Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

yesterday was a delight. I felt that we made suitable progress in several areas.

Today, Not So Much.

I am dealing with the evil monster again. He worked on Language Arts (Vocabulary) for 15 minutes and then struggled the next 45. Now we have had a thermal nuclear melt down because he simple can not cope with the concept of reading the chipmunk / bear packet. What if I ditch THAT story, and write my own 'discussion' about the book that he is reading on his own? Instead of handwriting with out tears, I need reading without tears.

I hate living in Seattle.

So after a hour of him sitting in his room without any possibility of electronics (I had control of the computer and the DS. He came in and decided to struggle through the Literature Lesson for the day. He read the story (4 pages long) he read the vocabulary words (4 of them) he filled in the blanks using vocabulary words. He five somewhat complete sentences to answer 5 questions about the story (the last three were more painful that the process of bringing him into this world 8 years ago. He is now released to go eat lunch.

My resolve is that we will have no electronics until he has completed one more literature assignment and his spelling assignment and his social studies today. At some point we should work in an art lesson. This week is sculpture.

Recipe for Sculpture:
in small pan on stove:
1/2 boiling water
1/2 cup salt
in small bowl:
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup corn starch
combine in pan and stir until ball forms (happens REALLY quickly)
remove from heat, and cool, roll, smash, keep in zip lock baggie to keep soft.