Jump to content

Menu

Christmas vacation shimmering on the horizon, a boy (who sometimes malingers) with


Do I encourage my sort of sick fellow facing an onerous writing task to:  

  1. 1. Do I encourage my sort of sick fellow facing an onerous writing task to:

    • 1. finish the assignment after vacation
      26
    • 2. finish tomorrow
      7
    • 3. plow through undaunted
      6


Recommended Posts

flu-like symptoms (no fever) and WWS week 15's rather challenging topos still not done. Would you:

 

A) let him off the hook until 1/3/12

B) Give it another go tomorrow--when two school-gooing siblings will be home for the first day of their vacation. The homeschoolers will be having their math lesson and the piano lesson for 3 will be early in the day instead of after dinner.

C) stay on it until it is done today.

 

Just thought I'd see here since I am tempted to throw in the towel, but I also realize starting the first day of back-to-school on 1/3 with that beast of a tops will be tough.

Edited by yellowperch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what the assignment is, but my instinct would be C. "Let's get it done so we can enjoy the break" kind of idea. Starting school after Christmas is depressing enough without a big, undone assignment staring us in the face. And you would be sure to avoid the possible "If I malinger I can postpone work" reinforcement. If he is really sick, he will have time to recover during the break ; ).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what the assignment is, but my instinct would be C. "Let's get it done so we can enjoy the break" kind of idea. Starting school after Christmas is depressing enough without a big, undone assignment staring us in the face. And you would be sure to avoid the possible "If I malinger I can postpone work" reinforcement. If he is really sick, he will have time to recover during the break ; ).

:iagree:

 

If he really is sick, I'd let him rest today and finish tomorrow. But, I'd want to finish it before break because that's a bugger to come back to right after a long break.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Considering that the boy in question is 9, I would drop it. (I would only insist on something like that being completed w/a much older child.) I also wouldn't start back w/it on the 3rd. I would do something different the first week back after vacation and resume it the following week.

 

Wow, I missed his age! WWS has been a lot for my 12 year old....What does your mom gut say? You know him better than any of us.;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's Christmas.

 

I'd blow off the assignment completely and tell him it's a gift.:D

 

Ten years from now it won't matter that he skipped one writing assignment when he was 9.

 

I'm usually a Nazi when it comes to school work, but hey, we all need a break sometimes.

 

Just my 2 cents worth... feel free to ignore at will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was planning to let is slide (encouraged by the wisdom of Mama T and 8fillstheheart) but before I could hand him the free pass, life took over---shortly after I posted my poll, the stars aligned so that my dh could go out and do a little Christmas shopping together. My mom was with the kids and we stayed out late drinking coffee and trying to avoid the off-key carolers (they were cute at first but they kept following us up and down Main Street.)

 

The assignment was ditched.

 

This program is a huge stretch for my son, and I have mixed feelings about it because of that. However, DS says that he really loves the it--as much as he dreads day 4--and does not want to give it up. He says he can feel himself learning, and he loves the readings (though, of course, the readings in WWE4 are also wonderful)

 

The long writing assignment for this week is focused on descriptive scientific writing, which is so important, so difficult and really worth the effort to master. DS has been working on researching a certain toad for months--fact gathering, reading and often just gazing lovingly at pictures of these toads on the computer screen. I'm thinking that I might use the extra time on vacation to look at ways to have him work through the assignment and focus on the writing skills it emphasizes while writing about is toads, instead of the ocean vents. It would take only a little bit of effort on my part to present his own information to him in SWB-style so that he can then assemble the pieces for the essay. We could spend more time than usual on it, and really make it his.

 

BTW, my hard copies of the books arrive tomorrow. I am really interested in seeing where the program goes after week 20. I'm afraid it is going to to get very difficult quickly. But as long as DS is willing, remains able to work somewhat independently and hits most of the rubric goals, we'll stick with it.

 

Anyway, Merry days to all of you, and a wave to MamaT, Jen and 8.

Edited by yellowperch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Considering that the boy in question is 9, I would drop it. (I would only insist on something like that being completed w/a much older child.) I also wouldn't start back w/it on the 3rd. I would do something different the first week back after vacation and resume it the following week.

 

:iagree:

For a 9 y/o I'd let it go. No one assignment is worth the stress.

For a high school student, I'd have said plow through, and if needed finish over the break.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would imagine it would stretch your 9 year old.. it's stretching my 10 year old dd for sure! We just finished this week with the Week 15 writing assignment, and I stretched it out over three days. The first day we dug around and watched Alvin on youtube, watched interviews from the scientist (Robert Ballard if I remember correctly??), also read other essays about the expedition and took a look at Hydrothermal Vent footage on youtube. Then we wrote out on the board all the areas that needed to be included in the narration.

 

The following day I had them 'start' it.. then the weekend hit and we started again on Monday. I think I corrected it and we finished our final drafts on Tuesday. So, actually it was a 4 day process. ;-) I would let it go if you would like to really be able to dig into the assignment and take a break until after the holidays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3431259&postcount=30

 

The above is a link to dd10s sample of the assignment. I haven't had a chance to type of ds8's yet. But, you are so right in saying that it is stretching them. I am very impressed with what we all are learning, myself included. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...