One-on-One Time

Throughout the week I spend a half an hour of one-on-one time with each of our kids, from Ruth on up. Mondays are for Ruth and Angie; Tuesdays include Caleb and Diana; Wednesdays are Martha (plus bathtime); Thursdays are Josiah and Martita; and Fridays are for Fidel and Jocelin. The younger kids get their half hour right after dinner and the older kids spend it with me after the others have gone to bed.

The kids choose what they want to do with me during their half an hour. Activities can range from soccer to chess and from Barbies to Skip-Bo.

Since Ruth turned four years old a couple of weeks ago, I have started spending specific one-on-one time with her also. So, today she choose to play school. Despite the fact that I was at school from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., she and I went back up to school after dinner, but now SHE was the teacher! She invited Caleb along, so he and I sat on the student side of my desk (where the kids sit when they have questions or need my help) and Ruth sat where I normally sit during a school day. We had a blast!




It was hilarious to be a part of her role play! It was incredible (scary?) the number of things that she tried to do just like Ashleigh and I do during a school day. (Ashleigh is Ruth's preschool teacher.)


Here's a sampling of Ruth's comments as she "taught" Caleb and I:

• First, she gave Caleb and I paper and pencil and we had to copy a flower, just like hers. It had to be a circle, with petals, a stem, one leaf, water at the bottom, two eyes, a smile and a tongue sticking out! When I asked her if I had done a good enough job to earn a sticker, she got out the stickers and stuck it right on top of the picture Caleb had drawn. He and I looked at each other because covering up the picture with the sticker seemed a little strange to us. Then Ashleigh walked in and I told her about the sticker situation and she started to laugh and brought me one of Ruth's preschool papers. During preschool, Ashleigh plays "Bingo" with the kids and has them put stickers on top of pictures to cover up the spaces that she calls out. Hence, the logic behind covering up the picture with the sticker! When Ruth gets a sticker it is to put ON TOP of the picture!


• Then she got out the scissors and we had to cut the paper into pieces! (She and Bernabe do lots of cutting with Ashleigh in preschool.)


• A few minutes later, Caleb was not cooperating and Ruth promptly turned and in her bossiest voice pronounced: "Here you do what I tell you!" (Oops, have those words come out of my mouth? I think Josiah got to hear those just today!)


• Soon, Ruth got out the flash cards. (We use lots of flash cards for English vocabulary, math facts, etc, just ask Lucy who spends several hours a day doing flash cards with all of the kids!) Well, Ruth pulled out some multiplication cards, showed the top one to me, pointed to the number three and asked: "What animal does three say?" Now, that question may seem illogical, but our reading curriculum and English curriculum use animals to represent each of the phonetic sounds. So, as the kids learn to read, if they can't remember what sound a letter makes we ask: "What animal does this letter read?" They say the animal name, which then reminds them of the letter sound. So, not yet putting this all together and not fully understanding Ruth's question, I responded, "Three." "No," she said. "What animal does three say?" I said, "Tiger...t, t, t." (We were speaking in Spanish so "tres" makes the "t" sound.) "Yes!", she said and went to the next flashcard. "What animal does four (cuatro) say?" "Canguro (Kangaroo)", I obediently answered. "C, c, c, canguro!" Needless to say, my teacher Ruth was very proud of me for answering correctly so quickly!

• A little while into our playtime, Ashleigh walked into the school area and began asking around about who had drank part of her Coke! She had left her bottle of Coke on her preschool bookshelf and it was now uncapped and partially empy! Ruth, with no qualms or embarassment said: "I did!" Ashleigh and I looked at each other with a puzzled look in our faces and then burst out laughing as we both realized that the Coke drinking was part of fulfilling her teaching role! Several times a week Ashleigh or I will drink a Coke to get us through that afternoon slump, so, in Ruth's estimation, if you are going to be a teacher you need to drink Coke! (Another oops?!)


• However, the following situation made me laugh the most. As I mentioned, we started out our time sitting at my desk. Since my desk is located near a sky light, there is not a light in the ceiling near my desk because during the daytime the sky light provides all the necessary lighting, while there are regular ceiling lights throughout the rest of the schoolroom. It was already dark outside as we spent our time together, so the area around my desk was quite dim. A few minutes into our playtime Ruth announced, "Let's move over to Caleb's office (his work area for regular school) because this dark scares me." We had to move our "class" because the teacher was afraid of the dark! (Joanna reminded me that we, as Christians, should also flee from the darkness and into the light - God's light! Wow! What you can't learn from a four year old and thirteen year old!)

Sometimes it is really hard for me to carve out the time for the kids because I am tired, or would rather get some more work done or because Barbies or soccer do not naturally appeal to me. But, I cannot express how meaningful this time is for the kids our how important it is to my parenting them and connecting with them. So, next week I just might have to go to "school" again!

In Jesus' school of life,

Julie