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Confessional Time: Who has had (school) tears already?


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For us it was my 12yo son. He *flipped out* one day last week when I had the nerve to assign him a one-page writing assignment for history. I guess he things that those Student Activity Pages that accompany Tapestry of Grace are the absolute and final word in history assignments. He protested, cried, and grumbled for over an hour about how it was so unfair that I gave an assignment that wasn't part of the curriculum.

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My ds has had a few years of PS and we'll have a few good days. Then, he'll flip out, usually over math. No matter how many times I tell him, he can't accept the fact that he will do his math every day. His math never takes him more than 20 minutes when he buckles down and focuses. He's in third grade so I don't think 30 minutes total math is unreasonable.

 

Will tears be common throughout the year?

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Today..My son found out that this year in Essentials he wouldn't be getting tickets based on all the required elements that could be included. He would just be getting a ticket for doing the work and for an illustration. He broke down and told me he hates Essentials and why should he do the work for just two tickets?

 

I am afraid I wasn't very sympathetic. I told him in public school he would have to do the work and would get no tickets. He finally did the work a couple hours later.

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Well today was our first day after a summer break. DD7 started sobbing during violin practice because she stepped on and broke a plastic crown she left on the floor. You'd have thought the world was going to end! But we did learn a good lesson about not leaving toys on the floor! :D

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Oh yes. Not yet but I am reading Parenting with Love and Logic at the same time. Highly recommended and I got the recomendation here! I keep thinking, "Use few words. Be calm." The best part was telling my whining child today, "Bummer!" Love that. He was complaining about how much work he had for a science class at our co-op and I said, "Bummer." I think it is wrong the degree of satisfaction that brought to me.

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He was complaining about how much work he had for a science class at our co-op and I said, "Bummer." I think it is wrong the degree of satisfaction that brought to me.

 

That is just Priceless. :lol::lol::lol:

 

My kids hear that many times a week from me and I have been known when my son (now 12) whines to look at him and say "stinks to be you"

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Thanks for the ego boost. I thought that this only happened at my house. Today the tantrum stars must be in perfect alignment--I had all three flipping out at once today. Apparently math is too hard (30 minutes here too) phonics is too boring (I don't wanna know how to read anyway!!!) and poor dd#2 just joined in the general misery out of loneliness.

 

Sigh.

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We had tears...several times today. Mine and theirs, although they dont know about mine. Mostly the younger two not getting along together, but most of the time its from my daughter, the middle child.

 

Her last tears were from her math assignment, which got put off until this evening. She only had two rows of problems to do, just simple subtraction and she did addition instead. I told her to either erase and redo or do the next 2 rows extra and Id cross out the two rows she did wrong. A half hr later, she finally chose to do 2 more rows.

 

My, my my, I hope tmrw goes more smoothly!

 

Im almost glad to hear that Im not the only one in this boat Im in!

 

We can try for a more seamless day tmrw and maybe we can get through at least one day without tears!

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Oh yes. Not yet but I am reading Parenting with Love and Logic at the same time. Highly recommended and I got the recomendation here! I keep thinking, "Use few words. Be calm." The best part was telling my whining child today, "Bummer!" Love that. He was complaining about how much work he had for a science class at our co-op and I said, "Bummer." I think it is wrong the degree of satisfaction that brought to me.

 

Dh read this together over the weekend! I used my new skills a lot today. Dd11 has had meltdowns/tantrums nearly every school day since we started over two weeks ago. Dd11's focus today was how much she hates that we read the book. :tongue_smilie: One consequence she had to deal with was wearing damp clothes to church on Sunday because she "forgot" to do her laundry the day before and had to do it right before church. Her clothes were mostly dry, but not quite when we had to leave.

 

I kept my cool today using my new skills and I won two forced power struggles of her needing to stay in her room with the door shut if she was going to scream and cry and yell about everything.

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My ds has had a few years of PS and we'll have a few good days. Then, he'll flip out, usually over math. No matter how many times I tell him, he can't accept the fact that he will do his math every day. His math never takes him more than 20 minutes when he buckles down and focuses. He's in third grade so I don't think 30 minutes total math is unreasonable.

 

Will tears be common throughout the year?

 

Well, we have one afternoon late in the first week that involves testing mom to see if she means it. For my son it involves taking ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL DAYYYYY to do one assignment. Then he doesn't do that again for the rest of the year. So if it was tears over one assignement one day, fine.

 

However, I agree with SWB that if a kid is in tears regularly it is a sign that the curriculum is NOT working for them. Time to back up or switch.

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Yup!

 

2 days in dd during dictation in WWE4. It's tough! 5 days in, spelling test... dd got 3 wrong. She HATES spelling tests!

 

**Almost tears from my oldest ds... logic stage expectations were getting to him the first week or so.

 

**Fit from my ds7 about doing school, but that was anger, no tears.

 

**ds6 is the only one who hasn't really broken down about school yet... at least that I can remember! But, he does most things with me so that might make a difference!

