{"id":4423,"date":"2014-05-15T08:01:34","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T12:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=4423"},"modified":"2014-05-15T08:01:34","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T12:01:34","slug":"struggling-with-problem-solving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/15\/struggling-with-problem-solving\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggling with Problem Solving"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret, I hate homework<\/a>.\u00a0 Everything about it, especially when pertaining to my five year old.\u00a0 But I have to admit, I\u2019m actually a fan of Honeybun\u2019s homework assignments this week.\u00a0 Her homework this week is simple: Do a random act of kindness.\u00a0 One a day and then write about what you did and how it made you feel.<\/p>\n

FINALLY, a great homework assignment!\u00a0 Finally, something that isn\u2019t busy work.\u00a0 Finally, something that actually TEACHES her something and bonus, it also helps our family.\u00a0 Finally, something that we won\u2019t fight about and that will be quick and easy!<\/p>\n

But, I guess I should amend my above statement: I have to admit, I\u2019m actually a fan of THE IDEA of this week\u2019s assignments.\u00a0 The intention is wonderful and something I was really excited about. \u00a0But the actual execution has not been nearly as thrilling.<\/p>\n

The first day I told her the assignment and go the now-typical Honeybun response: \u201cI don\u2019t know what that means!\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to do it!\u201d\u00a0 So I explain \u201cA random act of kindness is doing something nice for someone without them asking you to.\u00a0 Doing something just to be nice.\u00a0 What do you think you could do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlright, let\u2019s start by picking a person to do something nice for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDaddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat.\u00a0 What can you do that would make him really happy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the trash out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be nice and helpful but he did it this morning so there isn\u2019t any.\u00a0 Can you think of something else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what to do!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat else could you do to help daddy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I make your bed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She makes the bed and does her writing:<\/p>\n

\"SONY<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Day two: \u201cHoneybun, what are you going to do for your random act of kindness?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I make your bed again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you need to do something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what to do!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho do you want to do something for today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNoone.\u00a0 I\u2019m not doing it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you\u2019re not going to get credit for you assignment.\u00a0 You won\u2019t get your sticker.\u201d (her teacher puts a sticker on her homework sheet each week she completes all the assignments)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to pass it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPass what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to pass it!\u00a0 Use a pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA homework pass?\u00a0 No, you\u2019re not because this is an easy assignment and it\u2019s good for you to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFine!\u00a0 I\u2019ll clean up Doodle\u2019s toys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n

She half cleans up Doodle\u2019s toys and does her writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Day three:\u00a0 while walking home \u201cHave you thought about your random act of kindness for today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, well why don\u2019t you think about it while we walk.\u00a0 There\u2019s lots of things that need to be done at home!\u201d<\/p>\n

We get home.\u00a0 \u201cHave you thought of something to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I clean Doodle\u2019s toys again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you need to think of something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not doing it then!\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of anything!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOk, then you won\u2019t get credit.\u00a0 You won\u2019t get your sticker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s stupid, I\u2019m not doing it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Commence fussing, whining, crying and concluding with this:<\/p>\n

\"SONY<\/a><\/p>\n

Homework has been going really smoothly lately.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t had many struggles recently (once we get started).\u00a0 Most days she does the work easily then we go about our day.\u00a0 I\u2019ve figured out how to talk her through things (without giving her the answers, of course!) and get her to understand and have learned her trigger points and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n

The problem this week\u2019s assignment has presented, though, is that is requires independent thinking.\u00a0 Honeybun has an inherent lack of ability to use her own mind.\u00a0 She is a very quick learner, remembers everything and understands many advanced concepts.\u00a0 But she has always struggled in the area of problem solving<\/a>.\u00a0 She is not good at coming up with her own ideas or troubleshooting.\u00a0 She can easily follow directions but if you ask her to figure something out on her own, she freaks out (and I mean FREAKS the heck OUT!)<\/p>\n

I try to guide her thinking.\u00a0 I give her ample opportunities to \u201cfigure it out.\u201d\u00a0 And I have figured out what type of learner she is and am comfortable with helping her learn in a way that works for her.\u00a0 But I have to admit, sometimes it is frustrating (and even overwhelming) to try to help a child who completely lacks problem solving skills, a child who was born with no problem solving skills, a child who needs to LEARN how to problem solve but is so outside of her comfort zone of \u201cjust getting it\u201d that she shuts down and won\u2019t even try.\u00a0 Because she doesn\u2019t really have to try when learning other things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret, I hate homework.\u00a0 Everything about it, especially when pertaining to my five year old.\u00a0 But I have to admit, I\u2019m actually a fan of Honeybun\u2019s homework assignments this week.\u00a0 Her homework this week is simple: Do a random act of kindness.\u00a0 One a day and then write about what you did and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[81,124,77,258,144,85],"class_list":["post-4423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-mommys-life","tag-children","tag-homework","tag-kindergarten","tag-life-skills","tag-problem-solving","tag-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4426,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423\/revisions\/4426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}