Seriously, How Do You Do It?

My apologies for the missing blog last week. I was in Albuquerque with colleagues from other states. We spent time learning how things are working throughout the nation. I maintain TSTA is doing pretty well.

Also information of note: Davis Guggenheim ("Waiting for Superman") will not be making a documentary of Lindsay Lohan. He doesn't feel it's worth his time.

Speaking of time, and what merits my time...

My wife was a single parent last week, and she will be one again at the end of the month.

If you look down on this blog, you’ll see a triangle-shaped graph. It illustrates how important home life is to a student, how important home life is to student learning.

A family friend has breast cancer. She lives alone, and she needs people to help her after each round of chemotherapy. We decided to take a turn. My wife boarded a plane to Minneapolis on Tuesday. She will return on Sunday.

That makes me a single parent.

It started out well enough. I made hamburgers. Then I realized I was out of fries and there were no baked beans in the pantry. Quick trip to HEB (had to do that last night, too).  I think it's tacos tonight, barring a long State Board of Education meeting.

Cook the food. Eat the food. Now time for homework. Deep breath and read fast.

Oldest needs to write flashcards for spelling words. I have a PhD, and I didn’t know some of them. Fifty words! Test tomorrow. Wow. My son had math homework. I checked it and we discussed his errors. We corrected them, and he got to play on my iPhone. My youngest daughter had spelling, as well. We worked through the 25 words, and she wrote the ones she missed three times each. We will retest tonight, and I imagine she will write a few of the same words. We also have to create a diorama by Monday. Not sure what to use to construct a Lipan Apache teepee. Spaghetti is too weak, but pencils are too large. I guess the buffalo (North American Bison) hide will be a paper sack that has been crunched up. We talked but came to no decision. The two younger kids are required to read for 20 minutes a day and practice musical instruments for another 20 minutes. The parent needs to monitor this, as well. What will I be providing for the 4th grade Thanksgiving feast? Will I be attending? We need to sell at least 20 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, I guess. Need to get a present for Friday's birthday party...and Saturday's quincinera.

What time is it, now?

Bed time. Kids need to be at elementary school by 7:15 a.m. One catches the bus at the elementary school to middle school. I have to drive my daughter to high school. 

It’s enough to make a couple stay married. I have always marveled at single-parent families, but I HATE IT when I have to experience the situation.

There are 13 million single-parent household parents. Thirteen million families. Thirteen million sets of children just like mine.

Fix that, Superman.