Thanks, everyone. I knew I wasn't handling it the best way, which is why I came to you for help! I am probably too serious with her about her homework, and I should add more humor to lighten the situation. I also should probably walk away while she's doing it and not hover. It's hard to keep her focused on what the teacher asks her to do, though. If she's doing sudoku, yes she's focused, or her Destination Math program or reading a book, yes, but she's not focused on writing sentences using spelling words like "he" "she" or "make," all of which are on her list this week. It's still unbelievable what kind of work she's doing.
And I think you are right, Neato. I do think what you described is some of what's happening. I also think she's disappointed with what 1st grade is and can't figure that part out. I'm disappointed with 1st grade; I realized I must have expected her to get 2nd grade work. Based on what she has expressed over the course of this year I believe that she thought 1st grade would be more exciting, she's now confused by what she has to sit through and do, but she knows she has to do it. She's told my mom (and me, of course) that she wants me to homeschool her. She'll bring it up randomly, like she'll grab the globe and say that if I homeschooled her we could use it to learn about the world. I told her that we could still learn about the world with the globe but she just put it back on the shelf. I think I had missed her point.
((sigh)) Parenting is hard.
