School After Thanksgiving

Give em 4 days off for Thanksgiving and they forget how to read. What's up with that? I fear the summer if this is how it's gonna be. Speaking of summer - I think I will homeschool them through the summer, just not as many hours in the day. I'll think on it and figure it all out. Maybe! LOL

So now that the holiday is over, we are back to our normal routine of school work.

I am so thankful that Superman has returned to his line of work. Now he has more time off during the week to help with homeschool. It's not that he helps with the school work so much as helping with JD's attitude. I need help with that more than anything else.

JD can come up answers that are so out in left field. Example: How do humans get their energy? His answer was, "They get their energy from drinking soda". There is no way that was in his Science book. He just wrote something down to get to go outside. He just writes things down without reading or looking back in his lesson.
Because of answers like that, he must write the page number where he found his answer. We have tried taking all of his privileges away from him and giving him a few of them back at a time. He whines and complains and just sasses me so darn bad. Since Superman is home today and there were some issues, we have decided that JD will be sitting on his bed when he is not doing his lessons. That will remain in affect until he gets it in his head that he must read the lesson, answer the questions correctly and write the page number where he found the answer.
That is all I know to do right now. I really am about to pull my hair out when it comes to him getting his lessons done.

Calling All Parents

Ok - I have to admit, I really need some advice.

My middle son, JD, is 12 years old and he hates school. Yes, with a capital H. Some days he will do his work with very little complaints and other days - well there other days. Days that he complains about everything. He hates his chair, he hates his desk, he hates the clothes he is wearing. He hates to read and even refuses to read. Every lesson he starts to do is dumb. Ask him to add 2+1 on those days and he will tell you he is confused. He can come up with any excuse and every excuse to get out of his school work. He will say that no one can make him do his school work.
Instead of looking in the material he has read for the answer to a multiple choice question, he will just pick an answer. He will say that he doesn't care if he gets it wrong. He will say that the answer is not in the material he just read. He will say that the answer isn't where he is looking or where he looked. He will say that I never help him. When I am sitting less than a foot away from him, he will ask me to tell him what page the answer is on. Then he will want you to tell him what paragraph it is in. And then he wants to know what sentence it is. I mean it just goes on and on.
He will say so many other things too. All the things that he says is negative. We all try to work with him. We all try to help him. There is a limit to helping someone before you actually are doing it for them.

I am hoping that someone who has experienced something like this can please give me some ideas or suggestions that may help us out. At this point, I sometimes think a root canal would be more pleasant.

Long Long Day

When class starts and 9:30 am and ends around 5pm, it certainly makes for a long, long day. And get this - class really didn't end at 5 pm, it's just that I had had enough. I couldn't take the whining or complaining anymore. JD can certainly takes hours and hours to whine and complain but he can't take 15 minutes to do his work. I think that for some reason that he believes that if he complains enough that I will just let class go and not do it, or he won't have to do his work. I have showed him time after time that no matter the amount of complaining that he does, he will still have to do his work. How in the world can I get him to understand? And even if he doesn't understand right now, if I can just get him to comply.

I know that some of you may have experienced what I am going through with getting JD to understand, sit still or just simply do his work. What can I do? He wanted my help today with math, no problem - but - the whole time I am explaining the division problem to him he is using his pencil as a car and even making car sounds. How much of this can a person take? I stopped and ask him to stop making the sound and to please put his pencil down. Oh yes - it worked for about 15 seconds. I know - take what is given to me. But the whole 15 seconds he is complaining that he doesn't understand. Well for goodness sake, I guess he doesn't understand if he won't listen.

I suppose some days I am just at a lose. Tonight we discussed his behavior at supper and he had to have a talk with his dad. He certainly doesn't like having those talks with his dad.

MJ is about to move on to Unit 2 of his History and Geography studies, he is also about to move on to Unit 2 in his Language Arts studies. He is really working very well and comprehending what he is reading.

I told WW that I am not holding him back and waiting on JD anymore. Tomorrow he will be able to pick up his books and do his studies by himself. I ask him to come to me with any questions that he has and I will check him from time to time.

Other than it being a long, long day, it was an ok day. Hopefully JD will get some really good rest tonight and we will be able to move him along.

I Knew It Would Happen

I knew it, I knew it! I knew it would happen! I was really tested today by our middle son. Superman and I were just talking the other night that home school would fall apart once we stuck our heads in the books. And it did. Did we make it happen by talking about it? Is is Karma? I don't have a clue but I do know that it happened. JD put me to the test today. In some ways I feel like I failed miserably and in other ways I feel like I did the best I could. Looking back now, I think I could have done better. And if hindsight were 20/20.
JD thinks that he should know all of the answers. Really he does - and if he don't know the answers he just gets very overwhelmed. How in the world can he advance to the next level or the next grade if this continues to happen? He refuses to read his assignments. When it comes to the questions he wants me to help him with every one.
For example:
#1 - 435 x 2 =_____ He will say that he can't do it. He will say that he is going to write down just anything and he doesn't care if he gets it wrong. He expects me to show him how to do it - when in fact I have showed him and showed him.
#2 - 17 x 1 =________ He says he doesn't know his times tables. He says he isn't going to do it. He wants me to show him how to do it again.

What am I supposed to do? I know he knows how to do it, I have seen him do it. I know he can do it, I have seen him do it. I know he knows his times tables, I have seen him do them. Not only have I been over this with him but so has his dad, so have teachers from public schools.
I really need some help or advise or some Xanax. Maybe a little of everything.

And just to let you all know right up front - I'm poppin a Xanax and gonna keep on keepin on!