The story of how they opened the messy workbook again on their own
I can play my favorite games for hours, but I get bored of studying in just a few minutes.
Wondering what they might be willing to do, I bought a "spot the difference" workbook.
"Do you want to do some spot the difference?"
"Ugh, that's a hassle, I don't want to."
--I guess it's too hard after all. Let me try it.
"Hmm, the number of dogs is different. Oh! The shape of the slide is different too."
"What are you doing?"
"Do you want to do spot the difference?"
"It looks hard..."
"It's okay, there are 8 more differences to find."
"Oh! The letters written on the mountain are different! And, there are 3 girls here, but 4 here."
--They started doing it✊️
They are even circling the answers properly.
They managed to find all the remaining differences.
"That's amazing, you found them all."
Looking a bit proud, they smiled and said, "Well, yeah."
--This might actually work.
--The next day. I called out to them while I was a bit busy.
"Shall we do spot the difference again today?"
"Yeah."
There are 10 mistakes.
Hmm, the number of blackboard erasers is different, and the girl's hairstyle is different... Ugh! I don't know anymore!
--I said it lightly, thinking, 'You did it yesterday, so you can do it, right?'
When I said, 'Why don't you think about it a little more?'
Ugh!
--They went somewhere else.
--When I turned around, there was a page scribbled on with a pencil.
--I wondered if the way I spoke to them was wrong.
Was it difficult? Yeah. I'm not doing it anymore.
--Their motivation had dropped to zero. Was it because they started when things were hectic, or was there something bothering them? There must be a reason...
--A few days later, I felt sad, thinking it hadn't worked again.
Can you buy me some snacks?
...I'm reluctant to bribe them with things, but...
If you do the spot-the-difference, I might buy them.
--How about that?...
I'll do it. But 10 is hard. I think I can do 3.
--I see... so that was it. It wasn't that they 'didn't know,' it was just that 'there were too many.'
I see, 3 is fine too.
--They are working on it quietly. And this time, it seems they were able to find 3 right away.
I did it!
I started to say, "Do one more..." but I stopped.
That's enough for today.
"I'll do it tomorrow too! Tomorrow I'll do one!"
"Huh? One?"
"Yeah, if I do one a day, I'll be done in seven days. I wonder when I'll finish this workbook if I keep doing one a day until the end? Haha."
--That's interesting. Children create their own rules freely. And they decided on their own to do the workbook that had once been scribbled all over.
Maybe I should have just let them decide the rules from the beginning.
I don't know if they'll really do it starting tomorrow. But perhaps I was made to realize something important.
I intended to teach them, but I was the one who was taught something important by the child.
That "it doesn't have to be perfect, your own pace is fine."
From now on, I think I'll try to stay on the same level a bit more.