The agony of homeschooling...

They're making me crazy. More specifically, The Boy is making me crazy. He's still (after two weeks of school) playing the "helpless child" card. "I can't do it. It's too hard! I hate SCHOOL!" Um. Yeah. Honey, it's a spelling pre-test in your online spelling lessons. Getting through it just allows you to play the word games. ("Kick" the soccer balls that are spelled correctly.) And you never miss any!!! CHILL OUT!!!

And yet, screaming that at him doesn't seem to help. Go figure.

I keep trying to find the logical consequence for his lying on the floor, whining and crying, but somehow, I can't. See, the "you're not playing computer until it's done" consequence only prolongs the agony. 'Cause he always finishes after a few hours of hand-holding. But it takes all my time away from teaching The Girl.

So I whined to The Husband, and I think we found a solution. The Boy has an hour of independent work (review math, finish spelling page, finish grammar page), and then I'll work with him for an hour on hard stuff (composition, social studies) . If that hour doesn't cover what it was supposed to, I'll get back to him on it after lunch. In the mean time, I'll be over here, teaching The Girl while you start on your next independent task. Sorry, check back later.

Jeez. You'd think that by almost-10 years old, he'd be able to pick up his math book and do problems 1-15 on commutative/associative/identity properties, a two-page worksheet on "what is a noun", and a fill-in-the-blank for his spelling words without my having to torture him. *sigh* Promise me that this, too, shall pass, if I only keep the faith. (It's not like I have a choice!)

Oh, and if anyone is still reading this by the end of the post, don't worry -- he really can do the work. I'm the worst one for going all wobbly, and thinking that maybe he really feels afraid, vulnerable, and he can't do the work. I know how that works. I've dealt with it in the past. This kind of anxiety was what caused me to pull him out of the public schools. But, as this is not my first rodeo, I think I can assure you that this one is fake. ;)