We’ve had a soft start to the school year in our
house.
Friday was our first official day of instruction. My
daughter logged in and had only two very simple assignments. It was a good
thing because we’ve already run into a little dissension.
The school asked that the worksheets be done in ink
then a picture be taken to upload. With my daughter, that is a recipe for
disaster. A mistake that couldn’t be erased would send her into a tizzy, so I
told her to do them in pencil then go over them in pen. My husband didn’t see
the necessity of going over them in pen. My thinking is that one, the school
asked for it to be in pen, and two, it may be legible in pencil but if the
teacher has to look at multiples in pencil, and less than exemplary hand
writing, that could be eye straining.
The limited assignments on the first day were helpful
for getting us familiar with the process of taking pictures and uploading the
assignments. I also had her do some reading and she did some coloring.
It’s a bit of a tradition in our house to go out to my
daughter’s favorite Chinese buffet on the first day of school. This year, I picked
up dessert at a local bakery for the first time, and then picked up takeout
Chinese. It was a lovely way to end the evening and my daughter gave it a big
thumbs up.
I am enjoying the fuller use of the Google Classroom
this year. The app on my phone is particularly useful in tracking what
assignments she has due and what might be missing. Unfortunately, it cannot
intuit whether she turned in the correct
assignment.
I got home Monday afternoon and she told me, “I got
all my work done by noon!”
That’s great, I thought. We’ll go with that for now.
I’ll be adding in some more work to keep her busy, such as free reading,
learning a foreign language, and maybe recorder or piano practice.
This morning, however, while I was home, when it came
to Science she told me, “But I did this assignment yesterday!”
I looked it over and found she had done the vocabulary
word definition she was supposed to, but on a separate piece of paper instead
of the worksheet. Then she had forged ahead with the paragraph she was supposed
to write today. I told her it was fine, she was ahead of the curve, but now I’m
concerned because I didn’t take the time to read the actual response before I
left, as the school asked us to do. If she hadn’t watched the right video yet,
could she have answered the question correctly? I will have to check it
tonight.
Then, she was having trouble figuring out which
worksheet she should do for Math because they were on lesson 2, but she never
did lesson 1’s worksheet. “We found the worksheet in her math book,” my husband
told me. No, they found a review sheet and assumed it was the worksheet, even
though all the worksheets are paper clipped together, and labeled.
“It’s okay,” I told her, “just do it now, and put it
in.” Hopefully the teacher will still accept it. It’s early days.
There’s definitely a learning curve here, but I have
full confidence we’ll get there. I’m sure there will also be tougher
assignments, and easier ones. I think the important thing is to take it one day
at a time.
I think it’s also important to keep encouraging her
that she can do this work. On Friday she told me, “I don’t know what to do, I
need help!” I went over and stood next to her while she read it again and
figured it out herself. No help from Mom was actually needed, just a little
more patience on her part.
I am reminded of a quote I’ve seen in memes, ascribed
to Kimberly Jones Pothier – “Don’t let them pull you into their storm, pull
them into your peace.”
That’s my goal this year, to remain calm, assure her
she can do the work, and let her figure it out, only stepping in when
necessary.
Maybe also to help her get a little more organized. I
helped her find her folders, but the papers have not yet made it into them. I’m
also thinking it might benefit her to write down what her assignments are first
thing in the morning on a little chalk board, or dry erase board, so she can
wipe them out when she has turned them in.
Over all, I’m pretty happy with the way things are
going.
No comments:
Post a Comment