It was bound to happen sooner or later, but this morning I lost all of my patience. Zoë was in tears and Aiden was hiding under a blanket as I laid into them about their inability to at least pretend they were thinking and paying attention. After a string of "I don't know" answers, jumping on the furniture and flailing limbs, I made everyone sit down in the middle of the floor and laid out some expectations.
I know that I'm over-sensitive to Aiden's "active" lifestyle, but I had just had enough! I told them both if they wanted to continue not thinking or listening they should just sit in public school classes for 7 hours. I know I expect a lot from them, but they are capable of much more. I listened to all of their complaints, helped them find solutions, but in the end told them if they couldn't behave I would start doling out more punishments and taking away rewards. Needless to say, we're all looking forward to the week off at the end of May.
Things weren't all bad. We're spending the afternoon at the library researching Ancient Greece for Aiden, and the Roman Empire for Zoë. We talked about myths and learned about Narcissus and Pandora. We also discussed force and did an experiment throwing objects. In math Aiden has started learning how to multiply 2-digit numbers and Zoë was working on probability. She's about ready to move up to the next math book now.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.
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