I took a new tack today, mostly out of necessity. We had a doctor's appointment that was about an hour away, and had to get the oil changed beforehand. It turned out that the hour before we left was spent eating and getting dressed (why do I always forget about those things?) so we took our school with us. The oil change was fine, as we got lost in our spiral notebook playing hangman. I think we only play it when we get the oil changed, so it's always a bit new for them. The trick came to dealing with the car ride to Albany.
The deal was, if people did their work, they could play their DSs on the way home. This worked beautifully with my boy. He will do anything for an electronic game of any sort. It was a good way to go since the appointment was for him, and it gave him something else to think about. In the end, on the way up, he even played with his sister. On the way back, he was so relieved that the appointment was over, he didn't even seem to mind that his DS ran out of charge. Poor kid.
Trouble was, it didn't work for my girl. She just doesn't care. She's more interested in anything going on around her, or reading a book, or talking to someone. In the end, she didn't finish her lesson until dinner was done. Not when we were home, not when dinner was cooking, but when dinner was DONE.
Here's where the 'new' part kicks in. I told her she had to do it. Many times. But I didn't make a big deal of it, and when there was something else that took her interest, I let her be. Sometimes you have to let it go. In the end, the work got done, and she probably doesn't feel like the whole day was eaten up with it the way I do. She was too busy doing all manner of other thing much more important than Saxon. She was just living life.
Maybe I need to take a lesson from her.
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