Since my son started kinder he has had to do 4 major school projects. This is more than my second grader has had to do in her entire public school career combined. It's because since moving to a new area, our children now go to a gifted/talented academy. The curriculum requires them to do 5 major projects a year based on the unit they are studying. Now, I'm really really not a creative or crafty person. My motto is why make it if you can buy it. I don't get joy out of that kind of creativity. I find gluing, painting, cutting, measuring, and mod podge frustrating and not in any way joyful.
So when my son (who is also not really a make it, glue it, or color it guy) comes home and tells me he needs to make a book about himself, I wasn't super enthused. But we did it. There was cutting and stapling of pages, coloring and stickers involved. Then came the traditions poster which included printing of pictures and more stickers, some handwriting (which is never fun with a 5 year old boy) and lots of tape. When he came home with the assignment to do a biography project I thought it couldn't be worse than that. He chose Ben Franklin, so we had to research and then I had to bring it down to a level that a kindergartner would understand. Then he had to fill out the papers Who? When? What is he well known for? and What were his dreams? Oh the writing! The poor guy was in agony trying to find the patience to write down information about a man he in no way even understood. I though that was bad, then came the Texas ABC book.
I am not a native to Texas. Oh if I've never said it before we live in Texas. I moved here as a teenager and met my husband in college, he is a native Texan and so when college was done we moved back home. I have as much Texas pride as the next Texas transplant, however, I have never fully understood the absolute love and obsession that most Texans have with their native state. In kindergarten there was an entire day dedicated to Texas Appreciation. A Texas Extravaganza if you will. The kids learned to do-si-do and do a very fine square dance. Poems about Texas were recited, songs were sung, including the ever popular Texas theme song. Chili (the state food) and Dr Pepper (invented in Texas) were served and each child was required to do a project about Texas. My boy chose to do an ABC book of Texas facts. His teacher is excellent and she gave us plenty of notice to give us time to work on said project. Unfortunately, my tendency to procrastinate reared its ugly head and before we knew it the project was due on Friday.
Of course it was also the week my husband was out of town. There was soccer practice, church obligations, and Stace was in town. So each night we plugged away at the project little by little. We had already make a list of our word for each page. A is for armadillo the small mammal of Texas. B is for bluebonnet, the state flower and so on. So for an hour my son and I sat at the computer and found pictures for each page of his book, then we printed them all out one day. Another day there was lots and lots of cutting. He started gluing the pictures in his book and then we had to come up with the sentences for each letter. After 1 1/2 hours we had the front page done and letters A-D. I was dying a slow death. So we decided that he would dictate to me and I would type out the letters and sentences hoping it would be faster. It did prove to go more quickly but of course as I was printing it somehow the format changed and it all printed in 8x10 format and it used up all my paper. (I am also not especially computer smart). There was more cutting and fitting the words together so they didn't hang off the end of the 5x7 book. Oh my.
The long and short of it is that Thursday night at 9 pm I was sitting alone at my kitchen table after soccer, snack, and bedtime gluing the words into the kindergarten ABC book. It was a time of reflection on what my life had become. Here I am, an educated woman, sitting alone in my kitchen with glue covered fingers. By that point I had already moved past irritated, frustrated, and annoyed. I landed smack dab in the middle of resigned. The next morning the boy in my house woke up and asked me if I was able to get his project finished. I showed him the completed book and he grinned the biggest 5 year old grin at me and said, "Wow mom this looks awesome." He gave me a hug and said thanks for helping me so much. Then he ran off to get dressed. I would do that stupid project everyday for a year to get that grin, hug, and thanks mom.
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