Problems immediately. Help!
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:57 am
Hi, I notice this is mainly an American forum but really I'm looking for advice which would apply to all children anyway.
So we have moved from Scotland to Italy with my husbands job. We arrived about 3 weeks ago and plan to stay till approximately next April/May, so a little over a year. Given the short time frame and our likely return to the UK I decided to homeschool our 7 and 5 year old (I also have an 11month old). I am a secondary teacher by trade.
The 5 year old is doing well and is keen. I've kept things very simple for now.
However, our 7 year old is lacking in any form of confidence. (To be fair I did notice he was like this at home and when asked to do homework). Every single task results in a meltdown and refusal to work. He complains he can't do it when in fact he can and is reasonably bright. Even has meltdowns during art work. He always thinks things are not good enough. I am trying so hard not to criticise and just give him praise but even that backfires. So far I'm trying to stick with Jolly grammar, maths and reading. Tasks are usually no more than 20 minutes each (sometimes 10 minutes) but it took us 2 and half hours to get through that this morning because of his constant whining and temper tantrums.
I have lots of Montessori activities for Science/geography/history etc which I let him choose from but we usually don't even get onto them because he wastes so much time everyday.
How on earth do I encourage him to do the basics. So we can do the fun stuff??
Or do I have this all wrong?!
So we have moved from Scotland to Italy with my husbands job. We arrived about 3 weeks ago and plan to stay till approximately next April/May, so a little over a year. Given the short time frame and our likely return to the UK I decided to homeschool our 7 and 5 year old (I also have an 11month old). I am a secondary teacher by trade.
The 5 year old is doing well and is keen. I've kept things very simple for now.
However, our 7 year old is lacking in any form of confidence. (To be fair I did notice he was like this at home and when asked to do homework). Every single task results in a meltdown and refusal to work. He complains he can't do it when in fact he can and is reasonably bright. Even has meltdowns during art work. He always thinks things are not good enough. I am trying so hard not to criticise and just give him praise but even that backfires. So far I'm trying to stick with Jolly grammar, maths and reading. Tasks are usually no more than 20 minutes each (sometimes 10 minutes) but it took us 2 and half hours to get through that this morning because of his constant whining and temper tantrums.
I have lots of Montessori activities for Science/geography/history etc which I let him choose from but we usually don't even get onto them because he wastes so much time everyday.
How on earth do I encourage him to do the basics. So we can do the fun stuff??
Or do I have this all wrong?!