Fighting, again

Not the physical kind. Sometimes I am totally conflicted in how to teach my kids. I would like to be able to fully do TJed but I just can't do it. If my kids were left to learn what they want they would learn nothing and play all day. Emma really doesn't like to do anything unless she is compelled to and then she enjoys it. Today we had Maelyn babysit. I though Emma would be totally excited about having a "substitute teacher" but instead she gave her a hard time and was generally awful. The reason? She told me it was because she only wanted me to teach her. Yup, the same kid who tells me she hates homeschooling about 30 times a week.

Once she came out of timeout and called Maelyn to apologize, she was all over the schoolwork. She did a math facts worksheet in the time it took me to get Sarah out of bed and change a diaper. She flew through her worksheet and counted by 2's like a pro. She read her little book quite proudly to me. Then she carefully made her Viking ship and even ran to get the glue gun so she could get the mast on. I had to bribe her with a trip to the store with dad to get her out of the schoolroom so Annie could finish her work.

When left to make her own choices she will watch tv or play video games all day. She hates being read to. I have no idea how to make that work with TJed since it is based on reading the classics.

I have been reading A Thomas Jefferson Education again and it says while I am beginning to not change anything I am doing with the kids. I think I will stay on this phase for a while, since my kids are getting their routine down with me teaching them. I have yet again put a bunch of thought provoking books and hopefully I can read them this time and perhaps inspire the kids to read too.

Annie just finished reading Mary Poppins and has declared it to be much better than the movie. She is planning on reading the next Mary Poppins book. But she has no desire to learn more about the time period in the book or anything else. We discuss it whenever she wants but I haven't read it recently and have a bad memory anyway so the discussions can be limited.

Emma is improving with reading the Book of Mormon. She occasionally insists on reading two verses and sometimes 3. She also likes to read the first verse to start us off. She is now becoming more familiar with the language. Tonight she asked if thou meant you and why can't we just say you. Good question.

Tomorrow should be interesting. We are having Teach the Teacher day and they have been preparing all sorts of "curriculum" for me to do. Wish me luck.