MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He may be a boy, but his scream is more ear-splitting than his sisters... And of course, in order to be heard, I had to scream louder than both of them. Something I am not proud of. I now have a headache and they have worked past their differences and are now playing nicely with each other...and the ball.
Now before scream fest of September began, we had a productive, if a little stressful school day. In math, I learned a lot more than DS did. WARNING: Do NOT assume your child understands a concept and 'skip ahead.' It lead to massive frustration from both of us.
It started innocently enough, as these things always do, with using our abacus. I thought he was understanding the concept so well, that I veared from the lesson plan. BIG MISTAKE. We were supposed to only do up to 7 on the abacus, but DS had been using the abacus for a few weeks counting by tens, so surely he'd be able to understand 13, 23, 44? No? No. Instead of learning the patter of what 5 looks like, he was counting each single bead...not the point of an abacus.
In happier times, before mommy got her bright ideas to skip ahead.
After mom realised the error of her ways and we both cooled off, the rest of the school day went smoothly. Learning to pick up on his moods and frustrations is a lesson I will continue to try and perfect.
Now, I'm off to play 'sorry' with DS while DD is in her room after spitting at her brother. Good times.
I have made that same mistake with RightStart. I think they start so basic because they are teaching a system of thought, more than just the numbers. It is so different from the way I learned, but I really see the value in it. And like you I realized (the hard way) that it is a mistake to skip too far ahead. Good luck to you. Hope to see you next Thursday.
ReplyDeleteOf course everyone is always curious about how boys and girls react (same/different) to schooling. I realize your daughter is not yet school age, but over time you may gain interesting perspective in this regard. Will the kids participate in this blogging thing?
ReplyDeleteKen, do you mean will they 'write' on the blog...? How do you mean participate? They'll certainly be the fodder for the blog!
ReplyDeleteJasmime, thank you for the Right Start Math. I'm really liking it. SOOO much better than the curricula suggested in my other book. Much more hands on and less 'worksheets' And yes, we do hope to be there Thursday!
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