Chronicles of Whistling Duck Cottage — Week Nineteen
The King of the Jungle is the Queen — Project with my Granddaughter
Week Forty-Four of 52-Week Writing Challenge
It has been nearly a year since I worked on a school project with one of my grandchildren. That was back when we all lived together — before they moved to an apartment with their mother, before we bought and moved to a new place. Can’t say I miss the pressure of those days, helping with hours of homework or the stress of projects assigned weeks before but done the night before.
Yesterday, visiting with a family that has a daughter in my granddaughter’s class, I found out about a project that is due on Tuesday, a project assigned two weeks ago, a project that neither my granddaughter or her friend mentioned until yesterday.
Sigh. Really not my problem anymore. My daughter or her new husband (yeah, that happened unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago) can gather supplies and information and help create the “school project” that is more for the parents than the child. Isn’t it always? Projects too complicated for an eight-year-old or a seven-year-old or a six-year-old to do alone. My grandson at ten is finally reaching the age where he can do 50% or more of a project on his own. Five years into school before his homework doesn’t require complete adult participation.
Granddaughter’s reasoning for not starting the project or telling anyone about it was:
Mom is too busy, and she works late a lot of evenings and on Saturdays. On Sundays I have communion classes and my brother has soccer. When are we supposed to do it? I’ll just fail. It’s okay.
Our friend is a single mom with four kids, and her daughter had a similar reason for ignoring her project, but now she is frantic to get it done. My granddaughter, on the other hand, would rather fail than bother someone for help.
I am anti-homework. Most if not all school work should be done in school. Too many assignments require adult participation and with so many single moms and many dads working shifts in the evenings and at night, expecting them to have the time or the energy to do hours of homework with their kids is unreasonable. Most kids attend after-school, arriving home past 6 pm, still needing dinner before tackling one, two, three hours of homework, most of which requires help from mom or dad or a grandparent. Who does this homework benefit?
As an elementary school child, my homework was minimal, at the most an hour a night, and always at my reading level. Only once during elementary school did I have to ask my father for help. That is not the case with modern education. The parents are being schooled more than the kids.
My granddaughter’s project subject was lions. I am an animal enthusiast so I plunged in to help my granddaughter and daughter, especially after discovering new husband is out of town on business and won’t be available to help. The project required photos of and a typed (What 8-year-old types??) paper about lions.
We Googled and read about lions. My granddaughter was shocked to discover the “king of the jungle” was really a lazy guy, sleeping away the day while his wives hunt for food. When the females deliver dinner, he eats first and his wives and children receive his leftovers. If food is scarce, he eats and lets his family starve. Great husband. Great dad. Reminds me of my ex-son-in-law.
We tossed around some titles for the project and settled on:
The King of the Jungle is the Queen
Photos and a colorable picture of a lion were printed. My granddaughter only needs to color the one picture, an activity she will enjoy. All my daughter needs to do, after communion classes and soccer, is buy poster paper and help my granddaughter assemble the paper and photos. More then enough after working until 10 pm last night and after today’s activities.
