frantlings: That Week When They All Cried (Week 3)

Ahem. This has been a rough week. Not necessarily for me. But for the kids. School was going pretty well last week; we hit our groove and had a pretty good routine down.

And then this week we hit a brick wall. Repeatedly. With our faces.

Child 1 (not necessarily in birth order)

One child has a history of getting overwhelmed and stuck. This happened last year in public school, usually in math. Said kid would start staring off into the great beyond during class, not doing their work. The teacher would get on their case, but this kid would still drift off into la-la land. The interesting thing was that it didn't appear that the actual math was the problem. This kid got A's in their advanced math class. When quizzed on their math, they would get the answers correct. But repeatedly, this kid would have to skip recess and stay inside to work on late work. Math wasn't the only subject in which this kid turned in late work. History and English weren't immune. But it was usually math that this kid got hung up on.

Fast forward to this past week. This same kid became stuck. And overwhelmed. And cried. We're not even to new material in math; it's a review of what they learned in public school last year until we get to new material in the book.

My kid says they can't even start the math problems. They say they're no good at math. They start crying. They claim they're tired. They says they feel worthless.

I don't want this kid to hate school (or math) or himself/herself.

Pray that we can find out what the issue(s) is/are so that we can find a solution. The solution is not to not do math. We have to do math. But we can't continue the way we've been doing, because that way is no longer working.

The problem could lie with the curriculum we're using. It could lie with the kid (ADD? something else?). The problem could be some distraction that could be taken away. WHO KNOWS?!?

Child 2

Then there's the other kid that gets so frustrated that they can't get the words out of their mouth (to answer one of my questions) that they slam their hand down on the desk, hurting themselves in the process.

Child 3

Then there's the kid that keeps injuring themselves. Tripping and falling. Stubbing a toe. Walking into a door. It seems that this child is prone to injury. And crying about it. Constantly.

Inhale. Exhale. This mom shall overcome! Surprisingly, I made it through the week relatively unscathed. Usually when there is that much crying in the house, I join in on the fun. But not this week (there must be something to that praying thing!). I was strong, in control of myself (for the most part), and joyful.

On a lighter note, here is Cade, diligently doing his studies. (kidding -- i paid him $5 to look like he was busy and studious)