like herding cats

Ever hear the phrase?

Sounds like a tiring task doesn't it? I imagine that cats would be difficult to herd. For people anyway - Lucy Mercer, famous American cat wrangler, is pretty good at it. Although when she runs into a herd, the cats scatter, and never have I seen more than a few at a time bayed up or treed.

Today, I took my seventh graders to the computer lab to type poems and then to log in to a new study program that we are just starting. And I swear to you, tonight I feel as if I've been beaten with a stick, tied behind a truck and drug through a pasture full of cow paddies. I'm tired!

I love, love, love my job. So many of the blogs I read are written by homeschooling moms - so much so, that sometimes I questions whether I am a horrible mom because I didn't homeschool my own kids. But then I remember that for at least part of their school years, I did homeschool them - along with about 50-60 of their closest friends and not at my house. But I read some of the great posts of homeschooling moms, and I think "How lucky am I that I get to experience that same thing with my students. I wish she could come to my classroom for a day."

But on days that involve computers and new tasks and 50 kids spread over 3 class periods - well, I have to really look for a reminder of why I love it. And I must clarify, it's not the kids that give me the headache; it is the technology issues that we face. Forgotten passwords that require an administrator to reset (I'm not an administrator and neither is anyone near the computer lab). Computers that don't work. Computers that work fine but are missing the needed program for today's task. Desktop screens that don't look the same and require individual instructions. Printer settings that don't send anything to the actual printer in the room. See how those cats scatter? And just when I'd get one bayed; another would break loose from the pack.

And tonight I don't want to read any posts by homeschoolers that had a perfect day. Please only post stories of tremendous failures, gigantic messes, and field trips gone wrong.

Or I might just quit my job and beginning homeschooling - my boys have diplomas already, so I think it would be a pretty easy job.