tipping point

yesterday i had chana review some of the rashis she was having trouble with 2 or 3x.  she strenuously objected to it, stating that she had to do all of the rashis no matter what, so this added to her workload.  i didn't respond (though she was correct), and just pointed to each one the amount of times until she did it fluently enough for me.  what i was hoping for, and what proved correct today, was to get her fluency to the point where she would remember the general idea of each rashi, and therefore it would take her shorter to do them.  today went much more quickly, and she remembered a lot more.

she was not grateful.  she did not realize that she had an easier time today because i insisted yesterday on her achieving a certain level of fluency. 

this is part of what makes me wonder whether maybe pushing (using the metaphor of physical training: encouraging her right to the boundary of stretching her abilities) is a good thing.  it has the downside of "negative associations" which i wonder how they will affect her lifelong desire for knowledge and learning.  but it has the upside of gaining skills.

in other news, she did another aliya in vayigash.  she said she remembered it.  the words she didn't remember she asked me, and probably after another 5x of chazara she still won't know those words.  it was a short aliyah but she didn't have much concentration today.  she didn't want to do more and i didn't push it.

she finished review of miketz yesterday.  in my opinion, she doesn't have a solid grasp of it.  if i were giving grades, i'd give her a C.  but hey, it's homeschool and there are no grades.  just knowledge and understanding or lack thereof.