In the Weeds: A Schooling Journey: Hard At Work

During week 7 we did a lot of writing. My son has adapted so well to sitting down and "working". I'm impressed. He can completed whole lessons in a sitting and he really loves that school is his work. We talk about daddy being hard at work while Jack is hard at work and how impressed he'll be when he comes home and sees everything that we've completed that day.

With all the talk of ADHD diagnoses in classrooms, zero tolerance policies, how little movement children get during the day, and how boys in particular struggle with the requirements of the modern school day, you can imagine how pleased I am to see that my son is completely capable of completing tasks and focusing on this "work".

So after all we have done together to establish a routine and get him to appreciate the value of practice and hard work, he does this amazing thing today:

The Letter P

This is a normal workbook page. He has done very well with his letter formation here and done a pretty good job by the last line of staying inside the guide lines. But all that is beside the point.

He got done swimming in the pool, went inside by himself while the rest of us remained outside, got himself completely dressed and came downstairs. He then got into the school cupboard, pulled out his "First Start Reading" workbook, and began a lesson for himself. When I came inside to check on him, he was hard at work, head bent over the page, carefully forming the letters with his avengers pencil. He hardly noticed me so I pretended to need a towel from the bedroom.

When I came back, he announced proudly that he had completed his work all by himself! And he had. Not one direction from me.

What is the take away? So many things.

One is that our children can be so independent at such a young age when they are in an environment where their confidence can be built and when it is the work itself that is valued most. I tell him always that it is ok when his letters don't turn out "right", that is why we practice!

Another thing is that it is so much easier to ask him to sit still when I know all of his other needs have been met. He'd been playing outdoors all day and had his fill. He was ready to sit down for a quiet activity. Maybe there is a way to integrate this into our schedule? I can definitely make an effort to be more mindful of his physical needs before we sit down. Now that the temperature outside is finally manageable, we will definitely be outdoors a lot more and I may try moving our "classroom" outside on some days.

This coming week will include less writing and more reading. I'll be trying to choose simpler books and pointing to each word one at a time. I'll ask him to pick out words I know we've practiced or that he can easily sound out. Hopefully this will build his confidence. When we do reading worksheets and books, he often simply makes up the words, which I'm told is very common this early on.

We'll also be doing more arts and crafts. These are his favorite things and seem to help make letters and their sounds really stick with him.