Day 10

How weird.  Here it is Sunday, and here I am posting!  While we did go to church, and the kids sang and went to Sunday school, I would normally not post about it.  In fact, I'm not posting about it, other than to say that Emily was really cute showing her cousin where she was in the song they were singing.  Very sweet.

No, that is neither here nor there, though I do count the singing for my quarterly reports to the mighty New York State.  No, I post here because as Emily and I returned from food shopping, we may have hit on the idea that will save my sanity. 

She has been talking about school a lot.  Not homeschool.  School.  Oy.  Honestly, I can see the appeal.  More than see it, I can almost taste it.  But when it comes right down to it, darn it, I just don't want to send her off to school to get a barely-education with potential for being made fun of, bored, and exposed to cultural ways of acting we generally don't agree with. 

So, back to the idea.  Somehow, the way we have been trying to get Math done has not worked for Emily.  There is no tempting her with video games, no timing for the sake of timing, no work for an hour, get a break.  So, it comes to a method as old as 2 year olds.  Food.  We will be using candy to get her to finish in a timely manner.  The clock gets set for 45 minutes, and if she finishes in that time, she'll get a certain amount of candy.  Every 5 minutes past that decreases the amount by one.  The reason I post about this today is because we tried it!  While every other math lesson has taken at least half a day, she had this one sewn up in 38 minutes.  I realize that this could be classified as bribery.  So could video-game time, and so could a paycheck.  How many people would go to work if there were no paycheck waiting on Friday?  Oh, wait, I guess I would, wouldn't I?  Ha ha, but seriously.

I'm elated!  Now all the good things that I can point out about homeschooling make sense!  She couldn't do dance class, Aikido, orchestra, rocket building, apple picking, history class, playing with her friends, or reading in her room during school hours.  And so much more!  I think part of her just wants to see what all the fuss is about, and I can understand that.  What I have been trying to do is give her the good parts of school without all the crap that usually goes with it. 

Her Sunday School teacher is wonderful, we are starting a history class only 1/4 taught by me, she'll be going to a Numeracy Club soon, which I'm psyched about, so we have plenty of 'classes' in the mix.  I'm hoping we can tip the scales in our favor with our new Math-getting-done technique.  Can't get paid in candy for doing math in school.  That's what I'll tell her if she gives me grief tomorrow.  Or maybe I've played that card too much, and it's time to retire it.  I'll have to think of something else...hmmm, always something new to ponder!