Out of Rhythm

I seriously do not know what to do. last year he would sit in my lap, and we would get our work done. this year he has a desk that is 10 feet away and he would prefer to play 'games', which is all fine and dandy when it is brain pop or other educational site. but converting that over into OLS is difficult. I am not the teacher droning at the front of the classroom kind of learning coach, like I have explained to them time and time again, it is an open book type of assessment, if you know it, put down the answer, if you do not, ask me and I will explain it.

factor in that now we have Erik in the mix, and this generally means that Magnus will retreat into his shell rather than compete for attention. Magnus has never been a motivated learner, it is a struggle on a daily basis to get him to even get out of bed. Once out of bed, he groans and wimpers if I ask him to do ANYTHING, and then he cries and acts like I am torturing him.

I have printed out his progress report to let him see where he is on task and where he needs to focus to get caught up. I have tried a little bit a day of each subject, or chunked it all up so that he doesnt have to Transition. Transitions are bad, dragging him anywhere, even LEGOLAND is a painful task, once there, leaving is just as painful, even if it is to go to KNOTTSBERRY FARM, once there, he is shocked that it is so wonderful, this is a continuous process. no I do not want to go, no I do not want to go, Oh my god I love it here, no I do not want to go, no I do not want to go. I wish there was a magic wand to get through transitions.

granted, this year has been painful, waiting weeks to get Erik's books, spending weeks camping in Montana waiting for the baby to be born, now have spent a week getting back on Texas Time, 6 hour time difference for us. with holidays and whatnot, there is no routine, and I just can not seem to establish one. Magnus refuses to eat breakfast, and then when I say lets start, he insists on eating. it is so frustrating.

I wish that I could wake him up, feed him, sit him down in front of skype, and him just engage with a teacher that started the day off with language arts. I am uncomfortable with that subject. For me it is like brushing my teeth. We write, it is what we do. He needs to write. He needs to learn to love to write. He doesn't like to talk, he stutters horribly and it drives me nuts, he can not get his thoughts to focus, so I can see why it is so hard for him to write.

I am wondering what I can do to get him to focus...

2009	Reading, Math, Writing, Writing Prompt

2006	Reading, Math, Writing, Writing Prompt

2004	Reading, Math, Writing, Writing Prompt

2003	Reading, Math, Writing, Writing Prompt