Day 82 / 104 - A Gathering of Days

This was my son's least favorite reading assignment this year.  As a result, I made him complete every assignment.

This is unlike how I've responded to every other educational opportunity we've had through the years.  Usually, if my children don't like a book, I let them put it down and not finish it.  Or if they're not interested in a learning activity, I don't force them to become interested in it.  I put it away.  Learning should be fun and, for the most part, interest-based.

But, my son is now 13 1/2.  He's old enough to reason with.  Also, he's old enough to learn that sometimes we complete tasks because we have to, even if we don't want to.

My son despised this book.  (If you are unfamiliar with it, it's actually not half-bad.  It's a fictional journal of a New Hampshire girl in the 1830's.  It has a Little House feel without the phenomenal story telling of Wilder.)  It's not a long book, but it took him forever to finish it.  Often while reading, he would stop and complain.  Then we would have a conversation about what he didn't like about the story.  My response was, "Interestingly, with all your complaining about this book, we have discussed it far more than any of the other literature selections this year."

After reading a book, our curriculum has us spending three weeks on each piece of literature as we learn to write a persuasive essay.  The first week, we invent an idea to write about.  The second week, we arrange our thoughts,  The third week, we compose our essays.  We have related assignments to assist us with those three responsibilities.  For A Gathering of Days, my son completed every assignment assigned.

It was a victory for both of us !!