Teaching the boy

I only have one boy and 2 girls at the moment. My oldest in going into the 4th grade and appreciates independent work. My 2 year old loves flash cards, but the boy........ Well the boy is a different animal altogether. He thinks differently, acts differently and does not respond the same as the girls. He is starting kindergarten this fall. It has been a struggle to get him through preschool. He just doesn't have that "get it done" attitude that my oldest has. She just wants her assignments and unless she has a question she will do without anyone butting in. I, and my teaching, apparently get in her way. She picks things up pretty fast.

Now the boy will sit in the chair and pick his nose, look out the window, make his pencil into a gun or simply sing to himself if I am not in the room. He will do anything but what I have asked him to do. I tell him to trace the letter J. I walk away and minutes later I hear noises. He is playing with pencils and crayons like they were shooting each other. So I decide I must sit with him. He just can't focus on his own. He still stares out the window and at me smiling as if he has no idea why we are sitting at the table. "Trace the J's son" I say again. He replies "oh yeah".

I am seeing that I will need a different approach with the boy. His attention span is non-existent. He spent over 10 minutes today sounding out the word sock. He had a melt down and then returned to his lesson only to sound it out correctly for 5 more minutes. The light was on but no one was home. I asked my oldest to bring me a sock. Only then did he figure out that ssssooooook is sock. He is teaching me a whole new level of patience.

He gets the math so fast though. Yes, he struggles with the phonics, but the math seems simple to him. His penmanship could use some help, but I have yet to meet a man with nice handwriting. Maybe he will be a doctor. I just have to give him smaller doses of school than the girls. He really needs to run around and make sound effects. Thank God I am homeschooling. I cannot imagine the frustration a teacher would have with trying to get him to sit still and trace letters. It helps me feel like I made the right decision. I know he can learn what he needs to at his own boy speed with plenty of time for shoot outs in between.