Homeschooling woes.

The things you can't forsee! When we planned our house I didn't forsee trying to school an attention deficiet child with much older siblings. We planned for coolness in a sub~tropical summer & have an open plan house. The house is cool but some days I just want to pull my hair out. Like Tuesday. Dictation is hard enough. Cass talks so much she rarely remembers what she is suppossed to be writing until it's been repeated 3 times & some days when I check her work I wonder if we were using the same text 'cause what she's written bears little resemblence to what I've said. So having Liddy join us with her new John MacArthur book was not what I needed. I am easily distracted from the boredom of dictation according to Cass & Liddy kept saying, 'Did you know...' & off we'd go on a 15 minute theological diversion. Grrrr! Cass was so happy. Rarely is dictation so entertaining. Still I can justify that as part of Cass' curriculum, right? It was her brother that caused the real problem.

Mid~morning there is the phone call. We spent months training friends & family not to ring during school hours, a dictum my own household happily ignores. Dino was on his way home, could I pick him up? And the good news? He'd broken his wrist & was in plaster! Argh! I already have one hyperactive child bored out of her brain. Two I did not need. Dino is not one of my readers so what he did was stock up on videos & he & Liddy settled in for a movie marathon. Cass NOT happy! I moved her work into the kitchen. Her bedroom is too close to the t.v & goodness knows what nonsense she would have written. Besides she would have spent the rest of the morning wandering round on the pretext she was clearing her desk, which is piled high with art work. The t.v can be seen & heard from the kitchen but with the sound turned down is not too distracting but it meant I spent the rest of the morning standing behind the breakfast bar so Cass couldn't see the t.v. screen. Open plan houses & homeschooling are not a good fit. However it seems Liddy's collar bone is actually mending nicely & she could be back at work in as little as three weeks. Roll on the day! Mind you, all she is interested in is when she can get back on the soccer pitch!