This is Quarantine: Day 71

Today, my friends, I earned my homeschooling stripes.

We found ourselves, once again, in a situation where E was wrapping up her work for the day, eager to get outside, only to find out that mistakes were made. Many mistakes. Many small, easy to make mistakes that, when added together to create a sea of erroneousness, meant that work needed to be redone.

This news was not well received.

It's not the first time this has happened. Which is what makes it all the more frustrating for everyone. One party is frustrated that they have already spent so much time on an assignment, only to have to start all over again. One party is frustrated at having their sage advice ignored and their warnings unheeded, only to see the same mistakes repeated ad nauseam. Both parties are frustrated to see a beautiful day being wasted, stretching on into an afternoon otherwise intended for scooters and sunshine. And each party is frustrated with the other party for their role in landing us in this situation once again.

Sigh.

But this time, I was determined to keep my cool. No temper tantrums on this end today. No sir. The grown up will be the grown up. Come hockey sticks or high water. Or something like that.

I sat down, dug my heels in firmly, and calmly directed our attention to Question #1. When my eager student (obviously) didn't jump in with me, I remained calm. I stayed the course. I explained that we would be redoing the assignment, that we would be doing it together, and that the sooner it was completed the sooner we could get on with our day. My eager student communicated to me (through the use of various turns of phrase, vocal ranges and some expressive interpretive choreography) that she would prefer to a) not redo the assignment, b) decline my offer of assistance/supervision and c) discontinue homeschooling, full stop.

I clarified my role as educator, as a supportive presence to assist the process and perhaps identify potential errors at their source, thereby preventing multi-step backtracking, which would translate to decreased work time. I assured her my contribution would be a value-added experience, that I would maintain a positive attitude and calm demeanour in an effort to improve morale and smooth out any bumps we encountered.

She was skeptical, and expressed this skepticism in the form of a directive. I elected to ignore the insubordination and instead accepted the challenge.

We completed the assignment together in about 20 minutes. She smiled, she thanked me, and said "I know you are just trying to help. You're the best."

I will be waiting patiently by the mailbox until my award arrives, counting my grey hairs to pass the time.