 

Tears used to make me angry, but I'm supposing it's just part of the territory of homeschooling! I used to be a ps teacher and I don't remember anybody crying at school... over work anyway.... I started out thinking... "what the heck are my kids crying about" when we started homeschooling.... now I realize, to them, I'm still Mom... and it's okay to cry for me. :001_huh:

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My middle ds is the master at tantrums and whining. My oldest has a few fits. The 2 yr old.....well, is 2.

 

I'm working on not having fits and losing my patience. I've read a lot of books. I try but I have a temper. I realized that I am always able to keep my temper in check when I'm in public. So I know I can. I have started telling myself that there is a camera following me around, and everyone can see me. When I start to feel myself get frustrated I picture the camera in my head. That has helped me stay calm. We'll see if it lasts. It will because I want it to. :tongue_smilie:

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Oh yes!! POWER. There is such awesome wisdom in the book. Though my dcs are on the old side for the book, I am still getting lots of great advice and have stayed calm. I cannot ruin another day with my dd's tantrums and attitude so that is why I purchased the book. I have to say, it has exceeded my expectations.

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I am SO thankful for this thread tonight. We started with tears first thing this morning and it was a long day for me, and for them too. Partially I know it was my fault for not being up before the kids (had a very late night of planning last night) but me oh my, when I asked them to copy 2 rows of a poem you would have thought I asked them to copy pages and pages. :001_huh:

 

Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

 

I used to be a ps teacher and I don't remember anybody crying at school... over work anyway.... I started out thinking... "what the heck are my kids crying about" when we started homeschooling.... now I realize, to them, I'm still Mom... and it's okay to cry for me. :001_huh:

 

I used to be a ps teacher too and wish I could get half of the work out of my kids that I could out of other people's kids-with out all the emotions would be great too. I was just thinking (again) today how different it is to homeschool vs. the ps classroom. So. very. different.

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Important lesson: don't teach on an empty stomach.

 

I got to learn that one today too. DS was trying to rush through school, and decided he'd have breakfast afterward. Three hours and a thousand repeats of the word "focus" later, I realized none of us had eaten. We all ate, then he finished his last 2 subjects in under an hour.

 

The only really tough day we've had was last Friday, the end of our 3rd week. I actually made a new rule that day. If you're not rested enough to learn, you will go back to bed until you're ready for school. (I wish this rule applied to me too!)

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However, I agree with SWB that if a kid is in tears regularly it is a sign that the curriculum is NOT working for them. Time to back up or switch.

 

I've tried enough different writing curricula with my student to know that the problem isn't with the program :glare: If I allow her to type or dictate, she can easily compose pages upon pages. But ask her to physically pick up her dang pencil and write a single paragraph herself and I get tears.

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For us, it was coming back after a 4-day weekend (when we had only completed 5 days of school prior to that). My dh had a mandatory furlough day last Friday, which means I cannot expect to get ANY school done when Dad is home all day.

 

Wow... were we ALL out of sorts yesterday... so we took nearly a 2-hour NAP after a very early lunch!! Yes, we had a marvelous Mexican siesta and were able to work right up until 5:45 p.m. suppertime. :bigear:

 

Brenda

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My oldest ds doesn't cry he just complains. Now my oldest dd has teared up a couple of times but crying isn't something we have really dealt with over school work.

 

We didn't have tears until my oldest hit puberty. Suddenly anything remotely challenging had her tearimg up. WOW. I was warned but didn't believe.

 

I was accused of trickery yesterday. Both kids told on me at dinner. "She called us down to breakfast, and just as we were finishing she pulls these math books out of nowhere an puts them in the middle of the table!"

 

HOW is this unexpected and worthy of righteous indignation??????

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However, I agree with SWB that if a kid is in tears regularly it is a sign that the curriculum is NOT working for them. Time to back up or switch.

 

Sometimes I think it's just the kid. I really love our curriculum, and I think it's working well for us. But, my wonderful and highly emotional son (who happens to be a lot like his mom :blushing:) tends to cry when he feels like he is not capable of doing something right.

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I've tried enough different writing curricula with my student to know that the problem isn't with the program :glare: If I allow her to type or dictate, she can easily compose pages upon pages. But ask her to physically pick up her dang pencil and write a single paragraph herself and I get tears.

 

Sounds like a fine motor issue, or possibly dysgraphia. Have you had her checked for these things?

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We have! All three of us.

 

First, it was me yesterday. I was at the doctor's office, (which already messed up my homeschool day) and he told me I needed to come back Thursday for a biopsy and they needed to give me anesthesia. I started to cry and just said "but I just started homeschooling! I'm busy!"

 

Today, I gave my kids a simple assignment. Write three facts you've learned about the Mayans so far. My poor little boy couldn't handle it. I asked him how he was doing and he just fell apart. I sat with him and helped him by giving him prompts. I think it's a processing thing. He did fine after that and was proud.

 

My 7 year old? Where do I start? She doesn't want to listen to the Bible reading, to the book on the North American Indians, or to any other reading. Many tears. The math facts were too hard. There weren't enough snacks scheduled in.

 

I don't know..it's 1:15 and I still have stuff to do. Granted, we got a late start today (9:30) but I kind of thought we'd be done with time to spare. Piano lesson is at 2. I better get more organized!

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