Knowledge

Heather has been home this week. When Heather is out of school for three to five days (which has happened twice this year), mom becomes a home-school teacher. If I did not step up, my girl would get so behind that she'd never get caught up.

There are advantages to this mom/daughter teaching experience. This week I have learned:

• How to spell all names of the Eastern states and their capitols (yes, I know I was already supposed to know these, but geography was never my strong point)

• The detailed process of the digestive system (which comes with very fun terms that fifth graders cannot hear or say without giggling)

• Detailed information about Alabama, Alaska and Wyoming (Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote, hence the name "State of Equality".)

• More idioms* than I knew existed (Hold your horses, I'm not going to get a big head over my newly discovered knowledge!)

• How to do clever math problems using all of my newly polished (in the last five years) skills of addition, multiplication, division, fractions and yes, geometry (a demon from my past)

This long weekend I will be learning more about the state of Utah, the characters from The Phantom Tollbooth, supervising the making of a Geometry Dictionary, and learning all the Western states, their correct spellings, abbreviations, capitols and locations on the map. All this because we're playing extreme catch-up. Woo-hoo.

I have gone to the happy, thankful place and am grateful for the extra day off this weekend and half-day on Tuesday, no Memorial Day weekend trips planned, and the antibiotics we acquired this afternoon that will help speed up my girl's return to health. I have to say that Heather is a good girl with a heart of gold, and it's been fun to work with her and see how much she knows!

* An exercise in idioms: I can definitely say that I am chomping at the bit waiting for that last day of school! I will keep a stiff upper lip and try not to be down in the dumps about these last few weeks. I won't beat around the bush--we've been working around the clock and have been able to stay afloat, but it's been tough. Perhaps I am just full of hot air, but while Kelly's been working to bring home the bacon, I've been holding down the fort without a break. If you have a second to give me a ring or drop me a line, I'm all ears. If I don't have some friend-time soon, it'll cost me an arm and a leg to vent all my woes in therapy! Okay, so maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I'm a dramatic gal. This was just a drop in the bucket compared to what I could have posted (see future post: Classroom Experience Sends Mother of 5th Grader to Funny Farm)!