My son Stephen was sneaking around with a flashlight after he was supposed to be in bed. Guess what he was doing? His math! This has gone on for quite some time apparently, because he has been doing two math lessons per day, just to finish his book sooner. You see, I told him that once he was finished with his book, he was done. He would have the summer off. I did not intend for him to be done this early. I fear that he will lose his math skills if he takes four months off. But my word is my word. And what is he going to do for a month while his siblings do math?
Of course, his sister was the one who tattled on him. His brothers knew well what he was doing, since they sleep in the same room. I guess I know who’s loyal to whom. And even though Stephen was being disobedient to be up after we had put him to bed, how can any decent parent spank a child who is diligently doing his math? This is just a plain weird situation.
The sad part of it all for Stephen is the fact that he did the entire bonus section in the back of the book, which I wasn’t going to require him to do. Yep. He did six MORE days of math than was required by me, and I don’t have the heart to tell him that he did too much. Maybe that will be his punishment…
Tags: Homeschooling, math
As I was reading your post i was trying to think of ways you could discipline the bedtime issue without discouraging the extra effort on math – but I would say that doing six additional days of math is punishment enough. Maybe all that is needed is a loving reminder that bedtime is exactly that.