Study, study, study . . .

One constant mantra in China is the emphasis on education. Or maybe it's the emphasis on school . . . which means emphasis on memorization . . . which means emphasis on doing homework . . . lots and lots of homework!

My kids have been on winter break since January 9. They are loaded with homework. I don't complain too much about it as every other child in the nation has the same workload . . . my kids aren't any different. (One way to truly assimilate into a community is to have your kids in local schools.)

One positive thing about having homework is that it keeps their thinking skills sharp. Little time is spent in review during that first week back in school. However, too much of a good thing is not always a good thing! (Think about adding sugar to a recipe . . . sugar makes it taste good, but too much sugar? NOT a good idea!)

Workbooks, daily math, daily Chinese, daily English, etc. make up the requirements for the holiday homework. While they are out of school for about six weeks, they are expected to do homework for about 30 days. Keeping a diary is a requirement, as well as maintaining a "good words" list (both Chinese and English). Of course, managing all this homework teaches time management skills, etc., but some kids are just more hard-headed than others in dealing with this.

My son is one of those hard-headed kids! I helped him map out what he needs to do on a daily basis to get his homework done. I tell you . . . this kid will take a one hour task and make it last all day long! It literally has taken him seven hours to do one page of math. It hasn't sunk into his head that doing it right the first time is the way to be finished. It's a battle for control . . . he's trying to wear us down to where we'll say, "It's okay, you don't have to do it," but we haven't caved yet.

But everything in me wants to give up. It's absolutely and completely exhausting to keep fighting every day. It's only by God's grace that we are on this parenting journey, and we depend upon that grace to make it through each day.

I'm beginning to understand why so many Chinese parents send their kids to Saturday classes. Part of it is for them to get ahead, but most of me thinks it's to get them out of the house! :) While we don't follow this practice, there are times that I definitely want to.

God's grace . . . amazing grace. How humbling it is when you are a parent!