Thank you both for your replies! I forgot to mention that he goes twice weekly to a martial arts class, and plays a team sport at least two seasons of the year. He also spends a lot of time outside - he is free to do that as soon as school is over, but would love to 'go places' more. I keep thinking if I could just get the early day to work better then I would do that :) The same thing happens with science / history. We are using SOTW 1 this year, and following the BFSU framework for science, with a lot of Let's Read & Find Out books for 1st and 2nd grade. The fun stuff SHOULD happen more, but it's like we wear each other out before we can get to it. Maybe I need to do those first, or maybe if I include him more in choosing the projects and activities he will look forward to them enough to help get through the hard stuff. OR - if we get to 3rd or 4th and I still haven't worn him down, maybe he'll have to try public school, for everybody's sake ;)

Hello! I have been coming to these forums for some time, looking at homeschool tricks, scheduling / curriculum ideas, etc. I know there have been a lot of posts about what to do with a kid that does not want to do school, but I really would like some specific feedback 😋 Thank you in advance for reading. So - I have more difficulty schooling my 7 almost 8 y.o. than the other three combined. He just DOES NOT want to do things that are not his idea. Occasionally school will sound like fun to him, and then it is great. Most days no. Most days, like today, there is pushback from the second I say 'schooltime' and from then on, repeatedly, every task, every subset of every task. He is also incredibly distractable. Frequently I have to direct him on the microscopic level of, 'Put down the (tiny object you are messing with), and read the word that I am pointing at, right now.' I have tried to apply the good advice I have received from different places, including here. I have cut the amount of work he is doing down from what his older siblings did at his age by eliminating nonessential things. He is working at what seems like a good challenge level. I have a consistent routine. There are clear consequences for negative behavior - I do have trouble coming up with the flipside to that - if there is something fun coming up that is a great incentive for him, but I cannot think up new things to offer as a reward all the time. Also, I can't quite let go of the idea that some things must just be done, without a reward. Unhelpful? Should I let that go? Should I really do things like offer him an M&M for every word he writes? What do I tell the younger one, who currently enjoys school without an incentive?! And how do you avoid the trap of negotiating rewards for EVERYTHING? (He tries that on me, like - remember that one time you gave me X when I did X? I think we should do that again...) He is in 2nd, and his daily work list is: 5-10 mental math problems, and 1-2 sheets (depending on difficulty) of Singapore 2 1 sheet of Explode the Code, Book 5 Reading to me for 20 minutes. Listening to a book or chapter, then writing 2-3 sentences about it. (If it is book that offers a project idea, I will help him do it if there is interest.) Which is fine, right? It seems fine to me. I cannot understand the massive resistance. My main question is, if you had a kid like this, did you homeschool all the way through, or move to public school, and what was your experience? We belong to a charter that holds weekly classes which he loves, because he loves people and activities. (He also loves free time at home, too.) Currently, he behaves a lot better for teachers who are not me, but I am afraid that if he went to school every day it would become boring to him, and the hating it would start. I am just tired of the constant effort and negativity surrounding his schoolwork - and I want to do what is best for him, and I wonder if public school would be. Thoughts??? This feels very long, so I apologize, but it did feel good to type :)