Dustpan for Jesus

School was a trial this morning in all areas – language, Maths, reading and read-alouds! The boys had to write a few sentences describing how “the sun on your skin feels like a good back rub”. I thought the assignment was a bit vague, and they really struggled. This I can deal with. What irks me is Caleb’s attitude to things that are difficult for him – he gives up straight away and it’s very difficult to even get him to try. Then in Maths we had to deal with time – hours and half hours are fine for them, but they still battle with the ‘quarter to’. I explained it again for the umpteenth time, but of course had to keep reminding the boys to listen and pay attention. Then it was a fight over who got to read first, and despite playing ching-chong-cha, there were still tears from Aaron who had to read second. During the reading of the missionary story, which was a touching story about a missionary in South Africa and a little black boy who got saved and renamed himself ‘dustpan’ because he wanted to carry out the dirt (sin) from the lives of his family and friends, Caleb just laughed about the name and couldn’t get past that. I got so fed up eventually that I went grocery shopping. Aaron came to help. I was starving by this time though as it was lunch time but we didn’t have any bread anyway, so it was tough going! After lunch we had to finish school, which was slightly better than the morning section, then I started with supper preparations, as I knew I would run late if I left it all until after Pam had left. I was just finishing off when she arrived, and we played guitar for an hour before looking at the holiday bible club stuff. She also comes prepared with interesting Maths goodies for the boys – today she did paper folding to produce a kite. She is a qualified Maths teacher, and is finding ways of helping me make Maths more fun for the boys.