"We Didn't Do School You Know!" - 3/22/11

Today was one of those long days out for us. Both kids had doctor appointments at Phoenix Children's Hospital. This was our first day of having to take Flossie and Freddie with us to our doc appointments. Snacks were packed, as were video games and entertainment for the car and entertainment for the waiting room. Of course, this was the day Joshua's doctor had an emergency so she was almost 45 minutes late to her appointment. I don't know if I was feeling stressed or just tired from lack of sleep. It also could have had to do with what I was there to talk to her about, but I ended up getting teary during his appointment. Luckily Scout was done with her appointment by then so she was entertaining the kids in the waiting room by then. Anyway, the long and well, LONG of it is the kids did great and were really good even though we had a long drive there and back and they had to wait there almost 2 hours. I am thankful for waiting room tv and snack crackers!!!

    We had lunch in the car on the way home. Everyone was starving and needed to eat by then.By the time we got home, it was time for the little kids to go down for their nap. While they slept, I got some school done with the older kids, and when they woke up, it was time to drop my oldest off at work. That was another 20 minute drive there and back. As we were driving home, Freddie, the 4 year old said, "We didn't do school you know," with a disgusted frown on his face. I could see he was ticked about being in the car all day. This wasn't what he signed up for. There was no way I could explain that some days are just like this. He wouldn't understand or even want to hear it. I said, 'Well, we had to be in the car a lot today and I'm sorry. We'll just have to do some car school today."  With my big kids, we often do car school when we are on the road. It usually involves me quizzing them on spelling words or math problems. Sometimes we do geography or history questions - whatever we are working on at the time. So, that's what we did. With Flossie and Freddie I asked questions like "Name one word that starts with B. "What sound does a cow make?"  "Name one animal that lives in the zoo."  "Let's see how high you can count."  "Tell me your mommy's name." 

     As we pulled onto our street, we could see their mom's car waiting for us in front of the house. "But we didn't do school!" Freddie grumbled. I rushed in to get him some "homework" hoping to make up for the lapse in his school day, but it was clear that nothing would really make it better. He left that day with a frown on his face. Now I know I am going to have to make sure to get some "school" in every day no matter what else we do, or at least make sure I warn him in advance!