Homeschooling
I have the day off work today. Rather than sit in the study on my own all day, I'm at the dining table with my daughters, who are pretending to do school work. I'm not entirely sure if I'm keeping an eye on them, or if I'm keeping them company.
Miss 16 is on study leave for her exams, which are now not happening. Therefore she finds herself in the curious position of being encouraged to find a project of her own choosing to occupy her mind for the next few weeks. She seems to have chosen being the boss of her younger sister as her primary project, and is furious that I have put the brakes on that.
They survived sitting next to each other at the dining table for perhaps five minutes before the interrogation started – informing her sister that she didn't think she was putting the appropriate amount of effort into her online lessons. After I suggested that perhaps she should concentrate on what she was doing, and leave her sister alone, she slammed her book shut, stood up, and stamped up the stairs to her room – no doubt muttering bad spells under her breath.
My other half hasn't appeared yet. I'm pretty sure Miss 16 has set of in search of her to tell all manner of tall stories about her mistreatment. The kids still haven't grasped the concept that parents TALK to each other, and that any attempted subterfuge is almost entirely pointless.
My eldest has now joined us at the table. She's impressing me enormously at the moment – she has arrived with her web development book and her laptop, and is setting out on a voyage of discovery with 'cascading style sheets' today. I've asked her to work through the book, and use me when she gets stuck, rather than the other way around – I imagine the book is far more structured than anything I might come up with (although I often teach professionals this stuff, my opening line is usually 'I'm not a teacher, but I know far more about this particular subject than any teacher normally would').
Anyway.
I think it's probably coffee o'clock.