Back and Forth.

We go back and forth. I want the kids to do their schoolwork. They don't, or they say they don't. (They did get bored this summer with no plans.) A typical day includes math, spelling, reading, grammar, art, exercise, KONOS and a game. They think that art, exercise, reading and game are the fun things and consider the others to not be fun. Consequently, they procrastinate about math, spelling and grammar as long as possible every day. Every day my husband and I say things like "do your work" and no matter what they are doing, they say, this is our work, it's our game or it's exercise, etc. I don't know if they have too much free choice in this or if we should applaud their creativity. When I first wrote the schedule out, I told them that I wanted them to play a game from our game collection. Pretty much all of them are at least somewhat educational. They are not allowed to choose a video game as there is no screen time until sunset. They've been very creative lately in coming up with games. Sometimes it is hide and seek. Today, it was catching leaves. My official position is that I don't care what game they play as long as it involves cooperative play and doesn't take up the entire day. I think that on a day like today, with the clear blue sky and the November wind blowing the leaves from the trees, catching leaves is a good game choice. My 8-year-old caught the first leaf he's ever caught today. That's something, right?