The birthday boy, age 7, holding breathy Elise at bay, Feb. 9.
I may as well write it on my calendar now: struggle with James next Thursday to get his weekly writing homework assignment done. The boy complains and sulks, hides and avoids. Then, once I do get him in the same room, it's torture to pull the prescribed number of sentences from his tensely gripped pencil. Which makes the cute little book I found this morning all the more baffling. (It was published at least 10 days ago, apparently.)
Spring time By James nathan Hatch Age 6
chapter 1
Spring is comeing my mom and DaD are happy. I'm even happier!
But I like winter too. Sometimes I don't. Because it usually has a Blizzard aaaaahhh!
So I thought I could help plant some seeds with my mom and dad. (Word bubbles: Can I help? Yes.)
"Yes" Said mom. and my dad said yes too.
I've turned into Mr. can I help.
Mr. Can-I-Help! I laughed and laughed. Hard.
I wonder if the stick figure's blank expression represents James' own puzzlement at this development.
In less concrete ways my children often remind me that the key to successful parenting is not making them do what I want -- it's planting the desire for them to do it on their own. The writing assignment James had to do? Drudgery. But being surrounded by books, and having the freedom and materials at hand to make his own? Inspiring.
James' teacher is so wonderful that, with explanation, I know she will accept future writing assignments from him in this format, rather than the rigid lines of the handout. My trick will be pitching next week's topic to this aspiring author without him catching on, ha ha.
I've been thinking a lot lately about teaching my children to work. Removing the drudgery factor is important. I need to teach them that a job well done can be its own reward, and that work can make them happy. I also need to give them the leeway to do tasks in their own fashion, focusing on results rather than my idea of the process. I wish I knew how to do all this.
Come on, James. I need you to write chapter 2!
3 comments:
I love the book! That's a keepsake for sure. Thanks for the reminder. I'm all about drudgery; just ask my kids. I love it when they become inspired on their own. Way to go, James!
I can SO relate with this post. For some reason, Collin was totally against this week's assignment. He had NO desire to write about the rain. I had to practically spoon feed every word to him. Torture. It was defeating the purpose of the whole assignment. Let me know if Mrs. approves. I'll have to try and adapt to your format. :)
I love the books my children have created--their heartfelt and reveal so much about their perspectives. Great idea to substitute this for his home writing assignment.
Post a Comment