Lesson Learned

At the beginning of the school year, Ogden and I were having some not-so-fun homework battles.  His homework usually consists of 2 pages of math or grammar or something, a spelling activity, and 20 minutes of reading.  First we decided that he could have 20 minutes of fun and a snack before doing his homework. Sounded fair to me and him.  Unfortunately, when the 20 minutes expired and he was playing outside with friends, it was not easy to get him to come inside.  Meaning, it would require me to whistle out the window, receive the accidental acknowledgment, followed by the "I didn't hear you" avoidance, followed by a couple more attempts, followed by me getting my shoes on, grabbing my babies, and trotting down three flights of stairs and bringing Ogden inside.  Soooo, we did away with the 20 minutes. Ogden was pretty good at doing his spelling and worksheets, but the reading was another story.  We tried reading outside on a blanket, taking turns reading, having him read to his sisters, but day after day we still would have struggles over the reading.  I kept thinking Ogden should come in the door, take care of his responsibilities without procrastinating, and me not even have to be a part of it.  Then it donned on me.  Do I do that?  Do I wake up and clean the bathrooms first thing in the morning?  Heck no!  Do I get my visiting teaching done the first week of the month?  Quite the opposite.  After a while, we finally figured out a routine that works.  Ogden does his worksheets and spelling right when he gets home and then at bedtime, when all the kids are in bed, he and I lay down on his bed and read books together.  It's turned out to be quite a special one-on-one for us.  He usually tells me stories about his day and we get to have little conversations together where no one interrupts us.  We don't get to do this every night, but I sure do enjoy our time together and the tension is no longer there.