fun element of cursive thrown in there.

David is doing extremely well with his first year of Chinese.  He was really nervous about it, but now he loves it.  He’s doing great in English grammar now as well.  He likes for me to try to trick him.  Everything with him is a game, and we’re working on labeling nouns and verbs right now.  I will give him a word, and he has to tell me if it’s a noun or verb.  He loves this game.  When we’re walking around the house, I’ll throw him a random word and he’ll jump up in down with excitement as he tells me the answer.  I’ve yet to stump him and he’s pretty proud of that.  Even my tricky “What’s a combine?” (answer: noun) and then “What’s combining?” (answer: verb).  He thought that was pretty tricky and was proud of himself that he didn’t get tricked.

Actually, the kids are loving most of their subjects, and want to keep going whenever I say a lesson is done.

Although they tell me and others that they just hate school.  I can’t seem to figure that out.  Often I’ll give them assignments and not tell them it’s school so they’ll come a bit more willingly.  That has backfired more than once, though, as they then tell people “We didn’t do school today” and I’m not sure whether or not I should tell them that they in fact, have done lots of school.

We’re gaining some momentum.  I don’t feel like we’re at a full productivity rate yet, but we’re getting there.