Kindergarten Homework

OK, let me start by saying I love Camden's teacher. She does a ton of activities with the kids and he has learned so much in the short time he's been in school. He's excited about going to school daily and excited about learning more and more. I really couldn't have asked for a better Kindergarten class. So now time for my venting....

Not that I mind this kind of thing because when it was all said and done, the kids and I had a blast doing this project. Of course, here’s the but… :)

I waited until Sunday (I know, why did I wait until the last minute) to thoroughly read Camden’s paperwork in his school folder, which told me that he had been chosen as “star of the week” for the coming week. YAY I thought, but then I see all this extra work that has to be done to prepare HIS week in school! First, he has to answer some questions about himself (i.e. favorite color, favorite food, etc). No big deal, except the 6 or 7 questions (with the one word answers) takes Camden a good 30+ minutes to write out! Then there is the “guessing jar” that has to be filled with objects for the class to guess how many items are in it. This could be fun, but since mommy waited until Sunday night to do this and stores are closing soon, what to fill this jar with??? OK, crayons are perfect! This is something all three kids can do together while I’m reading the next assignment. So I get the kids box-o-crayons out and tell them to hand crayons to Camden and he’s in charge of counting them and putting them in the jar. I look over a couple minutes later and realize that most of the crayons are broken, bitten or the paper is torn off! Crap… so I decide, only the non broken ones can go in the jar (I don’t care at this point if there is a small bite mark or the paper is missing)! Whew… 41 crayons later and we’re done with that project!

Then I see the biggest project of all – to create a poster with pics about Camden. I try to be sly about this and get out of it by asking Camden if the kids are bringing really big posters or will this work (I show him a 8 ½ X 11 sheet of construction paper thinking this will do). He tells me no way, the other kids are bringing HUGE posters. Great, I don’t have any posters! AND I haven’t printed pics. Who prints pics now with the digital cameras? Oh yeah, and the printer cartridge is out in the printer, so I can’t even print pics! Thank goodness for my parents. I call them asking if my dad can bring the pics I'm about to email him in the morning when he comes over (thinking that will be enough time to create this poster). He decides (wisely) that he’ll print them all and bring them by that night AND he’ll stop and get a poster board!! LOVE my parents! Over an hour of working, we completed the poster. Of course I had to do all the cutting and gluing, but then Camden “decorated” the finished product.

But then we weren't even done people! We then had to go on a hunt for his favorite book (which Braeden had hidden upstairs under his bed) and a small toy to take to school the following morning. Who knew there was this much involved in Kindergarten!!!