she will prevail

so. how did we do today. we started off with chana in a fairly good mood. meaning it was 11am and she hadn't shouted at me once :-)

she got through the majority of the chazara words quickly and correctly. when we got to the ishto, banav etc, things started to devolve. i had to remind her to stop whining. i feel like she gets into this mode where she's just whining. and she has to take a step back and realize it's not so bad. haha, such an adult and mature tactic. i also feel like i'm pushing her (not incorrectly), but she, who naturally wants things to come easy and not have to work feels anger and feels like screaming. the whining is her compromise. it is her controlling herself w/ great effort from shrieking how much she hates me and from refusing to do it. so go, chana. excellent control. and yet i request more. because i don't like all of chumash devolving into a whinefest.

anyway, we had a slight breakthrough. i feel like i've told her this before. but today she was receptive. she has to look for the ב.ן in the ishto banav, banecha, ishtecha, neshei words. if it has a ves and a nun, then it's ben--son. i'm sure i've told her that numerous times. but today it clicked. all 3 pesukim i showed her with those, she did correctly. here's to hoping it continues.

and i think we are graduating the rashi. onward to a new one! maybe a review 2 wks from now.

so we chazered words in pesukim, then took a 5 min break. then chazered the 2 newish pesukim, and took a 5 min break. then did the new pasuk (she did not remember "min" species which perhaps i should have chazered but it probably wouldn't have made a real difference because she doesn't quite process the hebrew to english, no matter how much i want her to). i have 2 more easy pesukim that i want her to do. she pitched a fit when i suggested it. so now she's having, as per negotiations, a one hour break, whereupon we will (hopefully) do 2 more pesukim without great fanfare.

next week she's staying with my parents and her cousin. i'm looking forward to a little vacation. theoretically we can do vacation anytime (one of the perks of homeschooling) but i do feel a responsibility to teach her if she's willing to learn. and i know it's hard to believe, but this is chana willing to learn. she complains, she whines, she yells. but she does it.

OT, when chana plays video games, she is often frustrated and screaming as she loses a life or it doesn't go how she wants. she shrieks through nintendo ds games and through gamecube super mario cart etc. so her frustration and her shrieking is in no way an indication of unwillingness. she pushes through the anger and frustration and she succeeds. so too with torah.