Have you ever been so stressed and upset over something that all you do is laugh about it? Not like the haha this is funny type laugh, but the I’m laughing because if I don’t I will fall into a giant sinkhole and be perfectly content to not climb back out kind of laughing. I hit this stage yesterday like a marathon runner who turned around to see if anyone was behind him and Bam! there’s a giant sumo wrestler in front of him. Homeschool brought me to my knees by 9:30am, or more accurately, the words “some” and “were.” Stupid English language! Why can’t they just be spelled “som” and “wer”??? Why did someone tack on a letter “e” at the end? Thought “e” was being left out? Getting its feelings hurt for not being used enough? Curse you silent e!!!

Since Westerville didn’t come up with a new virtual learning option yet (and hasn’t said if we have the option of switching back into a classroom), I’m reverting back to the online programs we used in the spring when school was cancelled. Unfortunately, the two main programs – Lexia and Dreambox – are Eli’s kryptonite. He HATES the cutesy animation and slow computer speech pattern, so he rushes through the lessons clicking buttons thinking it will speed everything up. News flash!! If you click on the wrong answers, the program sends you way back to the beginning and slows down the teaching even more. This in turn makes Eli even madder, and this vicious cycle repeats itself every. single. time. Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 9:15am, a chorus line of ladybugs appeared in Lexia congratulating Eli on his ability to pick out the word “some” from a series of words all beginning with the letter “t”…..and Eli lost his marbles. Slammed the computer lid on the freaking dancing ladybugs and declared 1st grade finished. Mind you, Eli independently reads at the end of a 1st grade reading level, so that’s how much he fights with Lexia that it slowed him down to picking out a word beginning with the “s” sound from only words beginning with the “t” sound.

After lunch, we finally hit on a new program that he loves ~ Keyboarding Without Tears. No fancy animations (thank the good Lord there were NO dancing insects!), just basic tutorials on learning hand placement on the keyboard and practicing fine motor dexterity. Sitting there watching Eli practice typing made me realize that I never actually use 6 of my 10 fingers for typing. I type fast and fairly accurate, but definitely not the correct hand placement. Just one more thing to laugh about today 🙂