Friday, November 9, 2012

A little bit of fun

Elementary school is really kicking my butt. I never thought it would be this hard to get my kids through the first 6 years of school. I thought they would sail through and get straight A's on their report cards, that homework would be a breeze, that they would get up every day and be excited to get ready and go to school. I thought my boys would be like I was in elementary school. But they're not. Kindergarten was great for both #1 and #2. They both did well and they were smart and caught on to concepts quickly. But then first grade came and it was a struggle for both of them. Reading is hard, writing is even harder. I rack my brain trying to come up with fun things to do at home to learn spelling words (I never have and I never will like spelling tests) or I will spend hours online trying to find games or ideas to help with reading and writing. We fight and yell and argue over homework every day. The kids get burnt out and so do I. But I keep doing it. I keep getting on them about working hard. I keep printing out writing prompts, sight words, spelling lists and work to do at home so they can get extra practice. I pray for their little minds to open up and absorb what they need so they can "get it", so the light bulb will go off and they will not struggle so much. I hide in my room and cry when it's report card time and I see on Facebook all of my friends posting about their kids getting straight A's when my kid had to work really hard for a C. They are smart boys, I know they are. They are just struggling right now and it's making life at home not so fun. So this weekend we are going to have a little fun. We're going to take a break. I cleaned the house today so no one has to do chores tomorrow and we're going to go to the movies and out to eat and we're going to play games and have a day where no one has to think about or worry about reading or writing or grades. Because right now, our little family needs a day off. 

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