Friday 22 August 2008

homework...

Not sure if anyone has experienced this problem, but it's a daily occurance for me...my husband works 'asian' hours - Hong Kong/Singapore are 3 hours behind us...which means he starts work when they start and finishes when they finish...so he gets home after dinner...which leaves the afternoon/evening routine to me....this has never been a problem, it's always worked well for our family but now that Jake gets homework, it's a become a juggling act! He usually needs a play and relax after school - but he also gets tired quickly...so I generally get dinner around the 5:30pm mark....which is also the best time for him to do homework too...I've found if I leave it too late he's tired and if I make him do it as soon as he gets home he will rebel! So I've found I have to juggle cooking dinner and monitoring/helping him with his homework tasks...he still takes awhile and generally we'll be there for about an hour. Now this isn't so bad...but add to the equation a little SISTER and it's a whole new ball game!
...Jake is easily distracted...
...it often takes alot of concentration for him to complete all his homework...
...this is one of my favourite parts...the tongue doesn't stop...
Now everything looks like its going just fine...but what you're not seeing is this....
this is Layne looking innocent and watching from the other side of the table...
.....closer...
...and closer...hoping we won't notice until she's practically hovering over Jake and telling him what he to do...

...and this is her telling me what she thinks when I tell her to stop hovering over Jake and leave him alone so he can do his homework! (I was giving her a peace sign, trying to make her laugh because she was sulking...)
Give her something to do??? ...oh we've been there...if she doesn't have the same work to do as Jake, she whinges...and she wants to give her homework to his school teacher (and I mean walk into the class room in the morning and give it to her - no way out of that one!)...and then if I give her something different...Jake wants to do what she's doing because her homework is more fun and his homework is boring!...a word he never knew until he went to school!

....and last but not least this gave me a good laugh - Layne wanted to be silly for the photo and right at the last minute jake flashed his pencil in front of the lens to try to ruin the picture...and look what we get...Layne hovering...to the point of biting his pencil!
Ok so maybe Layne isn't the only distraction...and maybe homework really is boring...because mummy was bored enough to get her camera out and start taking pictures...and still expected Jake to finish his homework with the distraction!

7 comments:

ALYN said...

At our house Little Sis would occasionally do a coloring/alphabet page for her "homework". She was content to give it to her own teacher though! Now they both have homework, which they seem content to do after our walk home and snack. (before TV)

But you might try having him race a timer. Spend 15 minutes working and then a 5 minute break might be more productive than trying to focus for so long at once. What do I know?

Unknown said...

Homework scheduling causes problems for a lot of families! Kids need to play, rest, rejuvenate and relax more than they need homework, so make that your priority.

Angela Tyler
http://www.family-homework-answers.com

Sarah Tilley said...

or you could just let jake be like i was, and never do his homework at all... hah, just kidding. i hope and pray henry turns out like ben and not me as far as homework is concerned.

a said...

Sounds like my house! But, now they both have homework and oh the headaches!!!!!

Natalie Que said...

Hey! Are you still planning on Saturday or was I supposed to be getting back to you? We are affirmative if you are! Can't wait.

nicole hill gerulat said...

thank you for visiting my blog! i hope i can visit AU someday. :)

Melly Mel said...

You are an inspiration. I wish I had this talent of taking pictures. I love seeing your work. You are great.