Day 58: Thankful for structure
It was just three school kids home today.
Number four started a new job at Walmart this morning, so she had to get up and moving a little earlier than usual. We’ve had routine around here and expectations (rise and shine and breakfast is supposed to happen between 8 and 9 a.m. so they’re ready for the day’s schedule to start at 9), but Brooke is renowned for pushing the limits, barely making it, and taking a sloth-like attitude when it comes to getting ready.
That had to change this morning, and we had our first bout of Mom calling for her to get ready faster, to get down the stairs to take medication and eat food before we left the house, since March 15.
I don’t miss that.
It’s bad enough I struggle to get the girl downstairs on time every day, but out of the house is always a different and uglier monster. She's been this way since she was two, when getting out of the house for daycare was a daily chore.
She may push the boundaries of the schedule from time to time, but I still know it’s working (she gets her stuff done). Today began a new adventure for her, as she works during the day and does homework at night (or late afternoon – she finished work at 2 p.m. today), so we’ll see how that goes.
I’m sure she’ll be fine – Brooke likes to hunker down in her own space in the evening anyway. In fact, she’s usually working off in her bedroom or the loft, so today didn’t actually feel different than other days, except she wasn’t here for our lunch break and I had to run out to pick her up mid-afternoon.
The other kids still appreciate our schedule though – Hannah and Christian have memorized what each alarm means and move from activity to activity. But while The Boy easily transitions from school time to music and back, there’s a little more resistance from the kindergartner.
When she gets on a roll with something (anything) she doesn’t stop easily. For her, we often blur the lines between “subjects” so she can complete the task at-hand.
Alyssa has told me more than once she likes having the schedule set up, something to guide her and keep her focused all day.
She’s seen social media posts from friends who don’t have the same structure and the results range from not getting anything done to getting it done too quickly and being bored. Some don’t wake until the afternoon, some don’t know what day it is as one runs into another, others finish their work early in the week and then float through five days without the tow rope of assignments to keep them chugging along.
With a schedule to keep, Alyssa has found herself more engaged with school and on-task.
For my part, I’ve seen her more intent on her studies than ever, and it’s also given me a glimpse into the student she is.
Alyssa is typically a get-the-work-done-at-school kind of kid, and she rarely brings anything home (this becomes an issue when a social studies test score comes back lower than I know it should have been – or could have been, if the books had been cracked). But she maintains good grades, and we’ve had the conversation more than once about what she could accomplish if she applied herself.
That’s what’s happening now. Her writing is being applauded by teachers, and I’m happy to finally get to read her words, see her hard work that usually stays hidden at school. Not to say she hides her grades, but the homework doesn’t typically make it home and if it does, it’s almost always completed before I get home from work, and she keeps it close to her chest.
So being at the same “desk,” sharing an office with her, provides a window into her student life, but also keeps her head down and in her studies when she needs to be.
It’s a good balance we have going here.
Most of the time.
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
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