Todd took the boys to school with him today. The Christian school had a guest speaker today to talk to the students about Creation vs Evolution, and we thought it would be a good presentation for the boys to hear. Of course, we had to make it more educational by having the boys write a one page paper on what they learned. (That always brings a smile to my boys' faces...NOT) Seriously, if you want to tick my boys off or make them break down into hysterics, just ask them to write a paper. Believe me, for the last two weeks I have been prepping my boys that their next Language unit was on writing a research paper. I have been conditioning them for this "monstrous" task that was coming their way, so yesterdays' trip to the library to research their topic was not as tragic as it could have been if I had sprung it on them.
Regardless, it was nice to be in the office for an hour and a half by myself. Bryce took my advice and wrote notes as he was listening to the speaker and had a nice rough draft when I picked the boys back up. Brian was telling me all about the presentation on the ride back to our church, but still was not happy about writing it down. I have learned, however, with Brian to let him vent his feelings but not let him get his way. If I firmly stick to my guns, he will eventually do exactly what I asked for. Sure enough, after brooding for a few minutes, he went off and wrote his paper. Bryce didn't like the idea of rewriting his rough draft but eventually worked on it and completed his assignment.
Days like today try me. It is a lot easier to let the boys have their way and just work in their books, but the reality is learning to listen to others and to communitcate through writing what they learned is a valuable and essential tool for success. Even though today's activities may put us a day "behind" in our goal of finishing our school by June 12, I can live with it, because today's lesson was more valuable then everything else they will learn.
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