homework

 

I don't remember having homework when I was five.  In fact, I'm quite certain that I didn't have any.  Maybe seven.  But five?  No way, man.  But here we are.  Schuyler had to copy a typewritten (and frankly quite complicated) typed paragraph about ecosystems or something in cursive.  It didn't go terribly well.  It's not like she can't do it (because she did finally complete the mission) but the combination of heavy fatigue (Schuyler needs an unusual amount of sleep and right before bed her concentration is almost nil) and fissures in her self confidence made this a drawn out and frustrating task for everyone.  But it's kind of like the "Little White Donkey" episode in the Tiger Mom book.  In fact, that's exactly what sprang to mind when we were taking turns supervising.  She kept wanting to give up because she found it hard (and she was tired) and many times I verged on giving in a letting her go to bed.  But The Little White Donkey kept coming into my head which, in my interpretation, is the value of completing something you weren't sure at all you could accomplish.  We weren't up until 2am and this was not exactly Mozart but it was difficult for her all the same.  you could see the cracks in her self confidence and the difficulty of staying on task but then she finally finished.  We figured out that placing the green pencil sharpener under the word she was working on helped her concentration and made the big task a bunch of little achievable ones.  What is it?  Every journey begins with a single step or something.  We'll see what happens when the real homework starts coming in.