There was one day this last week where I found myself fighting with Cora about doing two rather simple (review) pages of math. They were subtraction questions. It wasn’t just dawdling. It was all out, “I am NOT going to do this”, laying on the chair, sobbing, crying, fussing. This carried on for about 3 hours. Finally I did give her a break, thinking she needed to spend some time with just Mom, I took her for a walk to get the mail or something. Well, when we got home things still hadn’t changed; it was still the same attitude and still the same struggle, but those two pages did get done before bedtime that night.
As we moms often do, I lamented on Facebook my struggle. I got some great suggestions.
A} cover half the page and play beat the clock. Basically, time the first half of the page and when doing the second half, try to beat that time.
B} If the first beat the clock doesn’t work, break the page down further, only uncovering one line of questions at time.
C} Work in a different chapter of the book, covering a different topic altogether. Give the mind and review work a break and learn a new concept.
So the next day, I offered Option C. Cora took my offer. Kristyn did not. Guess who I had trouble with that day? Kristyn! HUGE SIGH! But the day was not nearly as long as the day before with Cora. Cora finished her pages in the new chapter in RECORD time! I think it took her half an hour to do 2 pages.
On day three (today) of this saga, both girls chose to work in the new chapter. Math work took less than an hour for both girls. I am so glad for the suggestions I received on Facebook that day!
Striving to learn and live God's purposes, 
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