Frazzle Rock

I know, I know. It's Fraggle Rock. But these past few weeks, I've been totally frazzled. I'm going to blame the heightened activity level of the holiday season. Everytime I think we're getting a leg up on our daily lives, I realize that something else has fallen through the cracks. This week, it was math homework. I often wonder how other families do it. I don't really believe that Ben and I are total slouches (well...I don't believe Ben's a total slouch), and yet, we cannot keep a handle on everything that needs to be done each week.

Monday started out well (it always seems like our week starts off to a fair start). Scooter had her speech that day, so she spent most of her before school time practicing that. Tuesday was swim lessons. Scooter worked on her reading as well as practicing geography (passport club was Thursday!). Wednesday, Scooter forgot her homework folder at school, plus Bubba had his Christmas recital (see video on yesterday's blog). We still managed to cram in all the countries and capitals that Scooter needed. Thursday, I volunteered for passport club, which gave me reason to drive to work. The 1:30 (that's one HOUR, thirty MINUTE) drive home gave me reason to never drive to work again. Plus, yesterday was the last swim lesson of the block. In lessons past, that meant a coupon for a free ice cream cone from the Beaverton Dairy Queen. Last night, it did not.

So we rushed home to change and get ready for bed. And then we went to bed. And then this morning, I got an email from Ben that Scooter's math homework was a complete mess, and he wasn't sure she'd have time to fix it before school. ARGH!!! I forgot math!!! But seriously? That girl has mountains of homework each week. Sure, there's more on some days than others. And sure, we make her do extra (like writing every day, and actually studying for passport club, and reading specific books for battle of the books), but I'd say she averages an hour per night. In THIRD GRADE!!!??? I can't remember ever having that much homework. Even in highschool, I managed to weazle out of an hour per night. We have to eat. And go to swim lessons. And bathe. And clean our rooms. How do other families do this? How is America holding it all together? I already get up 45 minutes before everyone else in the house. Scooter even gets up an hour and a half before she has to walk out the door in the morning. Do we just move in slow motion? Of course, I act all incredulous when everyone knows I'm sitting on the couch, eating popcorn, drinking a beer and watching TV everynight for an hour. Apparently, it'd be an hour better spent reviewing Scooter's homework.