It's too much to expect a 7 (near 8) year old to manage her time for a bit of the day, right?

It's different every day -- some days I get Violet started with her math and she whips through it, then the next day, with a similar set of problems, she sits there for 90 minutes, doodling, staring out the window, playing with the dog . . .

Last night we had some consequences for that. She must have spent 40 minutes to do two math problems. The result was that when she came home with the nanny she still had Chinese to do. During the pre-dinner PBS Kids shows she loves to watch. (Surely one of the few almost 8yos who is dying to watch Dragon Tales?)

I remember this from Linda Dobson's The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child, where she quotes several families who pull their kids out of traditional school to start homeschooling. As one mom says, "At first, when there was no one holding their hand every minute of the day, they strayed." Exactly

I'm re-reading this as a reminder to be patient -- one mom says "Four years later, they love it and manage time efficiently enough to assist me and still have the time to participate in their favorite activities." Another says, "We do lots better now, in our fifth year." Emphasis added -- it takes four years?!?!?!?

I admit, independence is something I place an extremely high value on, and I probably have extremely high expectations for young children, even a very gifted child, as far as independence and self-motivation goes. I just wish I could get across the basic concept that if you concentrate and finish your work (which I know she can do), then you have lots more time to play or do what you like later. (Like right now she is loudly singing the Korean hello song from Victoria's preschool, and then a Spanish hello/what's your name song she's making up.)

OK, I feel a little better . . .

So, here's a little photo update from some of our recent adventures.

I love this one of Victoria -- she looks like an old lady grimacing in the mirror

And another makeover shot -- to be clear, they are warriors, not just glamour queens:

Here we are skating, first Violet:

Then Victoria and I:

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Posted by Mariposa

The girls are so cute!

Do you think some of it is personality? For example, we were getting ready to read aloud so I gave her a 5 minute warning. The 5 minute warning was up and she showed up and said she had to go to the bathroom. She is gone 5 minutes and comes back without her glasses on. She goes back to look for them. She sits down and says her princess costume is too itchy. She goes to change. Once she is undressed she sits down opens the book and her glasses are missing again! So far 15 minutes have elasped.

I know I have to change things around for Ami otherwise she will stare into space or start working on something of her own invention. I wonder if they learn so fast they quickly tire if something looks familar.

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Posted by Sarah

Oh look, there you are! :-) So attractive, even while ice skating! Last time I went ice skating, I couldn't let go of the wall and ended up cutting my leg on the blade of the skate. Never again, thank you.

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Posted by Anonymous

Oh, and I meant to say ... we have a big problem with dawdling over work in the house. I give time limits. And even then I still have to prompt a lot. Although when the work is interesting for her, she is more willing to focus.

I also go with the Charlotte Mason wisdom of keeping lessons very short, to build up her ability to focus.

There's just so much to look at in the world and think about, I'm told ;-)

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Posted by SusannahCox

I love the hair cuts. Sweet girls!

I have one I have to sit on every day to get him through math. The big girls know the routine and race through their math to get it done and over with. He will sit there for an hour, if I don't point to the next problem and make him look at it. And he's the one I have pegged as more the scholarly type!

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