Last week, when Luke got home from school, he started asking to do school-y things. Reading. Writing. Science experiments. Craft projects. Today, he got home, settled himself with a pile of books, and proceeded to read until dinner time. Meanwhile, I want him to go outside--or stay inside--and PLAY! I want him to run and climb and jump. I want him to build with Legos and play games. He needs to play...but he doesn't want to play. (Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?) Why not?
And then I look at the work he's been doing at school. Coloring sheets. Matching pictures with their starting sounds (Dog to the letter D, Umbrella to the letter U.) Practicing handwriting one letter at a time. Worksheets that ask him to draw lines between pictures of rhyming words (sheep and jeep, hat and cat.) Of course he wants to come home and read and write and do science experiments and craft projects.
I tell myself that it's only the sixth week of school. Really, they're very good at differentiating curriculum--this is probably the best he's going to get anywhere outside of our home. When he's practicing writing one letter at a time, at least it's in cursive. He's excited about and interested in the work he's doing at school and as far as we can tell, he really does enjoy being there. He's learning everything in a foreign language. He's learning how to cope with the social atmosphere of school--and that's throwing him for quite a loop. He is learning things and he certainly is being challenged.
And yet. Our evenings go so much more smoothly when I give in to his requests to do academic things instead of forcing him outside and I find myself bargaining with him. Play outside for 30 minutes and then, you can come read about the Solar System. Play a game with your brother and then we can do a science experiment. Absurd.
And then I look at the work he's been doing at school. Coloring sheets. Matching pictures with their starting sounds (Dog to the letter D, Umbrella to the letter U.) Practicing handwriting one letter at a time. Worksheets that ask him to draw lines between pictures of rhyming words (sheep and jeep, hat and cat.) Of course he wants to come home and read and write and do science experiments and craft projects.
I tell myself that it's only the sixth week of school. Really, they're very good at differentiating curriculum--this is probably the best he's going to get anywhere outside of our home. When he's practicing writing one letter at a time, at least it's in cursive. He's excited about and interested in the work he's doing at school and as far as we can tell, he really does enjoy being there. He's learning everything in a foreign language. He's learning how to cope with the social atmosphere of school--and that's throwing him for quite a loop. He is learning things and he certainly is being challenged.
And yet. Our evenings go so much more smoothly when I give in to his requests to do academic things instead of forcing him outside and I find myself bargaining with him. Play outside for 30 minutes and then, you can come read about the Solar System. Play a game with your brother and then we can do a science experiment. Absurd.
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