A parent; as a teacher

School has been in session for one month now.  It seems like forever longer, but it has really only been a few short weeks.  My little coconuts are in Kinder and Second.  Unfortunately, due to the lack of care of education by her mother, poor J had to repeat second grade.  All summer, I have been thinking of how I can speed up the last year of learning for her and get her on the right track.  When school started, I noticed that there would be an additional problem added to the table.  Em is probably about a year behind schedule academically.  Heartbreaking.

I spent the first two weeks watching them learn.  I've been studying the way they process the material when it is given to them and what kind of responses from me heighten their self esteem instead of lessening it.  It was pretty rough and rocky at first.  The feeling of incompetence and defeat these poor babies have is unimaginable for a child these ages.  I decided that instead of angering myself for the lack of better judgement from their mom, I would completely disregard her altogether and put MY best foot forward.  The past can't be changed, but the future certainly can!

I spend anywhere from 1-2 hours on homework per night with the kids; depending on what the work is for the week and how I think they are coping with classwork.  In the last three weeks I have been dedicating this time, I have started to see improvement in all of their work.  Em went from recognizing maybe 5 words out of the alphabet to about 10 now.  Jordan is learning strategies for math that allow her to understand the questions and come up with the right answers.  Austyn is learning study habits for social studies that he and J can quiz each other with to help the information stick.

Though we still have a long road ahead of us, it is very satisfactory to see that the time put in will pay off.  As an even sweeter gift, I can see how much the kids appreciate spending the time with me - even if it is to do stinky 'ole boring homework.  Last night after doing two sets of flashcards with Em, she looked at me and said, "I love you.  Can I give you a hug?".    About melted my heart.  The smallest things and efforts in a child's eyes are as big as the sky, and I am so happy that I am the one who gets to make the world a happier place for all three of my babies.