My oldest is in kindergarten this year, and my state does require that he gets 180 days of school. I think if he was my only child, he'd be fine with this. But he has two younger siblings, and he is struggling hard with having to do more work than his preschool-aged brother in particular (age 3.5). I do have the younger boy with us for things like morning Bible stories, read alouds, and music/art. When he's interested in a subject, like dinosaurs, he's a voracious learner. But when it comes time to do reading and math lessons with my kindergartener, his attitude is terrible. He spends far more time complaining about being bored than actually doing the lessons, and I usually have to drag him through things kicking and screaming. I've tried things like regularly mixing in games, even creating my own games for his reading book, giving the preschooler his own workbook to scribble in while I work with his older brother, using playdough or dinosaurs or legos along with his lessons (as far as I can with a 15 month old in the house), etc. But he still just complains all the time.
I'm trying to keep the lessons short, and they honestly would be probably about half the length if he didn't drag it out so. And I don't think it's an understanding issue, as math is coming pretty easily to him so far. He's also usually fine with reading when I can get him to actually look at the words and sound them out instead of just whining or guessing what comes next. I really want this to work, as I know he would not handle Zoomergarten school well. How can I help him with his attitude on this? We're already on our second reading curriculum this year, and I don't think I can handle another switch right now. And how can I keep myself from getting so frustrated with the power struggle? I'm also getting very tired of ending each morning on the brink of tears.
I'm trying to keep the lessons short, and they honestly would be probably about half the length if he didn't drag it out so. And I don't think it's an understanding issue, as math is coming pretty easily to him so far. He's also usually fine with reading when I can get him to actually look at the words and sound them out instead of just whining or guessing what comes next. I really want this to work, as I know he would not handle Zoomergarten school well. How can I help him with his attitude on this? We're already on our second reading curriculum this year, and I don't think I can handle another switch right now. And how can I keep myself from getting so frustrated with the power struggle? I'm also getting very tired of ending each morning on the brink of tears.