Retreat to The Teacher’s Lounge!
January 7, 2009
It’s that kind of day.
It’s our first real day back at homeschool since before Christmas. We started out with some review math worksheets. Just about every answer on the page was wrong. They couldn’t remember how to subtract or compare fractions. They don’t remember how to divide fractions or solve for an unknown. They added 8 and 7 and got 18. They divided 15 by 3 and got 3. How is this possible?
I suppose since our breaks are less ‘official’ I somehow expected we’d simply slide back into academic work without a hitch. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I suspect they’re feeling the need for a bit more vacation…. and they’re not the only ones.
I gave the old “I can’t believe you guys don’t remember how to do these simple things!” speech, packed up the math materials for the day and sent them off to read books on oceanography. I’ve retreated to the teacher’s lounge to try to put everything in perspective.
I’m frustrated with myself that my expectations were a bit unrealistic and disappointed that I let my frustration get the better of me. I remember how it felt to slowly get those gears turning again after an extended break. I should have been a bit more understanding.
So where do I go from here? I think we’ll spend our afternoon doing some art lessons and playing educational games. I think I’ll make some fresh copies of the math worksheets for tomorrow – so we can do them together, reviewing how to do them all. I think I’ll make a plan for the rest of the week that will ease them back into using all those brain cells at the same time.
But right now, I’m going to go make them some hot chocolate and apologize for my part in this whole mess….
