A Family Tree

I’m pretty hands off when it comes to Colin’s schoolwork.  I figure he’s a pretty bright kid, so he doesn’t need much help from me.  With the Mandarin half of his studies, I can’t help him with that anyway.  I tell myself I’m trying to foster a self-motivated and independent student, but I admit, I’m probably just too lazy to keep up with his work.  So when this past week’s assignment of a family tree required help from me, I was not pleased.  I don’t like Colin’s schoolwork to impose on my personal free time.  But this past week, it did, as I searched through photo archives and scanned photos for his family tree poster board.  I also felt the need to oversee his work.  One thing I’ve noticed is that when unsupervised, Colin can get very sloppy.  It’s not that he can’t write neatly, but most of the time, he doesn’t feel like it.  I’ve noticed a similar issue with his math homework.  It’s not that he can’t do the math, but he’s pretty careless about the answers he writes down.  Certainly, reviewing his work is a foreign concept for him.  Anyway, I think the family tree, with tight supervision, turned out pretty nicely, and he practiced his presentation with us last night.  He’s not the most dynamic public speaker, but I think he’ll do okay anyway.  As for his future homework assignments, I think I’ll probably keep a closer eye on his work.  Instead of always trying to get away with doing as little as possible, I think I need to teach Colin about not just doing the work, but doing it well.  Write neater.  Draw straighter lines.  Review your answers.  This family tree assignment might just have awakened the overbearing parenting monster in me.  Time for me to go buy a nice big pack of erasers.

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