A Better Day: Homeschool Edition

Some days school can be NOT FUN. I have had several of those days lately. It seems like when I tell Ella it is time for school, I hear "aaaawwwwww" more and more. I have been reading some blogs lately for encouragement. One thing I read recently, stuck with me. My kid is not going to like every subject or even look at something in "wide eyed wonder". Like for me, no matter what math curriculum there is, I will NEVER like math. I still get stumped when trying to add measurements together. So, I can't expect Ella to enjoy reading as much as I do. She hates it by the way. It is the subject she dreads the most and causes the most frustration for both of us. She will be the one that would rather watch the movie and never pick up the book. I am the one that wants to read the book first, before seeing the movie.
Another frustration, is that she gets her words mixed up, loses her place, and makes up words. Yesterday, I got an idea. When she is reading her story, we cover up the rest of the story, so her eyes only focus on one line at a time. It has helped soooo much. She is reading faster and not getting her word mixed up near as much.

To avoid the "aaaawwww" this morning, I told Ella that we were going to do a project, and it involved painting. While the girls were painting, cutting out their hands and gluing, I read a few facts about bats (We are incorporating Halloween in with history, art, and science). After the girls were finished making their bat puppets, Ella told me she didn't want to start her school work. When I told her we already had, her face lit up. She said that this was the best school ever. :) So, after we cleared things away, we started with Math, then Reading, then her "independent work"

I always thought that if we did the harder subjects first, we could end the day on a happy note by doing the easier and more fun ones later. Well, it just happens to be the other way around.