“I killed them. I killed them all. They’re dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They’re like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM!” – Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
Alright, maybe our first day back wasn’t that bad. No one was slaughtered because of it, but – woobaby – I certainly wouldn’t have bet on both of us making it to 5 pm yesterday. What a lousy way to start a new school year. Three hours of work took from 9 am to 4 PM! With much griping and complaining and yelling and sarcasm to be had – (those last two from both of us I’m honest enough to add). If we’d had any whiskey in the house, I probably would have spiked my tea.
Today, though, was much better, great even. Was this just a further sign of puberty, too little sleep, or the rather pointed reminder that there’s a middle school within walking distance? I don’t even care; I’m just glad it didn’t continue into today. Today was more like our norm. Work, jokes, discussion, and remembering why we do this. Ahhh.
Anyone else get off to a rocky start this year?
Yeah, our first day took a little extra time. It’s so hard to find that balance between letting teen boys get all of their rest and not letting them sleep their lives away. Where is that balance? Oh, I know! At the bottom of that whiskey bottle.
Come on over, I’ll share.
We always seem to start off well and… then… slide… into… the slaughter.
Or at least whining and griping. The first week is a novelty. The second is a nightmare.
I’ll keep you on speed, what?, e-mail Mom #1 should I have need for your generosity anytime soon. You’ll join me in a drink, right? Because it would be wrong for me to drink alone in the middle of the day…
Wendy: Let’s all just collectively hope that PL’s second week doesn’t get worse than yesterday. I’m just saying.
I can relate! I decided to ease everyone into it school this year. We had a let’s get in the mood date of “Aug.24,” a target start date of “Aug. 31,” and an official start date of “Sept. 7.” I have to say it has made things more bearable. Each week, I have added a little more to the daily “to do” list. Now, we are off and running but I still need to figure out how to fit in a foreign language. Wait a minute! I must be presenting a foreign language because they still seem to not understand how to “not leave a lesson to play with Legos” or “stay on task and stop drawing manga.” Seriously, it hasn’t been too bad. I guess I have unreasonably high expectations with four children and for myself. I love homeschooling and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I do worry sometimes about looking forward a little too much to my morning coffee and evening glass of wine. Oh well.. things could be worse!
Oh, good times. Good times. You pretty much described last year’s start-up date to a “t”. This year? Much, much better. This interest-led learning thing has a way of calming the angry villagers, thank God. (But I’m still thankful there isn’t a middle/high school within walking distance!!)
We have whiskey here. Just saying
James has no idea how far his real school is. Let him keep thinking he can go to the school by the library. We go year round, so the start up week isn’t bad, we’ve actually barely been off. It’s the end, this week actually. The “Is it a school day? I HATE school.” Every morning. A little bit of sunshine.
Ashley: Yes, I have to stop occassionally to make sure that I’m not speaking in Dutch from the blank looks I get.
T-T: Baby steps.
Holly: A little bit of sunshine, indeed.
No, you want Vodka.. It doesn’t leave a smell. No one will ever know!
Glad today was better…
Erm. We had a two-week “slide back into homeschooling” thing going on because I was sewing our costumes (my daughter helped, somewhat) for animefest in Dallas, which took place over Labor Day weekend. We did homeschooling, but not the whole subject load. My 11 yo whined and complained and griped about the subjects SHE had picked out to learn this year, from day one. I finally had enough of it, talked with the husband, and we lowered the boom on the attitudinous child, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you view it. She is 11, so some whining/complaining/moaning/griping is actually expected. I was to the point, however, where I felt that all the time I spent developing activities and reading assignments and everything else for my daughter’s particular learning style was just thrown out the window by her and her attitude.
Anyway, we explained to our daughter that she was privileged to be homeschooled, a fact with which she agreed. We explained to her that we understand that she is going to whine etc., but that there is a point at which it crosses over to plain and simple disrespect for me as both her mother and her teacher. We reminded her that she picked out her subject list for this year (aside from the standard math and grammar skills which must be learned) and therefore she needs to apply the effort. Forthwith, when the whining crosses a line, ALL electronics will be taken away for a length of time determined by the amount of whining done. Yes, that means no computer, no tv, no dvd player, no game system, no mp3 player, no cd player, etc.
I know I am baring my soul here and I know some of you will not agree with our settlement with our child. Quite frankly, she paled and was quiet for a few minutes; then, she very quietly replied, “you are very serious that I have crossed a line. I think I understand and I did choose these subjects and I will put in the effort.”
She is not whine-free these past few days, but she is considerably less whiny/gripy/attitudinous. We have had much better schooling time this week.
She has had plenty of time for her anime/manga drawing activities and has accomplished the entire week’s worth of work in 4 days and has done it to a reasonable, legible, and understandable level. We even got our Japanese lessons started up again, which is huge.
And btw, I have a really nice bottle of whiskey in the pantry; I am not a whiskey drinker as a general rule, preferring to have a nice dark stout or ale or somesuch to dull the pain in the evenings, but if any of you nice ladies show up to my house, I’ll break open the bottle for you!
SabrinaT: How clever you are. Maybe a Mike’s Hard Lemonade? I can pass it off as just “a refreshing treat.”
jkubenka: You’re my hero. I’m really not much of a whiskey fan either, but it sure does pack a whallop.