Re-entry

This past week was our first week back to school. We just finished a month long break--a restful, mindless break. But now we're back at it.

Shakespeare has been struggling with reading for awhile now. It has never come easily for him, but it appears that he's slowed to a snail's pace. This week, instead of backing off I pushed ahead. That was foolish. It just made him say things like, "I hate reading." And made me almost agree with him.

When Gem doesn't instantly understand a concept she runs to despair--much weeping and head banging on the school table--very dramatic. This is the way that the distributive property (math) was received this week.

Combine those two attitudes and add in two younger children with pink eye and you will get an idea of what our school week looked like.

On the up-side, Gem grasped the concept and likes math again, pink eye is gone, and I've decided to do a couple of easy reading weeks for Shakespeare. Mix all that together and our second week promises to be a huge improvement.

Lots of people comment, "I don't know how you do it." Sometimes, I don't know either.

It's amazing that 15 minutes of silence can be such a luxury to a mother.