One thing it did that is BAD is makes them think they can be on the computer all the time, or whenever they want. We have two older laptops that aren’t “owned” by an adult, so in the a.m. they open them up and search for stuff, look on their kid’s forum I let them go to sometimes before, and for my daughter, 12, she’s claiming the computer that is a tablet laptop, and draws most of the time anymore. My 14 year old loves to search for all sorts of information, but doesn’t write much of anything. He has written several things about LBP2 though. What is that? Oh, a game, Little Big Planet 2.

My daughter will write something if I get on her case, she’s not so bad, but given her own way, she rarely writes much of anything, may write a post, give it a title but no body, and save it. Or write such a nothing summary of something, that’s it.

My daughter used to be the one ahead in Math-U-See, but my son is now quite a few chapters ahead. They gave themselves a haiatus on it for a few months, for some reason, but I’ve gotten the whip out lately about it. So they are both forging ahead again. My other son, the 10 year old, is reticent to do any Math-U-See, he’s on the older level all by himself and just isn’t wanting much of anything to do with it, or with reading or writing or anything that isn’t a cartoon, video game, outdoor something or other. He can read now, but it’s so difficult to get him to do it “I already read that” is his answer when I ask him to read something aloud, or to read it by himself and tell me about it afterward. “Yes, but I want you to read it again, it’s not a bad thing to re-read something.” is my response sometimes. Of course there are a myriad of responses I could give him. He’s different, I know. He’s not into books as much as electronic usage. Thankfully he’s not into the computer much yet.

A major thing that I’m including in their education is chores (Home Economics for ALL!)  More fun than “chores” is actual helping with cooking, and it’s a great help for me. My daughter can make a few things for dinner by herself, aide me in other things, is learning along the way. Right now she’s learning why drop biscuits are better when I make the exact same recipe as she does.Mine are light and fluffy … good really good, her’s less good, more dense, much less good.

My 14 year old helps more than cooks. Helps with prep and taking care of some things that I’m cooking, breaking up ground meat as it browns, for example. Also gets pre-cracked spelt or kamut into a dish with the right stuff to soak it overnight for hot cereal in the morning, I pre-crack the grain and keep it in the freezer. He gets it prepped and cooks it the next day.

The examples above are not all they do, they are becoming very capable about the kitchen, and will both be able to feed themselves and others when they are adults. That’s something that everyone, no matter what their sex is, needs to be able to do. Gender Roles aren’t so great all the time. In my case it’s exactly that. I can cook. I love to cook. I don’t love to cook all the time though. I get weary of it fast when I feel I’ve been cooking a lot. No set amount, it just is part of who I am, I enjoy it to a point, then need some time off. I would LOVE to do Dinner’s in the Freezer, but I haven’t been able to get it planned out and get the help I need to make it work at the right time to do it. It’s exactly the kind of thing I need, but I also do have lower energy than a lot of people and it is OVERWHELMING to do even three meals in a weekend to put away in the freezer.

Sometimes I get all into it and make double of what I would for just a meal (to put half away for another day) and then it doesn’t work out, like part of it gets ruined, or my bigger guys eat more than usual, or … I’m so tired by the end and don’t get it put into the freezer, then ….

Then I can’t cook for a couple of days and … it’s just frustrating.

So, Spring is here. Trees are blooming early, way early, it’s been hot, chilly, warm, chilly, hot, nice, hot, chilly … just not COLD anymore. Hot and warm I could do away with. Our A/C isn’t working (not the first time) and it’s bad on the hot days. I don’t function at all when it’s hot.

I need to function more to get more educational things done. I’m awaiting building a new desktop computer for me to use, and once that is in place I can sit at a desk with a keyboard and do much more than I can manage to do with my laptop. It’s a matter of many things, my laptop is capable of much, just not as much as my desktop will, and with a desk and desktop I’m more functional. My laptop could be on a desk, but it still doesn’t go as well for me as a desktop computer on a desk.

I’m guessing this is the same thing as the children. The old desktop is monitorless now. I have it connected to the TV and it’s nowhere near a place to sit with a mouse and keyboard, have to stand and weirdo do stuff, so the laptops … well they need to do their Latin on the desktop, math-u-see videos … and maybe they’d be better with writing more …

My frustration is high as well. We have had this and that and that other and this other thing to aide him. Me working with him, he working alone with a program. Nothing works.

Reader Rabbit really helped my eldest, Russell, move forward in reading. He didn’t have RR at first, it was something we got later. Asa, the 8 year old, “grew up” having RR around. So what did he do after he got through with one of the RR dics? “I beat it” was his comment. Game mentality.

We got the new TAG reading system from LeapFrog in order to have an interactive book experience that wasn’t fully electronic, and give him a new challenge. He uses it, but won’t USE it. I sit with him and he just dullardly looks on, or loses it.

So if I just talk about it other times he says “I’ve gotten all the rewards I can get, I can’t get more, it won’t give me more” is what he says. Game Mentality.

Now as games go, it is beneficial to be able to read, but it’s quite the phenomena that most games can be played without reading. I mean, others can aide the non-reader through “HAVE TO READ SOMETHING” parts, and depending on what game it is and the non-readers desire to play that game … it can work. I’ve seen him play Wii or PS3 or PS2 or internet games, and he just goes, goes, goes. As long as it moves, he can do it, and just blusters through any words, never trying to read.

It’s a game mentality, which I’m not trying to break, I just want to add reading onto his skill set. I want him to read, I want him to want to read. I just need him to read so he can read anything in life that he comes in contact with. I would like him to love reading, but I can’t make him be a great lover of reading.

My first two children love reading and read, read, read. Both started their massive reading ability by the time they were my Asa’s current age. I’m not looking for that in him. I know it’s taking longer, and I’m only looking for some progress in understanding that learning a few words and phonograms is step 1, and step 2 is an easy step, but even step 1 seems to disappear, as if he’s looking for an easy ramp to reading, not wanting to climb steps. Even a whole word approach isn’t working. There is no ramp up to the spot he wants one. He’s stuck in the nether-regions of “It’d be so nice if I could read, I’ll think about that tomorrow.”