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GraceandCoffee
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 4:55pm | IP Logged
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I am not sure if this is right forum...
We've been homeschooling for a month. We're doing ok. But we have been having some difficulty with just sitting down and doing certain things.
We're using St Thomas Aquinas Academy. My son is 7. We have also a 5, a 4, and an 18 month old.
My 7 year old is very very energetic. He's firmly in the category of "Spirited Child". Very determined, persuasive, etc.
He can read well. We did that using Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and then he went to the public K where he was ahead of everyone else in reading.
Our problems are in Math and handwriting. We're using Math U See and handwriting w/o Tears. But we have nearly got tears. Mostly from me. :D
He just objects to having to sit down and do it. He likes watching the math videos, and the manipulatives are ok, but he starts to do what I call "flopping" when it's time to do the workbook pages. Or practicing his handwriting. He just starts to flop on the table and act silly and change the subject and ignore everything I say. He wants to procrastinate, or try to bargain his way out of doing any work. This is so trying for me I end up getting angry with him. I don't think learning should be a power struggle or a negative experience at all. This isn't what I envisioned!!!
So as a result of this we have days where we don't do anything else but the 10 minutes of handwriting and the math lesson. By then we're so sick of struggling with each other we're done for the day.
So any suggestions?
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Wife to the most wonderful man in the world, and mama to 4 beautiful children: meteorologist age 7, naturalist age 5, ballerina age 4, and baby boy age 19 months
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 5:05pm | IP Logged
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Does he behave better for Dad? Can you have him do those subjects after he gets home so Dad can supervise, if not the lessons then at least the behavior?
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 5:07pm | IP Logged
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is there something you can change around? does he HAVE to sit down to do the math for instance.. can you have him stand on one foot while he's working  have him get up and do jumping jacks between things.. give him a set number.. do those things first before anything else? or do those things after you've gotten the first battle with sitting down over with?
When my kids are what I call "squirrely" just can't sit or focus for anything.. I send them outside to run to the end of the dead end street and back.. usually by the time they're back the exercise and focus and easy transition of coming back in the house at the end of the run.. seems to make doing the next thing work better.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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nissag
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 5:31pm | IP Logged
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My 7yos is also active. He can't access memory if he's sitting still. If I let him stand up to narrate or recite, he's fine. As for sit-down work like handwriting, I've found it's helpful to do that after he's had a good run outdoors (i.e. recess).
I also have found that his diet has a lot to do with his ability to sit still. Protein rich breakfast, and not too long between meals/snacks has helped so much with all of my children, but is more dramatic with him.
Blessings,
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Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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hereinantwerp
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 5:36pm | IP Logged
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we have done math orally--and I write in the answers. that worked really well for us. My first son was similar in that he was ready for the concepts and brainwork very young----but I think his fine motor skills just lagged way behind the mental skills. Handwriting was not easy for him until age 8 or so, he would get frustrated and upset.
also consider work on computer----there's a free online math program called MEP, mathematical education project I think. My oldest loved it *simply* because he got to type his answers on computer, vs. write them. it's self-correcting, too. It is good quality math (British) and emphasizes challenging thinking skills, I liked it. I do not know how many grade levels are online now, I know they have 3rd grade, maybe not second. he could learn to type early vs. writing, there are lots of games and programs for kids on learning to type.
Interestingly around 8 my son had to learn cursive (because we were living in another country and he was in school then), he taught himself over a long weekend and found it fascinating! He's had no trouble with handwriting since. he also found calligraphy interesting at a later age. It was its own subject. Sometimes I think with younger ones we just try to do too many subjects in succession and by the third or fourth thing, their attention is gone-------just my experience!
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Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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GraceandCoffee
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 6:05pm | IP Logged
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ooh. Great suggestions. He LOVES doing anything on the computer. i am going to try that.
I have tried having him do jumping jacks while reciting math facts. It's still hard to get him focused, but it's better. And the getting energy out outside is very difficult to get him back from. He's got his own definite agenda, and it's hard to tear him away from his own ideas for the day.
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Wife to the most wonderful man in the world, and mama to 4 beautiful children: meteorologist age 7, naturalist age 5, ballerina age 4, and baby boy age 19 months
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 29 2008 at 6:34pm | IP Logged
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hmm then maybe something like a chart with the things he needs to do for the day.. things like brush teeth and have meals can be on their too.. maybe chores.. but also his school work.. and he can check off boxes or fill in with little stickers or such.. have him help set up what things go on it and what order (where applicable.. like does it matter if he gets dressed and then makes his bed or makes his bed and then gets dressed) then maybe his idea of what he needs to get done will mesh better with doing what you want to get done.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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cornomama4
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 12:59am | IP Logged
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I've got three words for getting those math facts done...FlashMaster, FlashMaster and FlashMaster. Oh, and did I mention the FlashMaster??
