While we were gone the kids had fun too with my niece Skylar Ashley who flew in to stay with our children while we were on an Alaskan cruise. She was kind enough to send me some stories to share with you. Her first day she had quite the scare. Day 2 she was terrorized by two small boys. Day 3 was the run in with her mother over what my kids were watching. I love the story she is sharing today. It’s so fun to see my kids through other people’s eyes.
Monday went smoothly with lots of TV and movies and games. We were having so much fun, I didn’t realize until that night… Faith hadn’t finished her homework! And she had class the next day! I sent all the kids to bed early and pulled her and all her books downstairs. We sat down, and slowly but surely, we started writing her papers with little baby steps. She hardly talked. She’d hardly talked to me since her parents left. So I talked. Lots and lots and questions. “What do we do now?” “What next?” “Oh this is my favorite!” “Oh well this is what I think, what about you?” After about an hour, I got her engaged. We wrote a whole paper about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, then on to science!
Admittedly, I’m the worst at keeping kids on track with their homework. If they start up conversation, I’m all there. As easily distracted as Faith admitted she was. But we had fun. Laughing about the oddities of germs, the ins and outs of C.S. Leiws, and the importance of art in 7th grade science books. By the end of the night, we were both exhausted. It was well past one in the morning, and we were way too tired to be productive. But we finished!
She hugged me goodnight and said “Ashley, this is the best time doing home work I’ve ever had! Dad helps me sometimes, but he just makes me work. We don’t talk.” I wasn’t sure whether to be happy she had fun, or sad I fail at productivity… But I was glad we’d been able to turn a chore into a good time!

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