We Resorted To Bribery

Homework with eighteen children is grueling. There is no other word to describe it. Yesterday the first graders had twenty pages. Sisi worked as hard as could from 3:00 until after 5:30, took a quick shower and then finished it. Reina worked hard from 3:00 until almost 6:00, took a not so quick shower and began working again. By 7:00, she was in tears and did not wanted to work anymore. I think she stayed up until 9:00 and was hard at it by 6:00 this morning. Katty played around and didn't get near as much as Reina did. She was also up late last night and early this morning. They both managed to finally get it done.

When we got home from school today, Katty told Elvia she had a lot of homework again and started crying before she even started on the homework. We began to check book bags and discovered the first graders had 23 pages. The second graders also had a lot of homework. All the staff discussed this and we just decided no naps. No one was excited about no naps; most were pretty somber.

We were well into homework by 2:00. Sisi had done a lot of hers at school and it didn't take long for her to finish. Reina worked hard for five pages and began to tire. Katty played around. Again. Two hours later, Katty had finished two pages. Do the math, you can see this is going to take all night and into tomorrow.

Someone else was working with the second and third graders. She was not having any better luck than I was. Dilma came on duty at 3:30 and began working with some of the kids. By 4:00, we were resorting to bribery. When you finish 5 pages, you get a piece of gum. When you finish two more pages, you get a piece of gum. It was different for each child. The promise of a piece of gum after five pages excited Katty for about a page and a half. That put us to 3 1/2 pages at 4:30. I was supposed to get off at 5:00 and I wanted to stay with Katty until she got her gum. I was holding it in front of her face. When she finished the fourth page, she shut down. I left at 5:15 and she still had over half of that fifth page. I left the gum with Dilma. It is going to be a long night for those on duty.

I had planned to go to the grocery store when I got off. I walked down here, took three advil and a coke and put on my house shoes. I wasn't going anywhere.

I am already wondering what we can bribe them with tomorrow afternoon.

Terri