Battle of wills, part 924892

"But you don't TEACH me anything!"

"But you don't LEARN anything!"

That pretty sums up most of our days with T2.

I'm tryin' to teach the 3 Rs here! Nope. Not Readin', Ritin', and 'Rithmatic (well,, that stuff too) but......

Retention.

Responsibility.

Respect.

A) Retention. I'm going out of my way, standing on my head and barkin' like a dog to get him to be able to recall what I'm teaching him. No dice,, I mean,,, NOTHING. What good is it for me to teach him anything if he recalls NOTHING? One day he knows all his multiplication tables the next day he's like "what's that little 'x' thing?" Seriously, It's enough to make me wanna pull my hair out.

B) Responsibility. We teach responsibility to a fault around here. The fault lies with not being able to grasp why other people don't take responsibility for their actions. I could write an entire gripe-fest post on this but I will proceed with how this relates to our school work.

When I took on this task (home schooling) I took on a huge responsibility. I take it seriously. Although for now the majority of the responsibility lies with me, I've come to the conclusion that a great deal of responsibility lies with the children. I cannot be expected to work miracles with them if they are thwarting me by not being willing to learn. Now T1 will pay attention and love every minute of it, T2 on the other hand....... well,, you've heard me speak of that.

C)Respect. Well, how do I write about this one? This is a difficult subject indeed. It's one I've struggled with. I don't need the children to put me on a pedestal, I don't need them to think I'm wonderful, I don't even need them to see me as perfect in their eyes. I'm very failable. I make lots of mistakes and I don't have all the answers. I do need a certain amount of respect though. This is where T2 and I fight. When I'm trying to explain something to him, he interrupts and puts words in my mouth.

"The denominator is the part of the fraction that...."
"GIVES DOGS FRIED CHICKEN?"

*smack*

He doesn't even try to listen to what I'm saying. His goal is to disrupt and avoid school at all costs. He disrespects my classroom (that, that it is, the kitchen as it were). We had this trouble with him in organized school too. His rules are his own and he won't do anything unless it's his idea.

Here's where the battle of wills come in. I'm not going to play games with this kid and try and make everything seem like it's his idea. We tried that and it's all full of fail. He's way smarter than that. Truth be known, he's smarter than anyone in this house. That's an easy leap for sure but wow.... is he frustrating. How 'bout this, you do your school work because it's expected of you, because you're EIGHT and I'm your mother. How 'bout that?

Thank goodness it's Saturday,, that's all I'm sayin.