Also, there have been some things that I have not appreciated, such as discussing how a persons body changes as they mature ... with three year olds. This sounds worse than it really was, but regardless, I felt it was very unnecessary for preschool curriculum. In addition to some of these "weird things" we experience here with this version of preschool, his tuition will jump to almost double its current cost (350/term + additional fees) next year.
I have been toying with the idea of doing Home School with him for a while now and decided to give it a whirl since he is on Easter Break for two weeks. I have several friends that do home school with their kids here and I thought, "I am an educator by profession...I can handle this." Wrong! Very wrong!
Day one:
Thomas starts the day with awakening me to the tune of: "Mom, I had six pieces of licorice because I was hungry." (Note, these are my prized twizzlers that a friend bought me at the commissary...you can't get Twizzlers here. Mad, so mad!)
I take him to a friends house and go to the local second hand (probably more like third hand truth be told) clothes market with my amazing friend Kate .
When it is time to leave Thomas and his buddy are about to get in the swimming pool, he is naked from the waist down trying to put on his bathing suit. He runs away from me. When I find him, he refuses to put his clothes on and punches me in the face.
He rides home (25 minutes) with a naked bum, screaming and crying THE WHOLE WAY HOME. Oh, he also punches me in the throat three times while I am trying to buckle him and tells me he "hates" me three times just for good measure. When I stop to buy mangos from a hawker on the side of the road, he just stares at my half-naked, screaming child. I smile, hand him seventy thousand Kwacha, and think that maybe, just maybe, these mangos will help me forget how awful the last half hour has been.
Upon arriving home he falls asleep for four hours. I am still so mad when he wakes up that I can't even imagine doing any curriculum with him.
Day two: I bury Thomas...
Actually, the day went much better and we started off with only two pieces of licorice (I have to move the candy stash)! We got to the schooling too. But, he asked so many questions I could barely get through the story we were reading.
The moral of the story...it might be worth the money...really worth the money.
Here are some pictures from happier times...
Mangos that make you forget...yum
A quick trip up to Mkushi...beautiful farmland
avocado for dinner, yes please!
6 comments:
Yikes. The fist to the throat will put you over the edge every time.
Yeah, I've vowed I'll never home school unless the school is showing R rated movies and feeding them tobacco. Not really, but kind of. I know it's bad but I'm looking forward to sending my children off to school.
I feel like you crawled into my brain, stole my thoughts, and then typed them out. I can relate to absolutely everything from, "Isn't this why I stay home?" to your son punching you in the face. Holy moly, motherhood is so hard. You handle it so well. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you and your candid posts.
Wow, Thomas sounds like he might even rival me and Audelia for hardest roommates you've ever had. Seriously, though, hang in there. Heavenly Father sent him to you because he knew Thomas would get an incredibly awesome and patient and forgiving parent (who will have some crazy stories to tell his future fiance over the dinner table)!
Ummmmm....I'm just so sorry!
I know that none of that was supposed to be funny, but I laughed. Don't worry I was totally on your side, but I was picturing my child doing it and I about lost it too.
Oh Caroline, you are Super Mom, and you have such a way of putting on paper (or blog post).
Post a Comment