HOMEWORK SUCKS

As a mother I can say I am really looking forward to school ending next week. I have spent the last week doing homework with my kids and I thought I had already graduated. The sad thing is I know this is only the beginning and I don't think I can go through Algebra again. I didn't understand it the first time around and in a couple of years I'm going to have to help my kids understand it.

Madi has been working on her state report for the last several weeks in school. It was a tough go around at first because every state she wanted, someone else had already picked. So her teacher said she could do Utah. When she came home and told me she was doing Utah, I wasn't pleased. I told her the purpose of doing a state report was to learn about something new, not the state you already live in. (I think her teach was just trying to do something nice, because she ended up being the only person who did not get one of her top three picks) After much debate, research and some tears, Madi agreed to do her state report on Kentucky. They started this major project in school; however we were responsible for making a miniature float about the state and finishing up anything they didn't get done in school. Well that ending up being a lot. Madi and I came up with a plan to do her float centered on the Kentucky Derby. It was well planned; however took a lot of work. We spent hours one Sunday afternoon putting it together; in addition to some late nights. The crazy thing about this report was we thought everything was due on Friday the 26th, but on Monday the 22nd Madi came home from school telling me that she had to give her oral book report on Wednesday; which meant everything had to be completed by Tuesday night. So we spent Monday and Tuesday evening finishing up her poster, oral speech and float. Both nights we were up until 10:30 or 11:00 working! By Tuesday evening I told Madi I was done with homework! By the time everything was complete it looked fantastic and we both had a great time learning some new and exciting facts about Kentucky.

Next came Jaxson oral book report. I was informed a week prior that he had to give a book report to the class. This included being in costume and using props and making it fun for the child not stressful. (How about stressful on the parent). So over the weekend we purchased a book on sharks and I had Jaxson read it every day so we would know all the facts. Thursday night I put Dan in charge of helping him. They didn't get far because of Jaxson lack of focus and the Dan's lack of knowing what to do. So I stepped in to assist, I decided to print some pictures of different types of sharks, so Jaxson could tell detailed information about all the many kinds of sharks. By the time we got around to this it was after 10:00, so we sent Jaxson to bed because he wasn't retaining anymore information. Dan told him we would get him up early in the morning to finish. What he meant to say is that mom will get you up early because I will be out of town.

Friday morning we got off to a fabulous start. Reagan woke up at the crack of dawn and with a bloody nose; in addition she cried over everything little thing including not having a Capri sun and a sucker for breakfast. (We didn't have any Capri Suns and I wasn't about to give her a sucker either) Having her is such a pleasant mood put me behind schedule because when she is grumpy, she wants me to hold her. Next I woke of Jaxson to him wetting the bed. I told him to jump in the bath and take the quickest bath of his life because we needed to complete his book report. As he is bathing, I am finishing up my hair and doing Madi's hair as well and pulling off sheet to put them in the wash. Next I found Jaxson down stairs watching TV instead of brushing his teeth or eating breakfast. At this point I completely lost it because we had less than 15 minutes before the bus. I started yelling and Jaxson, asking him why he was watching TV when he knew we needed to hurry. I also asked him if he knew what he was going to say during his report and he told me no. I continued on my rampage, by blood was thick and knew I was having a melt down. I told Jaxson I wished he just wouldn't act like a kid all the time. I contemplated calling my office and telling I couldn't come to work today because I couldn't pull it together, all while Jaxson was crying. I finally took some deep breaths and asked Jaxson if he was ready to do his report. We spent the next 20 minutes practicing. Obviously he missed the bus and I took him to school. I turned around 45 minutes after arriving at work to go back to the school and watch him give his report. He did an AMAZING job! He pulled it off and I had other moms comment to me how well he knew his subject matter. I was so proud of him.

After the report I went back to work and turned around 2 hours later to visit the fifth grade state fair. Madison had one of the best presentations and floats in the class. She even completed a word search for everyone to do on the state of Kentucky for extra credit. After the fair I went back to work for the third time that day.

Needless to say I am ready for summer break!