Let Me Do Yours...

I have learned so many things about our children since I have been blessed to be home with them. I have almost decided to classify this particular observation as a phenomenon. It goes something like this:

Niah has her own school work to do...but she would rather do Aliya's or Kiahna's.

Aliya has her own school work to do...but she would rather do Kiahna's or Niah's.

Kiahna has her own school work to do...but she would rather do Aliya's or Niah's.

We have also noticed this same phenomenon working at gift-giving occasions. Niah prefers to play with Aliya's toys, Aliya wants to play with Kiahna's toys, and Kiahna wants to play with Isaiah's toys. Isaiah doesn't really care yet--but as soon as he does, he will no longer be the "cute" baby brother...he will have graduated to COMPETITOR!

Today I took pictures for proof. Kiahna had an assignment to find all the cards with edible items on them, and then put the pictures on the white display paper. Aliya's assignment was to complete her addition facts. Aliya immediately began "assisting" Kiahna--which, of course, Kiahna didn't want any help. After a while, Kiahna got bored and started playing with Aliya's blocks (she uses them for her math). Aliya wasn't too happy about that.

There's a lot more to homeschooling that just teaching the subjects. The subjects (math, science, history, etc.) tend to be easy--it's the character issues (sharing, kindness, thoughtfulness, etc.) that take the REAL work.