You know my tongue was firmly in cheek when I wrote yesterday's post, right? I applaud anyone who manages to maintain some semblance of real school work with children at home, but I am not that motivated to do so, I'm afraid.
However! I did make my older two children do one sheet of handwriting practice this morning, because their handwriting is abysmal, to the point that it negatively affects their grades.
I also had them each do one page of math problems, as well as fifteen minutes each of Spanish and typing on their computer.
Do you know how much whining I heard about this? SO MUCH WHINING.
And then! Then I had the gall to make them read about Ireland and St. Patrick in their encyclopedia*!
And the crowning indignity? When Cubby asked me what the Reformation was, after coming across the term in the passage about St. Patrick, I made him look it up himself.
"So what, you're just going to make me look it up every time I have a question?" complained Cubby.
Dingdingding! Got it in one!
Anyway. All of this torture lasted for a whole hour of their day, which is clearly excessive.
The rest of the day was spent in wholesome outdoor activity. By which I mean, planting.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day and our Irish heritage (which, yes, both A. and I, and thus our children, can truthfully claim), I planted cabbages.
There are never enough empty milk jugs in the spring.
Also potatoes.
My helpers and I planted an even fifty potatoes. I didn't intend to have a round number, but I found it very pleasing.
I also planted some spinach and carrots, which aren't particularly Irish, but I'm hoping will grow well.
Oh! And check out my lettuce!
Grow, babies, grow. So I can eat you. Ahem.
So there you have it. Planting and not really teaching. The current story of my life.
* A. bought a set of World Book encyclopedias for five dollars at the thrift store a month or so ago. I freely admit I rolled my eyes at this purchase, but I will also admit that now I like having them. Because when the kids ask me a question, I can send them to a book rather than having them looking at my computer. Anything to keep them off screens as much as possible.
7 comments:
I'm so old that I have fond memories of looking up stuff in our encyclopedias!
Yes.
Love you are torturing your children with 1 hour of homework. :)
Good deal with the encyclopedias!
Linda
Unknown: Me, too. Our Britannicas were cherished books. I remember how mad my dad got when my sister spilled Tang (talk about dating myself . . .) on one of the volumes. Encyclopedia's were really expensive.
My mother bought a set of Encyclopedias from a library. I think they were from the 1960’s. They came in real handy when my boys had to do simple reports in elementary school. My older son just loved to look at them and read about interesting things. It is a shame that most children today will never know the thrill of flipping through to look at pictures and then read the article.
An hour of learning is about all that really happens in school anyway. Most of the day is wasted in transitioning, dealing with discipline, lunch, PE, recess, etc. You did school perfectly and they got more one on one attention from you than they would ever get in typical classroom.
Good for you for planting today. Who knows how the supply chain for food will be affected. Also, with the borders closed the 1/4 million migrant workers from Mexico needed to plant, tend and harvest crops won't be here. Potatoes and cabbages, yum. Here's hoping for a bumper crop!
Your kids are getting the best education ever.
I LOVED our partial set of World books from a thrift store as a kid (it was from the early 80s, referred to Germany as two countries, and was missing several books. We still loved it and used it constantly). I'd literally just sit in a corner and read through them for hours when I was bored.
I haven't started looking for them at thrift stores yet, but I have managed to score a complete set of Childcraft books from the 90s. I'll start on Worldbook next. :)
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