Guest Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 My son and I are having some real struggles with control in our home. (Not just in school.) One beef of his is that he says he wants to do his worksheet "out of order". So, I initially don't have an issue with this. I frankly don't care what order he does his worksheets in, what side he does first, etc. HOWEVER. The problem has come up that if I do let him do it his way, he eventually starts messing around. So, I say to him, if you can't concentrate and do it in the order you want, then you're going to do it in the order that I say. Can you guess where this has gone? As of right now, my husband has insisted that my son listens and obeys Mom and right now he has to do the worksheets in the order that I say. Once we tackle the obedience end, I'm interested - do you let your kids work out of order? Is there anything wrong with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Depends on the worksheet. If there are incremental stuff ON the page, then no. If not, then sure. But I agree, the bigger issue here is his abusing it to mess around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I am assuming by "out of order" you are referring to which subject first, second and third. And, in our home we don't care if you choose to do math first and grammar second....etc...as long as it all gets done every day. However, if he wants to do p 15 before page 6....that is a problem...and I don't think that is what you mean, right??? If the first is correct...maybe instead of having him pick from all of his subjects...give him a choice between 2...should we do Math or Spelling first today?? Or...another thought...which my kids loved, but was too much work for a mom of 3...was to put the worksheet or workbook or whatever, in an envelope labeled with numbers 1-6...and each day they were to do the envelopes in order (I mixed them up each day)...they loved the element of surprise and never gave me grief as to what subject was up. Just a couple thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I let my ds do worksheets how he wants if it doesn't matter to learning the material. This mostly comes up in Horizons math. The expectation is that the sheet gets done and as long as he isn't dawdling, he has freedom to control that part of school. I'll even let him skip pages as long as they are completed the next day (as he's completing part of tomorrow's assignment instead). This hasn't been an issue as he always asks politely and then completes the required work the next day. Now, if he had refused to do the skipped pages with a good attitude the next day, our arrangement would change. Now, I would never let him do that with another program...Horizons spiral nature and the fact we use it as review makes that possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I assume you are referring to your 5 year old? First of all, he is 5....second of all, he is a boy. Take both of those into consideration and take what I am about to say couched with "this is MY opinion!" I have 3 boys. For K my only focus was reading and math. Everything else was "fun." We read a lot of books and sat around enjoying me reading to them. We played educational games. We visited museums and parks and just relaxed. The only worksheets we did were reading, writing, or math. Both of those subjects needed to be done in order because they were sequential. However, if I felt he mastered it, we skipped and moved on. Skipping around would have confused him more. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Yes, it is my 5 year old. We have pared back immensely on what my original lofty goals were for this year. :) To clarify, if we are doing a math sheet, he wants to do #6 before #1, not do one lesson before another. (Heaven forbid he thinks of that, lol!) We are doing Saxon math and there is no reason that I can see (besides obedience) why he couldn't do the problems out of order. I just was wondering if anyone had a problem with that and if so their reasoning. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 My requirement is that puzzle/game/coloring type stuff is done last-and, in fact, in DD's Singapore book, I cover the puzzle part with post-its until she's done the math, because otherwise she'll do the riddle and use the word to figure out what the answers are supposed to be, never doing the math. Otherwise, it's up to her. In general, I only give worksheets/workbook pages when they're independent work and review, so even if she does the hardest problems first, they're all review anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Oh, well, then, I wouldn't stress it at all, as long as he does his work. My Aspie son has his own way of doing things and as long as it is done, I let it go. My younger son wouldn't even think of doing it out of order because it wouldn't occur to him! Dawn Yes, it is my 5 year old. We have pared back immensely on what my original lofty goals were for this year. :) To clarify, if we are doing a math sheet, he wants to do #6 before #1, not do one lesson before another. (Heaven forbid he thinks of that, lol!) We are doing Saxon math and there is no reason that I can see (besides obedience) why he couldn't do the problems out of order. I just was wondering if anyone had a problem with that and if so their reasoning. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallory Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 If it were me, and this was a 5yo I was struggling with- I'd drop school. If all day is a power struggle, then there are other things that need to be worked on before even reading at 5yo. I wouldn't even start school until things like chores, speaking nicely, listening, etc. were going mostly okay first. I sure wouldn't make any school that I cared about at all. For example, I wouldn't spend time on a program like Saxon that I was worried about "getting done correctly", but I might pick up some workbooks that he could do and wouldn't add stress to our relationship, because it wouldn't matter how he did them. It will be okay to start all over next year, and not even decide until the year is half done or all done whether you were doing K again or doing 1st. I'd also make sure he was doing as much physical play or work as possible. Around here he'd be hauling wood, chopping down brush, moving furniture and vacuuming, digging up the garden, and so on. Boys need hard work, it makes them happy and relaxed and makes school much better ;). I find a pull up bar a great way to get out some of thier wiggles too, also running around the house, doing sit ups or push ups, wearing around a heavy backpack for a while, standing on one leg, etc. When my boys have used all of thier muscles they are really much nicer to be around :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Doing problems out of order would not worry me, as long as he remembers to fill in all of them. I actually teach this to older kids who take timed math tests at school. Often the newest material (which the student may not understand well) is presented first, but the bulk of the test is older concepts that the student DOES understand. If they start with the confusing bits, they often waste a great deal of time and confuse themselves to no end. They dont' get to what they know, and fail the test. If they start with what they know, they earn as many points as possible, and are usually a bit calmer and more confident when approaching the new stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.