My kids, having been homeschooled since mid-2003, hadn't had any "homework" in 2 years or more. And now it has descended. Les devoirs, as they say here. Poor creatures, they don't know what's hit them. Especially since everything is more or less incomprehensible, being in French. But we're working together, translating and explaining things and becoming more familiar with a few more words each day. I'm sure they'll get a strong gait going sooner or later.
With so much complaining, and so many iterations of repetitive, unanswerable questions about why they have this amount of homework, and why a certain one has more than the other (they are 3.5 years apart in age), I have developed a coping method of response. Every time the same type of complaining question is asked, a question which ought to be rhetorical but isn't, I gesture grandly while verbalizing the most rapidly thought-of halfway vivid adjective or debatably scintillating and impressive noun beginning with a particular letter of the alphabet. I started with A, and we are now coming up on E sometime tomorrow, most likely. I can't even remember what the words were at the moment. I hope we don't make it all the way to Z. I think my point may be starting to get across: that a) there is no answer to this question other than any I might previously have given and, b) you've asked me this before several times...
Mondays are Jason's hardest day at school. Seven full periods, switching classrooms and teachers each time (although he has French twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon - that strikes me as very odd). No sports, no music, and no double periods of anything, but at least he ends up with his one weekly art class. He was very much finished with school by 5pm, but had been assigned quite a bit of homework as well. To make up for this, we had perk-me-up-and-help-me-do-my-homework milkshakes. But notice the time - they weren't in our hands until 6pm...American dinnertime. Of course the kids were full after that. So that was their dinner: vanilla pecan for Jason and maltesers for Emily! Oh well, life is short, you know what I mean?
One of Jason's assignments for French class is to read a novel of his choice that has to do with an animal. I found for him the perfect one. It's actually a translation of a British author. In it, there is a yellow labrador named Jason, and a seven-year-old girl named Emily! Her older brother is really the main character. It's fun to read both kids' names.
Sounds like a yummy dinner for the kids! Another sign that you are a great Mom.
Posted by: Melene | September 13, 2005 at 02:41 PM