Plum Wore Out

Today my son decided he wanted to be a scientist. He decided this because he wanted to "make dinosaurs come back to life". I guess I need to work on his *theology*.

I have actually found myself plum wore out homeschooling my son. This is not to be misunderstood about homeschooling in general - I love homeschooling and still believe in the merits of it 110 percent. I have every intention of continuing.

But pardon me if I'm just having a bit of a whine.

Truthfully, I've been spoiled by my daughter. From the beginning she has been such an independent learner. She read early, so was able to read her own instructions early and only come to me for assistance. Although Seth *reads*, he is only very average at best (whatever average is) and needs my help with everything.

Totally everything.

One hundred percent EVERYTHING. And that's what I am plum wore out about.

I've decided lately to give him his assignment and leave him - ALONE - to do it. I try to occupy myself, sometimes in another room altogether, but sometimes in the same room. This has been a total trial. Even though I have explained to him that he is to work alone and NOT to call me unless he has a question, he cannot seem to grasp this. He will work quietly for two minutes maximum before he calls me to "come see how good I made my 'S' mom!"

My son needs continual affirmation.

Other times he just dawdles when I'm not watching him like a hawk. And school drags on for much longer because he is not getting his work done.

Lest it appears that I think my son is "stupid" in comparison to my daughter, let me clarify. For some reason I have been able to tap into my daughter's learning mode. She is very, very bright but I understand her areas of strength. I get what makes her tick and have figured out how she will catch on to things. My son, however, is beyond brilliant at things I just don't get. There have been times I have told people of some things he's said or done and they have responded with by expressing their opinion of his sheer brilliance. Such incidences give me a wake-up call to my own struggle to understand his areas of genius. At times I feel totally inadequate to teach him. I know if I *only had this gift or that understanding* that he would be even further ahead.

Right now the only gift I have is of impatience.

On a positive note, one of the things I have clued into is how to teach my kids proper study habits. That is simply because I have adopted their dad's mode of studying (all the credit goes to him, really). He has taken a half dozen correspondence courses and has proven his ability to study by continually acing his exams. When I was first giving Seth spelling tests, he flunked them. All of them. Then I adopted their dad's study habits and he has been doing brilliant. Today he got 100 percent.

Now if I could only figure out other ways to help him, I'd be set. Or he'd be set. Or we'd both be set.

And I would be less grey.

I'm done my whining now.