Why I'm not correcting papers right now

Correcting papers is what I mean to be doing all day some days. I have a pile the size of Mt. Everest that I plan to have done by June 1. Really. My phone calls with said students are almost over, in many cases, sadly. I have some students that make me want to continue just so I can have them back, because it's a delight to grade their papers. Even the ones that made me cringe at the beginning of the year have come around! Hooray!

But the mountain includes biology, apologetics, health (they encyclical casti connubi questions and answers and a paper), natural history science, ancient history and lit, American government and Catholic doctrine. It's really not as bad as it's been other years, and all of my parents have been pleasant and reasonable, which is wonderful.

The reason I'm not correcting papers is because the baby won't let me. I put Grace to sleep in my room so she wouldn't wake up Dominic, but my laptop is in there, and if I sit there, he'll barge in and wake her up and press all the buttons or demand to be held or wander over to Gabe's computer and try to break the mouse. It's red and flashy, and attracts him like nobody's business. I could try at 5:30 am when Francis leaves, but Dom's awake by 6, and he'll wake people up if I try to look at a screen. So I did dishes and cooked two casseroles, and folded laundry, which puts me ahead on the domestic goddess side of things. But still behind on papers.

I am quitting this year, at least for a year but probably more. I did not handle well correcting, being a wonderful wife and mother, and trying to homeschool Brandon this year in addition to Gabe. We only got through half of kindergarten. On the other hand, Brandon finally is "getting it" in a lot of ways. His speech has improved greatly, partly because we started memorizing poetry with MODG, and he can actually do it. The sentence structure is sinking in because of the poetry! Isn't that wild? But now he's getting the idea with reading, too! I figured out he can point at the sound I ask for a lot better than pointing and saying it, because after all, he does need speech therapy (peech tewawee). So I say, "Where's "b"?", the sound, not the letter, and he can tell me by pointing. But if I give him a list of letters he knows (yes, he KNOWS them), he can't say them right because somewhere between his brain and his mouth, all of it gets mixed up. He even knows it came out wrong. But I think practice will improve things.

It teaches me patience, but I'm not sure I'm such a fast learner....

Don't ask me why the baby is letting me type. Maybe it's because I'm on my husband's computer. Urrr? Maybe it's the Motrin. He is teething like a madman. He's much happier now than he was this morning.

Oooh, another bright idea I came up with. Ah, those little white lies... but this one was hard to resist. Brandon's birthday is Sept. 10, which means that technically, he'd start kindergarten this upcoming Sept, at age just about 6, instead of last year. So, technically, he could be in either first grade or kindergarten, and for cub scouts, you have to be going into first grade. I know it's killing him to wait, but I'm putting it off for one more year, even if they did let him in. And then I told him he has to read and count to 100 first. It's not true, but I'm not telling him that, because...

It's working!

He's on a roll! He worked really hard and concentrated and wanted to do more reading practice! Which is in stark contrast to the several weeks in which he hid the book from me so he wouldn't have to... :)

There's also the frightening thought that Gabe is going into fourth grade. We sort of skipped a year this year. Funny that, it's a year before I skipped when I was a kid. Gabe just turned eight in May. Let's see, if he ends his fourth grade year by turning nine, that means he'll end his high school career at age... 17. Just barely 17. Which I was also, but I turned 18 in October of my freshman year of college. But wow. I have eight more years in which to raise my kid before I might be waving goodbye! Gabe won't be able to legally drink until the very night he graduates if he goes to Gonzaga. Har har!!

With how fast the years go by now, I know that's going to sneak up on me.

Another thing is that Brandon is 2 years ahead of Gabe in growth. How do I know? Because on our wall, where we measure them from time to time, Brandon's head is where Gabe's was last year. Brandon is now 5, and Gabe is now 8. So at 5, Brandon is as tall as Gabe was at 7. Yikes! Won't be long before I'm the shortest one around here.

The teething baby decided to take his third nap today. I think I will go grade some biology tests now, closely followed by Catholic doctrine.

Enjoy your weekend!