This morning my 7y.o. had enough of noise from the baby and toddler bothering him while he did his addition and subtraction work, so he went out on the patio to do it. Then the birds were chirping "right on my head!" so he went up to his room, got under the covers and did about 40 problems in about 15 minutes, which I could check by pressing the review the results button. 
Before we used this super handy tool, he would literally be in tears after 10 problems because it was such an effort to write the numbers. Handwriting is also "on hold" for now....it's all "accidental" like writing a card to great grandma or writing things on the grocery list for me...it's fun for everyone 
Good luck!
cm4
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ALmom
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| Posted: Aug 30 2008 at 7:03pm | IP Logged
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I think that, at 7, when a child becomes excessively squirrelly at something consistently and you end up with the drama you are describing, it is often about readiness. I 2nd the comment about fine motor. I think I'd find non academic writing ways to show work done and I'd develop fine motor using other things. We were quite successful with giving choice in a bunch of "fun" activities that developed fine motor. You don't want to entirely ignore the fine motor muscle development, but keep it seperate from the academic work until it is there as a tool rather than as a hindrance.
Some ideas for fine motor:
screw drivers and building projects
tongs with various things to pick up and move
legos
playdough
stencils (we have geometric shapes, leaves and even a few things like knights, dinosaurs. The heavier stencils were really much more enticing than the paper ones and seemed to eliminate some of the early frustration factor)
drawing or painting
tweezers
basters
puzzles (especially small knobbed that require the pincer grasp) The geography puzzles have worked really well for us where the child can trace the pieces if they want to do it that way - or just build the puzzle and use the rectangle stencils to make the flags.
cutting, gluing, pasting (If you are dealing with a boy who is not fond of this kind of thing, paper airplane books have some good ideas) Our children also liked the cut and create books which have various themes from holidays to animals. The animal one was the most popular one here - either farm or zoo animals.
sort the beans
I would avoid setting up a lot of power struggles at 7. I'd simply revamp the lesson plans for now and see if things go better with a more indirect approach to writing.
For math, you can do a lot of oral math, a lot of hands on math and use number cards to glue if needed and avoid making it a struggle in writing. I'd do a lot more hands on math. We set a timer rather than have a page goal. We might start with 10 - 20 minutes of math when it was in a workbook and that was it. Other days, we could do the same concepts hands on and these were all readily available to work on during other times that were "school". I had older children working so my 7 yo couldn't get so noisy as to disturb sibblings studying but could choose any number of things. You probably don't need to worry about that part since your 7 yo is the oldest. You might suggest a choice and a reasonable time to spend before a break time or something. Pick some things that address the concepts in your book or that you believe he should be learning in math and is ready to learn and have those out to choose from. As you see fine motor improving, then add in some sheets that involve writing - writing numbers first if he doesn't know that already and put it in either math or fine motor choice and see if he picks it at all - or you may notice that he suddenly picks up the math book on the sly. At some point the children really cannot stand not to know and they will go for it if they are ready.
I am sure you really can cover what you see as essential in some way with choice and clever control of choices. I'm not sure I'd stress handwriting per say just yet until you see a relaxed pencil grip and good fine motor indications. It won't hurt unless you totally neglect those muscles needed for writing. (One of the best things mine did was to use very small pencil strokes in a straight line to fill in stencils that were traced).
Also watch for handedness signs. Some children are still determining handedness at 7 and you don't want to force the writing until they have determined their handedness. We had a son whom we almost missed that he was left handed. We were pulling our hair out because he hated all pencil work, cutting was really nothing more than tearing, etc. Someone loaned us a real left handed pair of scissors and he took off. He really had just been imitating all of us right handers so we didn't have lots of clues to his handedness until another left hander was with him. Once he started using the correct hand, he suddenly didn't mind the writing nearly as much.
Written work that just has to be done - do it large on a chalk board or white board or trace it in sand or air write.
Keep everything very short with lots of physical exercise time.
Just some ideas to take or leave as you see fit - and reassurance that, at 7, it doesn't hurt to back off. Just do it in terms of revamping lesson planning or some such or as I have decided we are going to do this neat thing as opposed to giving in to "bad behavior."
Hope this helps.
Janet
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GraceandCoffee
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| Posted: Sept 01 2008 at 12:17pm | IP Logged
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Yes thank you, Janet. this helps a great deal.
Benjamin and his brother have both been very very inerested in the Titanic all summer. He just sat down a nd built a very nice sign syaing "Titanic" using small Legos. Based on your post and suggestions, I am thinking this qualifies as good practice. He does such a beautiful job of focusing and working well when he is very interested in something.
I have been at long last reading Charlotte Mason's first book in her Homeschooling Series. Called "Home Education". It's wonderful and is answering a lot and mirroring a lot of what you wise mamas are telling me. I have owned this series since my first was born but have never really sat down to read them.
Big wind gust from Gustav! We may lose power...
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Wife to the most wonderful man in the world, and mama to 4 beautiful children: meteorologist age 7, naturalist age 5, ballerina age 4, and baby boy age 19 months
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Very active boy
