Thursday, September 11, 2008

Hell NO!

Thomas is being asked to do his homework. He is not happy about this and has come up with a novel and very scary solution to the problem.

"Muuuum, I don't want to go to school anymore. I want to do homeschool instead."

"No way!"

"Oh pleeeeease?"

David interjects, "She was serious when she said no, Tom."

"But Muuuum, I really want to do homeschool."

"Not happening, Tom. Do your homework now please."

Sulking, "No. I want to do homeschool."

Beginning to get irritated, "Fine, then I'll make you do 2 lots of maths and spelling every week."

Perks up, "OK!"

"I was KIDDING!"

Sadly we're not being permitted to enjoy the funny side of this, he's gone into a full-blown sulk and is stomping around the house saying "If you won't homeschool me, I'm never going to do my work."

Help.

ETA: Adam decided to prove to Tom that he needed to do his spelling homework. Putting on his stern voice he said, "Right, spell September."

"S,E,P,T...E,M,B...E,R"

"....That's right. But you still need to write it down!"

At least now we're laughing. And Tom is doing his homework.

8 comments:

Adam said...

I asked him to spell september, because it was the one word he had not written down from his list. I followed this up with chimney, which he also knew, little bugger.

Anonymous said...

Tell Tom that he can't be homeschooled because then you couldn't be on the School Council (not that they are necessarily mutually exclusive, but you might find you were working hard enough at your childrens' education) and we could never have that!

Dina Roberts said...

LOL.

We homeschool and we're sometimes asked. "What if Jack WANTS to go to school? Would you let him?"

My initial response was "Of course!"

But later I realized that whether a family homeschools or sends their child to an outside school has a huge effect on the family's lifestyle.

So, what I started wondering/asking is what would schooled families say if their child said they wanted to be homeschool. Would they immediately say "Sure. Honey. You can drop out tomorrow."

Anyway, you're the first family I've read about that has actually had this happen.

I'm not saying I'd absolutely refuse to let my child go to school. But it would need to be a well thought out and discussed decision.

Yeah. I don't think it's a decision that can be left entirely up to the child. It's definitely a family decision.

mimbles said...

Dina, I actually thought of you as I was writing this post :)

If I'd thought for one minute that Tom was serious about homeschooling the conversation with him would have unfolded rather differently. Not that the outcome would have been any different, I'd be a disaster as a homeschooling parent - I know my limitations! But Tom was purely using this as a tactic to avoid homework with no real understanding of what would be involved.

One of Tom's friends from school is being homeschooled for the remainder of the year for reasons to do with his health. His older sister is still coming to the school and it's expected that next year he'll be back in the classroom too. Which explains why Tom was aware of the possibility.

Dina Roberts said...

Mim,

Yeah. I think their reasons for wanting to go to school or wanting to homeschool usually involve pretty trivial reasons. Not wanting to do homework. Wanting to carry a lunchbox. Stuff like that.

I bet you'd make a great homeschooling mom. But I'm also sure you make a wonderful school mom : )

Ariane said...

That's just great.

Of course, you could try my mother's approach - "OK, don't do your homework. It won't bother me or your teacher when you grow up without knowing anything and can't get a job and have nowhere to live and nothing to eat." And the kid daren't attempt "I could live with you." because they will get either "No you won't, when your an adult you're not my problem anymore" or "No you won't, because I'll be dead."

Our house was a laugh a minute. :)

Mel said...

I take my hat off to homeschooling mums - wow, I couldn't do it. And wasn't Tom funny!

Anonymous said...

My Tom doesn't like doing homework either........ lol