Homework

Juan asked me on Friday, "Is it okay if I do homework?"

I said yes to him, asked, "Do you need me to set up the homework table? Need paper or pencils or anything?"

"I don't have homework yet."

"Um, then how are you going to do your homework?"

"You have to make some for me."

That's a new one. Hm. Our school isn't big on homework, they do occasionally assign some, but most of the time kids don't have any to do. I rarely have to make a homework area for them. We have a bin with supplies, pencils, calculators and such that's always out but the kids seem to find plenty of things to do besides homework.

So I asked Juan what kind of homework he wanted.
He considered a moment.

"Um, I think, math."

So after a couple questions trying to figure out where he is in his math lessons, I wrote him a couple small math problems on a piece of paper. He's a 2nd grader, but he's pretty good at math. He has recently learned to carry numbers and to borrow a bit.

So after he zipped through the few problems I gave him, I decided to give him a couple problems like the kind I used to write up for Matt when he was a little guy.

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It's not really any more difficult than the smaller problems of course, but it looks very impressive, especially to the smaller people.

Juan was utterly delighted.
He held the paper up in the air, waved it around and said, "Look at my math problem you guys!!"

Then he bent over the paper and worked the problem out.
He was happy when I checked his work and found no errors. He asked me for more problems, which I provided.

To make it more interesting I made a couple problems that he'd have to use borrowing to solve. He made one little error, I helped him correct it.

Amelia was interested in the math problems and asked for some of her own, so I made them for her, too. After she'd solved a couple, she went off to build a marble run with Hayden.

Juan did math for about 20 minutes, then asked me to set a timer for him to do his reading. I put 30 minutes on the timer for him, and he settled at a table with one of my books. Most of the kids really love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, I've picked up most of them at Goodwill.

He'd been reading for 15 minutes when his dad came to get him.
He didn't want to leave.
"Daa-add! I'm reading. I don't want to go home!"

His dad wasn't in the mood to hang around, he just said, "Juan, get your backpack, it's time to go home."

"But Dad! I don't have this book at home!"

I said, "Juan, you can borrow my book if you'd like to."
That's not new, I always say yes if a kid asks to borrow one of the books. Most of them are mine anyway, they don't belong to my employer. I almost always get them back, I think I've only lost two or three over the 10 years or so I've been allowing kids to take them home.

Juan didn't acknowledge me, just got up from the table, still reading. Closed the book on a finger, stopped at my table and grabbed his sheet of math problems and said, "Hey! Dad! Look at the math I did!"

He walked out with his father, holding my book in one hand and the math problems in the other, excitedly talking about knowing how to add great big numbers.

He's a funny kid. He actually loves doing busywork in school. He's so smart that it's not difficult for him to be a perfectionist when it comes to that stuff. I think it makes him feel competent and in charge when he handles schoolwork so easily.

But it was a first. I haven't ever had a kid ask me for homework before.