I’m an educated woman, I have a college degree, but I’m here to tell you that unless my teenagers are reading “The Scarlet Letter”
or doing anything that an old English major/aging cheerleader/columnist for the high school newspaper might be able to help with–I’m pretty darn lame. Somewhere around mid-middle school, my eyes glazed over and it became apparent to everyone that if it had to do with science, math, languages (I took German and no one else in this house is taking that), and more than basic traveler’s geography–I was so not the woman for the job. That’s not to say I didn’t try to hang on to my Homework Helper badge, but time, and my children’s educated brains passed me by.
Fortunately, I can still help with papers and speeches and deciphering the major motifs and themes of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” That helps me feel as though I have at least something to offer. But, then again, in these teen years, just HOW to offer that helps becomes a precarious tightrope of carefully chosen words and tact–”Of course, I think you’ve done a marvelous job on that speech, but may I just make the tiniest of suggestions and you can take it or leave it?”
And, don’t think my kids haven’t asked me what’s the point of a college education if I can’t do basic algebra or remember the periodic table of elements! They have, and, as my eldest daughter says, “I’m going to get my college degree in something useful.” Which, I think, translates into anything having to do with reading and writing is not nearly as useful as formulas and equations.
So, homework has become just too darn hard for the likes of me. Good thing there are teachers and tutors and peers and all sorts of online resources. (The hardback set of encyclopedias that got me through public school is also out, you may have heard.) And, to be honest, once a mom gets over the pain of being put out to homework pasture and feeling completely obsolete, there’s something quite reassuring about seeing your kids get more educated that you–isn’t that how things are supposed to happen? Isn’t that progress? Besides, I’ve got plenty of other things to worry about that they haven’t even fathomed yet…
See Also: Finals Week and Homework Overload