Given the decrepit response of my country to a ONCE-IN-A-CENTURY PANDEMIC (which I can’t believe I’m living through), Cohiba and I didn’t feel good about sending Wee One (WO) to school. I talked about this when she started school. (Here.)
It’s still stressful, it’s hard, it’s a lot of work, I’m not a teacher, I don’t have the skills teachers have, she melts down every day (though maybe she would anyway?), I’m already teaching her, at the tender age of 5 1/2, that sometimes things suck and we have to do them. I… I don’t want to have to teach her that.
(Oh, you guys, she has such a mind for math! She is Cohiba’s child. Math and engineering. Please, God, don’t let misogyny stop her. But I’m already have to for her to “show her work,” and I’m like, you’re gonna have such a hard time.)
But then there are magical times that I’m like, Huh. This kid’s gonna be alright. This is working. She’s not losing anything substantive by being home with me. She’s learning. You guys, she’s really learning! I’m so thankful for her teacher who is open to flexibility and meeting WO where she is, but I’m teaching her!
Last week, she had to draw a picture of something she liked to do when she was four. She picked going to the zoo, and she drew a sign and spelled “ZOO” at the top of the sheet. She didn’t ask me how to spell it, just sounded it out or knew or something. (Though we had been talking about Zoom and how close that is to Zoo… But still.)
And there’s something to be said about teaching your favorite little person to read. It’s pretty rad.
I Didn't Just Wake Up This Morning With A Craving 