Ok, so it's been awhile, but I never really could have guessed how busy I would become with staying at home. I had thought that there would be all the time in the world to keep up with this blog and such, but I find that simply isn't the case...at least not for now. We are still adjusting to the life of being at home. Where I imagined time spent with The Monkey as playful and full of engaging activities. Little did I realize that it would be a constant struggle to keep The Monk at the table to learn. His distraction is really high and there are some days that his ADHD just won't allow him to concentrate for an extended period of time. I often feel that I am spending more time nagging him to do his work than I am in teaching him. I know that it is still an adjustment period and that we both are trying to figure out how to work together to make this a successful endeavor, but it still a struggle.
One thing that I've had to tweak is the time we spend learning at the table. I've learned that I have to give him brain breaks, That he can't just sit and do the work (half the time, he can't even focus for more than 15 minutes without staring off into space), so we have to do something that gets him away from the table and allows his little body to do some wiggling. But, there is still a part of me that gets frustrated and looses patience. A lot of this is because I just want him to do the work, especially since I know that he can. But he gives up rather easily and often times just fights me because he feels like it. We are still straightening out personality conflicts, but I know that we will eventually figure it out.
Something else that has had to be tweaked is what we are doing on a given day. I'm a Type A personality. I like order and schedules and routine. My son, however, is NOT a Type A. He's more of a B (or Z, actually), who really likes just being free with his time to do his own thing when he wants to do it. This isn't working for me, who, as a classroom teacher, is used to order and schedules. I've really had to learn to let this go for myself, otherwise I was frustrated and angry because we weren't getting things done when I wanted to get them done. I'm starting to figure out that we need A/B days. We weren't fitting everything in because The Monk just can't do it. His active mind just won't allow him to focus for that much time on end. So, we are now doing math, science, and social studies on one day, reading, writing, spelling, art, etc., on another. This way things get broken up and he doesn't feel trapped by routine. Again, this is a struggle for me, but something that I'm will to try so long as he is getting something out of it. Now, I just have to work on getting him to concentrate on the task at hand. Oh boy.
One thing that I've had to tweak is the time we spend learning at the table. I've learned that I have to give him brain breaks, That he can't just sit and do the work (half the time, he can't even focus for more than 15 minutes without staring off into space), so we have to do something that gets him away from the table and allows his little body to do some wiggling. But, there is still a part of me that gets frustrated and looses patience. A lot of this is because I just want him to do the work, especially since I know that he can. But he gives up rather easily and often times just fights me because he feels like it. We are still straightening out personality conflicts, but I know that we will eventually figure it out.
Something else that has had to be tweaked is what we are doing on a given day. I'm a Type A personality. I like order and schedules and routine. My son, however, is NOT a Type A. He's more of a B (or Z, actually), who really likes just being free with his time to do his own thing when he wants to do it. This isn't working for me, who, as a classroom teacher, is used to order and schedules. I've really had to learn to let this go for myself, otherwise I was frustrated and angry because we weren't getting things done when I wanted to get them done. I'm starting to figure out that we need A/B days. We weren't fitting everything in because The Monk just can't do it. His active mind just won't allow him to focus for that much time on end. So, we are now doing math, science, and social studies on one day, reading, writing, spelling, art, etc., on another. This way things get broken up and he doesn't feel trapped by routine. Again, this is a struggle for me, but something that I'm will to try so long as he is getting something out of it. Now, I just have to work on getting him to concentrate on the task at hand. Oh boy.