Please STOP the School Schedule!

OK, not really, but some days....oy! We get back from vacation to normal schedule and how quickly I forget what that entails. Running back and forth to school, structured meal schedule, and homework. Some days the "Mamas"-per-minute are so high I just want to hide under the bed. Wow, is that stellar parenting or what?

Today, Eva, the FIRST grader, had 2 hours of homework...TWO HOURS. Spain is a paradox. There are some things that are so no pasa nada, (nothing's the matter) and other things are so Sí, pasa! (Yes, something's the matter!). For example, at Yana's school, she has studied really hard for a test and then the teacher will postpone it once, twice, whatever, because the students complain that they didn't study. WHAT? And my first grader has two hours of homework? No pasa nada.

Something that cracked me up is that a few weeks ago the kids got report cards (side note brag: my kids are brilliant! They are doing really well in school!) and with that came a few teacher meetings. Eva's teacher held an all-class parent meeting and it turned out to be more of what we got at the beginning of the year: people, here's how to parent your kid. I must admit, if they've got to give this kind of speech to a group of parents, then Spain is no different than the US. Put your kid to bed at a reasonable hour, send healthy snacks to school, not crap, etc.

In Jolie's class meeting, some of the parents started to complain about the amount of homework. Let me give you the picture of the typical group of Spanish women (Sara, disculpeme...no estás incluida en este grupo, de verdad!), they are like hens in the hen house. All of them start talking over each other, repeating themselves and what the others have said and it really sounds like clucking! I have to stifle my laughter every time...it's too much! But the other aspect was that these mothers were complaining about the homework and I felt like turning to them and saying "Are you kidding me????" We have to not only do the homework that your kids do in their native language, but my kid skipped a grade AND is doing the material in a NEW language and we basically do the work twice, in English to understand the material and in Spanish to learn the vocabulary. Not to mention that Jolie is kicking major butt on her report card!

Kerline did so well on her report card that she got her ears pierced as promised in a deal made at the beginning of the term. Along with going out to lunch with just her parents and a special gift of a treasure box with two pairs of earrings. More on Kerline in the next post.

Eva's quote of the moment:
Bathroom door closed, Mama knocks.
Eva: Who is it?
Mama: Mama. What are you doing?
Eva, sighing: Oh, going potty....and praying to God.
I'm sure God loves prayers from the bathroom. C'mon all you moms out there, you know what I'm talking about! When is one of the only times you have enough quiet and privacy to talk to God? Love it.

OK, brain shutting down...9:26pm.