What I Learned from Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day I learned something very important. It has nothing to do with hearts or roses or love. I learned I'm not cut out to home school my daughters!
Last week I wanted to be "on top of things." Instead of leaving my girls' Valentines for school to the last minute, I tackled them early. Sixteen cards times four makes for a lot of work, so I spread it out over a few days. Fortunately, our preschool asks that you have  your kids only sign "from" and not address the "to" section. This makes it easier on the teachers to distribute the cards and easier on the parents helping their children sign the cards.
Tortilla went first. It took her awhile because she has so many letters in her name, but she was very attentive to detail. Roo went the next day. She was done in a flash. Cakes didn't even need my help. Sue Sue was another story. She has written her name billions of times with no problems. On this particular day, though, she kept writing one of her letters backward. I wrote her name for her and asked her if she saw the difference. "It's pretty much the same," she responded. No matter what I did, she treated it as a joke. She laughed when she wrote her name wrong. She laughed when I tried to help her. I was ready to stab one of the gift pencils that go with their cards through my eye.
I finally made her get down and practice her name on an Aquadoodle. She did it without problems. She came back to the table and... "oops, I wasn't paying attention (hysterical giggles)." I really wanted to just give up, but knew she had to finish those cards. We finally made it through her 16 cards and I vowed right then and there to never, ever home school my children... for their sanity and for mine. And if we're butting heads this much during preschool, I can only imagine the epic battles we'll have as she (and her sisters) get older!