When Mama's Not Happy, Ain't NOBODY Happy

I have 1,000 papers sitting next to me. 700 of them have "scores" or can be simply scored. SEVEN HUNDRED PAPERS. Then, I have 300 essays, and on Friday, I will have 140 more essays coming home. Each paper must be read, graded on a rubric, etc. That's just the paperwork, though. My ESL 10---and they read on a 3rd grade level---has to be babied and I can NOT find a book on a 3rd grade reading level that will appeal to a high school kid. If you have any ideas, I beg of you---send 'em my way. They are still a bit too low for most chapter books. Envision that, would you?

Then, I have the actual teaching. I want to go on record, when I do an assignment or teach a lesson, I am ON for 80 minutes. I don't hang back. I'm there, I'm engaging, I'm goofy, I'm doing bad pop-culture references, I'm trying to tie the kids in... I can not get any grading done during the day, and I have no prep period on one of my days. Ridiculously heavy class load, all the hardest kids, and a 2 specialty classes. I swear, I'm about to crack up.

Then, we have this rule at our house. It's a dad rule, because Mama can't figure out how to make it work. When we get home, Jack is supposed to immediately do his homework. Xandri feels she must immediately eat THREE snacks (enough for 3 children, anyway); Asa wanders about whining about how "tard" (tired) he is so that somone (like the mama) will give him a bottle. He has not had anything from a bottle from the mama in over a week. Max MUST be fed---he screams until he's hoarse; he gets sweaty; he wheezes---and it's been a long time since he was last fed, and he's the littlest, so he does get to go first.

Then, we have to sign the homework. Then, we have to have "the report" from Jack's day, complete with cute hand-guestures and interminably long explanations. Then Asa must return to whine about something new (but see paragraph above. Now he's "Hungry!! My tummy's HUNGRY.") Then Xandri comes to tease Asa/Jack/Max, whomever she can find. Then it's time to do piano.

Are you tired yet? It's not even 5pm! I've been at this day since 7am.

Then we do the piano theory work---it's new in our schedule. We're working on beat/measure/clapping/fingerwork, and it's all done at the kitchen table. Xandri's doing REALLY well. I made Jack furious tonight. It was an exact repeat of my dad trying to figure out why I couldn't do math. I finally told him that I refused to make him cry, and that he was NOT ALLOWED to practice it wrong, so we'd come back to it tomorrow. Does anyone have a spare metronome? He's not COUNTING, and he's mad at ME for noticing it.

Asa loves the piano playing part. He counts 2, 3, 2, 3, and he plays with good position, etc. He is NOT taking lessons. He's TWO for heaven's sake. He loves to sing along, and he's DYING to play like the other kids. It's cute, and he's figured out to watch, not play.

Xandri is doing well, but we did have a tiny melt-down, so we decided to be finished. Most of the melt-down was because Max was screaming. By the time Daddy got home at 6:15, we were ALL tired of each other: Jack was cross because he couldn't play his song perfectly (and I had pointed it out); Xan was cross because we hadn't signed her up for kindergarten (second child I've missed K registration for...); Asa was HUNGRY; Max was GRUMPY and feeling Mama-Deprived.

This was a normal day. I wish they weren't all like this. I really don't feel like this is what I signed UP for, you know??