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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I Failed My First Homework Assignment

A couple weeks ago, the Big Giraffe, my older son (OS), my younger son (YS), and I all went to OS's preschool open house. The boys immediately found some toys and began playing with them. So far so good. However, as the open house wore on, there were some sharing issues between YS and OS...actually between YS and just about everyone else. YS was most offended that the bigger kids did not want him to jump on their giant bristle block chain. I'm sure that the teacher's description of the kids' homework assignment coincided with YS's expressions of outrage. I remember my ears perking up because frankly since none of those kids can read, you just know who is doing that homework assignment. In fact I think she even came right out and said at some point that the parents would have to do it. Basically, it was a "get to know you sheet" where you answered a bunch of questions about your child's interests and hobbies. Then you were supposed to attach a photo of your child.

Perhaps it's not too surprising to hear that the Big Giraffe and I are horrible about printing out photos. I uploaded a picture to snapfish.com and made the arrangements to pick it up in an hour at Walgreens. I purposely did not say it was the picture of OS's choosing because it wasn't: he wanted some awful picture of himself facing my midsection...at least we both think it was of him. We couldn't actually see his face in the picture, and I really didn't want a picture exposing my midsection to be hanging on his classroom wall for all to see. I therefore pulled the mean mommy card and said no. Not only that, I held firm even in the face of persistent whining. I also decided to use the on-line service instead of pulling out my photo printer and special photo paper because that's reserved for when I remember at 7 am that we need a photo for the day and I don't have time for the hour long photo service.

This morning everything was all organized and ready to go. I carefully packed the paper into OS's backpack this morning and had OS tell the teacher, at my prompting, that the paper was in there. It was particularly important because today was OS's birthday celebration at school, and they have a special board for the papers of the birthday celebrant. Also, today might have been the deadline although neither the Big Giraffe or I were sure most likely because we were reconstructing a bristle block line that YS had accidentally broken when the homework assignment was discussed. We thought it was due the 21st, but the 21 is a Sunday. A key element of the instructions was apparently to use the blank piece of white paper that came in the plastic casing to paste multiple photos of your child doing activities he liked and spending time with his family. The Big Giraffe and I both thought the paper was just filler paper for the plastic liner. Needless to say, I got a post-it note home asking me to please send in the paper with pictures on it.

When I was in 4th grade, my parents made me do a geology report on rocks by myself. I used my scissors and a mountain of glue and pasted jagged edged pictures on construction paper with handwritten descriptions and definitions. I think I got a C on it. The kid who got an A on it had beautifully mounted pictures on black construction paper (I never even knew you could do that) with typed up descriptions underneath the pictures. I later found out from him that his dad had done all the work. Poor OS. His parent did the work and she didn't even follow directions!

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Paying attention in school is as important for parents as for children.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 6:45 PM   6 comments
6 Comments:

  • At 9/17/2008 9:55 PM, Blogger Tracey said…

    Just wait. My 9 year old had homework today and I honestly, HONESTLY didn't know the answers! And I had a study guide in front of me!! HOW am I supposed to double check it if I can't even figure it out?!? I just clucked my tongue and said, "Well, if YOU feel it's your best work, then you should turn it in..." And went off to cry silently in the bathroom.

     

  • At 9/17/2008 11:16 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    See? Now that's why I think all those instructions need to be written down, not just told to parents. I can't remember stuff like that even if I hear all the directions.

     

  • At 9/18/2008 9:43 AM, Blogger Goofball said…

    :p

     

  • At 9/18/2008 9:45 AM, Blogger Goofball said…

    those problems never happened to me....maybe because my mother was one of the teachers :p.

    the opposite happened: we had a knitting assignment and I made a mistake in the design.
    The year afterwards my mom needed an example and took mine....and then for the next 10 years everyone has taken over my knitting mistake. whaaahaaa. I always cracked up when I walked into my mom's class and saw all the knitting pieces displayed with my mistake in it.

     

  • At 9/18/2008 8:27 PM, Blogger Kate said…

    They teach things a lot differently these days. And not to mention we've got enough on our minds to have to remember preschool homework instructions.

     

  • At 9/21/2008 5:31 PM, Blogger Lady M said…

    I'm re-reading the instructions from preschool again, and that's just for what we're supposed to do when we're on snack duty. This is more complicated than it should be. ;)

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
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About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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