Monday May 11

Well, today was an interesting day. First of all, both Connor and I slept in today after our busy holiday weekend (with the four kids here), and we missed church completely. Then we found out that Maggie IS pregnant afterall. Last week when the vet did X-rays, he told me he can't see the bones of puppies until 45 days. I calculated her heat date, and said, yes she should be 50 days or more. I was wrong. Today he saw 3 (possibly 5) puppies on the X-ray. We are ecstatic, really,even though we need puppies like a hole in the head. As for school work, Connor spent most of the day on writing an essay. By 2:30p I had ripped up his essay and made him start over again entirely. After reading the Catholic Courier (featuring the new ordinations), Connor decided to write on why he wants to be a Priest. His essay was both formulaic and BORING. Some teachers love an organized, "I want to be a Priest for these three reasons" 5 paragraph essay; I do not. I tried to give him suggestions for improvement, but since he wasn't able to fix the essay in the editing stage, I simply ripped it up with great drama and a little bit of yelling. Again, I am not like his previous teachers who think (or at least pretend to think) that Connor is brilliant and wonderful. I ripped up the essay and told Connor that his essay lacked personality, voice and was boring. He needed to tell a story instead. After a break, during which Connor disassembled our old vacuum cleaner, he wrote a new essay that was a hundred-percent better. Of course, he also practiced Chinese and did his Math pages. Tomorrow, more writing exercises!!!