Study Hall

I am a teacher by trade; my degree is in elementary education.  I taught for two years before moving to our current location and then eventually starting our family.  I fully understand the challenges summer break bring to retention of material.  How challenging it is for teachers over long gaps with no school, be it for breaks or vacations.  Children learn best when material is reinforced consistently.

I KNOW ALL THESE THINGS.

So due to the multiple snow days we have been having in the tundra  Midwest, the teachers at our school are putting in to practice the very things I just listed above. They are suggesting we work with our children during our time at home so that the children do not get further behind in their studies.

ONCE AGAIN, GOOD IDEA.  SMART PLAN.

But I need to let you in on something, dear reader.  I would make a horrible homeschooling mom.  And by horrible, I mean terrible, no-good very bad.  Each of the five children had several assignments their teachers asked them to work on over the course of today and tomorrow.  And I'll tell ya what - it was seriously hard to get it accomplished.  The children all had their lists to tackle this morning with chores, instrument practicing, reading etc.  The usual stuff.  But late morning assignments started trickling in via email, and things went a little haywire.  While I was making dinner for tonight, I was instructing one child to work on typing and another to draw a picture of what she had done during the snow days (she chose Daddy walking on stilts, something that has decidedly not occurred the last few days  -- ever).  And then switching gears and assisting piano practicing (which takes a monumental amount of patience), while encouraging another child to write his spelling words 2 times each.

Oh my.  Have mercy!  I am not cut out for this (a fact I most definitely already knew)!  I'm sure if I truly was homeschooling, we would have a much more structured routine and it would be somewhat easier.  But in our current situation, we are lacking in that department.  Tomorrow I will have a better attack on the situation, which will hopefully pull in a higher success rate.  We'll do our best.

In the meantime, I am going to watch reruns of Law and Order and eat cookies.  Tomorrow's a new day, yes?