All the Cool Kids do Homework

Oh sweet blog friend, I have missed you. I have been thinking about you often.

So I am a writing queen now that I am in school. I would argue that I am a Queen (yes, capital Q) among many things, but especially writing. Since I am working on becoming a Master FNP - it's kind of like a Jedi - I write papers and discussions galore. Since Natalia cannot get her life organized I write emails back and forth to her teacher galore. We are trying to figure out catchy new ways for Natalia to remember to shuffle papers in and out of her snazzy pink binder. 

I am still on leave from work since my knee surgery. I kind of like this stay at home mom stuff, minus the pain medication. That stuff is crap. Don't believe a word those drug addicts tell you because I bet none of them have pooped in two weeks. Okay, so if I wasn't in pain, this stay at home stuff would be kind of nice. I actually get to help Natalia with her homework and study for tests. I learned that she is a kinesthetic learner, for one thing. It is so cutting edge that I had to Google it and my spell check doesn't even recognize it as a word. Natalia and I had to have a time-out from her studying so she could teach me how to teach her. Ah, the master has become the student. What it boiled down to is she has to move around and do something tactile to make a brain connection with new concepts.

Okay, I can do this.

Enter: Gigantic Bouncy Ball. 

Imagine we are learning Greek and Latin vocabulary together while she bounces her tushy up and down on a gigantic exercise bouncy ball and I'm throwing out hand signals like a baseball coach in the dugout for her to throw back at me. We looked like the insane sign language posse. I'm more of a visual learner, so I really had to get over myself that these actions do not have to MATCH the word. I mean, what would you kinesthetic-ize for the word trisect? Exactly. I could show you, but I can't describe it in my written language. I guess if I ever have to spend a day speaking solely in interpretive dance, I will know my limits. I don't think Natalia has such limits. She's fabulous.

One thing about this mommy-daughter homework time is math boundaries. For those adults who do not know what the nasty term "Common Core" means, I recommend to not even look it up until you have to. Actually, don't even worry about it. Natalia's teacher forbid's (just kidding, I love her) parents to help with math because we will just mess the kiddos up. Natalia's teacher is brilliant because she essentially posts YouTube-like videos for the kids to watch if they need help, since parents have no idea how to multiply or divide numbers in the millennium. The most I do with math is check the answers.... with my calculator. 

Part of tonight's homework has to do with the American Revolution. Since Natalia is supposed to dress up for some speeches, we bought her a very American flag looking Betsy Ross costume. Gotta love Amazon. I love that one of the scenes she and her classmates are going to act out is a war scene where half of them die. Natalia has been practicing her speech and death rattle for two days now. She's pretty good. I'm so glad we got her into this artsy-fartsy school.