I haven’t shared a mom fail in a while. Not because I haven’t had them but because there’s always so much going on in our world I like to focus on the positive more than the negative. Today’s #MomFail was a learning moment for both me and JustaBXgirl so I thought I would share it with you.
I’ve always considered home schooling. I like the freedom that comes with it and honestly there’s a lot abut my neighborhood schools that I don’t like. I’ve even called myself practicing over the years giving JustaBXgirl homework and projects to do. I’ve just never been consistent enough to 100% commit to the idea of doing it with her as she gets older. Today was a eye opener that maybe I should rethink being her home school teacher.
Today we were working on the letter C. I never realized how much frustration the letter that starts such wonderful words like candy, champagne and cookies could be. JustaBXgirl has those books that you can trace letters in. She is a WIZARD at tracing. Sometimes I have to ask her if JustaBXgrandpa helped because the tracing looks so perfect.
Freehand though? Ugh. She can kind of do an M (sometimes it looks more like a heartbeat monitor). She can do an I. She can do an O. She can sometimes do a lowercase A and I think that’s about it. Oh wait, X marks the spot is one of her favorites to write!
She has letter recognition and writing games on her iPad but the downfall to them is I personally think they make it harder for children to grasp using a pencil after using their fingers for so long. That brings us directly back to our C drama today.
We took out one of her alphabet books and she chose the letter C to be the letter of the day (even though 2 hours later she says this is not the case). First up is the tracing. This little girl whizzes through that. I mean I barely had time to turn around and she was DONE. I’m thinking I’m going to have to find something else for her to do. I get my creative juices flowing. How about going through a magazine and cutting out all things that start with C? As I mentally pat myself on the back for coming up with such an awesome idea I turn back to check on her freehand C status.
Now we are over two hours later still working on the freehand. There was been helping, yelling, tears, hugs, kisses and lots of frustration from both of us. I made her a good 20 more tracing Cs which she handled with no problem but freehand continued to be an issue.
I tried explaining that Cs were nothing more than a circle with an open side. Nope, didn’t help. She did think it was cool though. Then I showed her how to turn her left hand into a C to trace. Actually I only showed her how to turn her thumb and index finger into a C. Tomorrow we will try the whole hand and see if that helps because nothing else has.
I even threatened that we wouldn’t go to gymnastics class today and she just couldn’t get it together. When she would try the Cs would either be reversed or on their sides. She was frustrated and so was I. I even had her try using different writing utensils, pencils and crayons. Nope, didn’t work either.
When I realized that she was close to tears not because she couldn’t get it but because I was aggravated I apologized. I explained that I wasn’t frustrated with her but with the situation. She told me she couldn’t do it. I explained that it might be difficult and she hasn’t mastered it yet but that there is nothing she can’t do if she puts her mind to it.
I really considered not taking her to gymnastics today. We did end up going for two main reasons. First reason is that her semester of gymnastics is paid for and those classes are not cheap. This mama works a full-time and a part time job AND blogs to be able to afford the lifestyle I want her to have which includes being able to take different types of classes as she figures out what she wants to master in life. Second reason is that I don’t want her to develop a resentment for schoolwork because of what she loses if she doesn’t get it right.
If she hadn’t even made an attempt I wouldn’t have taken her to class because I’m a firm believer that school is a child’s job. If they do not perform their job they should not be rewarded. However, I think effort needs to be recognized and to some degree rewarded. Effort however doesn’t always make excellence. JustaBXgirl is now in bed but has already been informed that tomorrow is a continuation of our C story.
I made sure to remind her that she is loved and capable. Do I think she will be a grown woman that doesn’t know how to write the letter C? Nope. She will master it just like she mastered her rolls in gymnastics today and her plies in ballet, through practice. My motto is slow and steady and it’s time I start teaching it to her.
Wish us luck on the next letter!
