I'm not her teacher, I'm her mom. My daughter has made this clear over the last year.
Our schools shut down on Friday, March 13, 2020. On Monday, March 16th I had lesson plans and a home learning schedule ready to go (yes, type A). I quickly slipped back into my teacher pants. This time instead of twenty 3rd graders, I had one 1st grader. But I knew it was going to be the toughest class I’d ever taught.
Her world had just been stripped out from her with little explanation. I was determined to keep things as "normal" and consistent as possible given the situation we (all) were in.
I was juggling my day job which consists of meetings back to back each hour, but I was determined to fill the teacher void in my 7 year old's life. (I will not go into the details on why there was a void, absolutely no teacher interaction for 7 weeks...yep). I wanted her to continue to love school. We set up tickets & rewards, phonics & math time, recess, science, PE, art.
She was excited to play school. Until she realized I wasn't playing. I was serious. Don't get me wrong, we had a ton of fun. We did projects and 'field trips' and nature walks, but I was still pretty serious when it came to reading instruction. She was there- ready to read. She was reading like a 1st grader should. Sounding out words. I knew I needed to keep the momentum going. But, then as quickly as we had started, it quickly ended. She was done.
She was done with reading. She was done with school. She was done with her teacher- me.
I don't blame her. It was all super overwhelming. My attempt to keep her in that school routine was great at first, but then it got old. She wanted her mommy back, full-time, 100%.
We both learned so much from this experience. Now, when I want to teach her the rules to her spelling words, I ask first. Can I teach you something? If she says yes, then my teacher hat goes on, if she says no, she gets a Mommy hug.
It’s been a great lesson and reminder to us all. They need their mommies. My role in my daughter's life will always be Mom, because that is how she defines me and exactly what she deserves.