That is what I heard this morning when I told Benjamin that it was time to start his schoolwork. It is a rainy, cloudy, icky day today and nobody (including me) really wanted to do school. But, with his surgery a couple of weeks ago and a day off last week since Andrew was out of school, I really felt that we needed to do work instead of skipping it.
After a struggle, I got him to go to the schoolroom, but he continued with the, "I don't WANT to do school. I am NOT going to do school! Hmph!" He sat down and then told me very sternly, "I don't LIKE school!"
Days like this can be tricky. Sometimes, I can talk him out of it quickly and get him onto doing his work without many issues. Other days, it turns into a full blown battle where I get frustrated and he gets nothing out of it.
"Finish quickly and then you can play the whole rest of the day!"
"No! I don't LIKE school!"
"Yes, you do like school. Remember all of the fun things you do when we do school? You can choose which activity you want to do first. How 'bout vocabulary?"
"No! I'm not doing it! I don't LIKE vocabulary."
"Ben, you have been telling me that vocabulary is your favorite. Don't you want to learn your new words for the week?"
"No!"
Today was not going to be one of those 'talk him out of it days.' Fine, I'll change my tactics... maybe some bribery? Maybe a sensory activity?
"Do you want to do science outside and go stomp in some puddles?"
"Nuh-huh! I don't LIKE science! No school!"
Unfortunately, I am not a big pushover like he sometimes likes to pretend that I am, so I was not giving up that easily.
"Ok... fine. You don't like school."
Silence from the offspring. He is kind of confused by the lack of argument from me.
"Why don't you tell me what it is you don't like about school. We could write about it in your writing journal."
"Ok!! Why I don't like school..."
So we wrote about why he doesn't like school. First, we brainstormed all of the things he doesn't like and all of the things that he does. We also talked about things that he would do if he didn't have to do school. We wrote the final draft in his story book. I dictated what he said, but purposefully left out one word per sentence for him to fill in using stamps. He had to figure out how to spell those words. He also illustrated it and read it back to me to make sure that I didn't forget anything. Plus, he had to complete our calendar that he refused to do during calendar time so that we could put the date at the top of the paper.
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| Ben's essay and picture of him playing with his firetruck. |
Once we were done with him getting to vent to me why he doesn't like school and see his words show up on paper, he happily completed the rest of his schoolwork in record time.
"I LOVE vocabulary! It's my favorite!"
So, here is his essay:
Why I Don't Like School
I don't like school because school is too hard for me. I want to buy legos and Geotrax and trucks instead. I don't like to do vocabulary and writing and social studies. I like math and reading. If I were not in school, I would play. Instead of school, I would eat ice cream.
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