After school and after the Little Nies have raided the pantry,
or refrigerator for food, they start on their homework.
I sit at the table with them and help whoever I can whenever I can.
I am testing Ollie on his spelling words one minute,
then helping Gigs with his math.
In between that, I'm quizzing Claire on her Spanish vocabulary
(and I don't even speak Spanish), and Jane is asking me to time
her as she practices her Violin.
Lottie happily joins in the chaos and usually asks me to help her
do her "homework" too. Sometimes, her homework includes painting
or highlighting with markers an old book I gave her
(like I do with my scriptures).
Or sometimes I give her old magazines to cut up.
She uses a glue stick to paste the images on paper.
She can do that for hours.
But today, she slithered through the dining room chairs, pinching our feet
and just generally being sneaky.
After homework, I start dinner and set the table while the boys are
outside, roaming the hills and soaking in the last hours of sunlight.
The girls read or draw together
while talking about their day and all the wonderful
things they would be doing if they didn't have to go to school.
Then Lottie usually loses interest in her homework and sits on Claire's
lap, listening to her big sisters talk.
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