gunnar’s homework, his weekly packet, resembles that of my husband’s work for his mba program. they are both currently working on getting their mba’s apperently. only gunnar’s is a kindergarden mba and jaren’s is a grown-up’s. needless to say, gunnar does as much homework, maybe sometimes even a little bit more, than his dad. 😉
i used to have idyllic homework dreams associated with my children: gun would come home from school, bounding in joyfully, sharing with me ever so animatedly his favorite parts of the days: circle time, reading time, writing time, reading time, playing time, more learning time, followed by more learning time, concluded with learning time. he would smile blissfully as he said that the learning and reading time were his favorites, all the while unloading his backpack and immediately starting to work on his beloved homework.
“mother, please tell that there is a lot of homework to do today; i love it so. please give me extra if my teacher was negligent to assign us a mass amount of extra-curricular assignments to strengthen my mind and brain capacity. please stretch me in ways that challenge my brain and make me smarter. oh please mother, can we do homework all afternoon, long?”
the reality of gun’s kindergarden mba homework and his attitude behind it is quite different than i had always dreamed. there is usually weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, to put it lightly, but somehow we manages to wade through that packet and somehow i hold tightly to the dream that one day he will love homework as much as i loved giving it!! 🙂
we try and set up a good workspace: no tv, music, or little sister bothering us. we get out some snacks and all of  our favorite pens, pencils, and erasers (i love that part); then we settle down to focus on the task at hand: the three pages of homework we do a day, so the whole packet will be complete by it’s due date, friday of each week.
we get off track a lot of the time. our conversation strays from letters and writing to diapers and chickens crossing roads then to legos and elephants eating socks. somehow amidst all that “mentally engaging” conversation we manage to get it all done. somehow.
i have an affinity for all teachers, probably because i am one, but i especially love kindergarden teachers. they have the patience of poseidon’s waters. i also love them because they taught us how to read, because they teach our children how to read. think of that just for one second; what a powerful gift it is to be able to read.
one day while working on homework gunnar read two lines of text. all. by. himself. of course, being the emotional type, i got teary, because my first born was reading. he looked up, and said, “did i do it wrong mom? why are you crying? don’t cry, i’ll do it again and do better.”
“i’m crying son, because i am so proud. do you know how smart you are? how lucky you are to be able to learn to read?”
he got excited. and we had one of those moments i hoped i would always have with my children while doing homework:
it’s not always easy. most times it requires a lot of thought:
but many things that matter do require time and thought. right now we do things over and over again to learn how to do them right and how to do them right the first time around.
i don’t always enjoy the whining that accompanies homework, but i do enjoy the time i get to sit with my boy and watch him learn and grow, stretch and accomplish.
i am proud. so proud of the kindergarden mba he is earning.
gunnar, i love you son. so much. one day, you’ll see, homework really is one of the greatest things to ever grace your life. until you come to this enlightenment, however, we’ll sit down each day and work on it together. 😉 love you, babe. i am so proud of you! keep at it!!! xoxo mom
