We will find a groove right? The three of them never seem to find a groove at the same time, and that’s okay. My biggest challenge each day is reading the climate of each kid and figuring out who I’ll have to sit on to finish their work. My second biggest challenge is figuring out what to feed them all day long.

Some interesting things I have learned the last couple weeks about Ransom:

For years, I have sat in conferences for Ransom, and the teachers told me, “He’s rushing through his work.” When he was in kindergarten I was alarmed and would wring my hands. Last year, I just shrugged—not because I didn’t care, but because he was still meeting all his grade level competencies despite his speed. None of his teachers had any insight into the specific reasons why he was rushing, except to say he wants to talk or go to recess, to which I responded, “Me too! I speed through the activities I don’t enjoy (like balancing the checkbook), so I can get to something I actually WANT to do.” Some teachers agreed and others were trying to decide if I needed to be reported or something.

When we began our experiment, I did not expect Ransom to magically slow down and suddenly be Scholar Ransom, immersed quietly in his studies and asking to read Thomas Aquinas before bed. I was, however, interested to see the reasons behind the rushing. Was the work too easy? Is he just bored by the subject? Is the format the problem? Is he being lazy? All of the above? He’s still rushing, so I have plenty of opportunities to observe.

In reading, it is flat out laziness. He prefers non-fiction to fiction, and having a fictional short story a day to read just irritates him.  One or two times a week, I am going to try connecting the fiction with non-fiction subjects, using supporting books with lots of photos and illustrations. On the other days, I am going to let him read just as fast as he wants as long as he can narrate the story back to me.

With science? The problem is the format—reading about what happens to soil when water runs through it? Boring. Taking a tray of sand out back and pouring water down one side and drawing the erosion patterns, and suddenly I can’t get him inside for lunch.

In math, he wants to do all the problems in his head and keep his paper clean and free of stray marks except for the correct answers. He’s a first-born and will likely never get over this, but for now, I’m going to try graph paper—maybe if each number can have a box of its own he will at least surrender to showing his work.

Yesterday we were driving home, and he leaned forward and said, “You know, Mom? I am not nearly as stressed out as I was in school last year. Nobody’s yelling at me to slow down, and I can go fast in some subjects and take more time in others.”

Exactly. Now to figure out what’s for lunch.