Sunday, July 08, 2007

I'm a Procrastinating, Insecure Dunce. But Next Time I Won't Be.

Once again, I forgot that I had the Sunday School today until Saturday evening. And I didn't have the handy book of lesson tips that go with the lectionary readings because we didn't go to church last week (because T. was sick). I chose the reading from Galatians 6:1-10, which is mostly about being kind, not judging, helping others, etc., but I couldn't think of Any cute, easy crafts involving glue sticks and crayons which would both entertain and provide the children with a deeper understanding of the text. I'm not crafty at the best of times, and especially not at 11:30 at night, when Ed started saying (with the best intentions, I know) that I should just "wing it." "Winging it" is not one of my talents.

A kind person on the WTM board did answer my desperate query there with the suggestion that she had done this lesson by having the children draw comic strips of themselves doing something kind. That sounded good, and I have blank comic strips on hand, thanks to Dy's (at Classic Adventures) good idea about comic strip narrations. Before staggering to bed, I printed out the verses from Galatians and decided what we would discuss, got my comic pages together, and found stories about Mother Teresa and Father Flanagan in The Children's Treasury of Virtues. Nothing brilliant, but something adequate to fill 20 minutes.

Well, when it came time for the children to march off to Sunday School (during the sermon), another mom in the SS rotation marched with us. I asked what was up, and she said she was going to help me. Then she allowed as how she had been supposed to do Sunday School last week, but they had pre-empted her with something else. So she had last week's material. Being the complete, total, and utter weenie that I am, I told her that I had scrambled for a plan last night and hadn't come up with anything wonderful. I told her that if she had some good stuff, that would be great, and she was welcome to do the class. (She is a school art teacher, so I was filled with deference for her professional abilities.) She was not pushy, and I have only myself to blame, but it turns out that I am just as good at planning a short Sunday School program as a professional art teacher. Actually (and this is the part that makes me feel really stupid), mine was better. She told the children, briefly, about the legend of the dogwood, and then had them draw a dogwood cross. That was it. It was okay, but it didn't incorporate any of the Bible readings, there was no discussion, and my comic strips would have been more fun than her dogwood crosses. Next time, I'll have more confidence in my stuff.


I had planned to mow the lawn, weed whack, and finish grouting today, as well as doing T.'s attendance records for last year (for the file), ordering next year's school books, and doing all the laundry. Instead, we went to our waterfall rock slide and then for ice cream. It was a lot more fun than my plan would have been. I studied Dowling's Latin noun cases (again, thank you Dy!) while the kids swam, so that counts as being a little productive (by my weird standards, at least), and I did mow after we got home. It was a good day.


*And, we got the cat door installed in the door to the basement. So Harry will be able to have his cat stuff down there. Yay!
(We only brought One snow board to the water slide. And it was K.'s. We will remember to bring both or neither in the future.)

5 comments:

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

I liked your afternoon procrastination the best!

Who needs attendance records when you can play it that lovely, cool-looking water!

And now you do have a Sunday School lesson all ready for the next time you procrastinate!

Dy said...

What a fantastic day! You really should be more confident in your abilities. After all, you're a pro, too. If we lived in the Victorian era, we'd be considered "private tutors" and get paid the big bucks. Well, the big bucks for... you know, servants.

OK, then, that analogy just fell apart like a wet cookie. But you get my drift - you're good at this, and your heart is in it, even if you do forget when it's coming up. Keep up the good work! And I love the idea you had.

I'm glad the Latin info helped. Once I got going a bit, and it started to actually take form in my head (instead of the disorienting fog that was previously settled in there), I got really excited about it. I mean, irrationally excited, hopping about whispering, "I get it! I get it! I get it!" Can't wait for you to get that feeling, too.

Dy

Melora said...

Elisheva,
I'll be the first to admit that the kids' plan was much more fun than mine. Of course, now my pile of laundry is even Higher, but such is life.
The really sad thing about the Sunday School lesson is that the reading that I planned for won't come around again for another three years. And hers wasn't tied in to the cycle of Bible readings and could have been used Any time.

Wisteria said...

I've been that insecure procrastinator many times. Rarely do you get the opportunity to see others playing your role. What a wonderful gift to know that your lessons are better than the more confident art teacher.

Melora said...

Dy,
In Victorian times, I'd have been a mousy, underpaid governess. Ugh! I usually assume that other people do a better job with things than I do, but it is nice to be wrong occasionally.
I'm cautiously excited about the Latin. T. thought I'd flipped out today when I started writing our Prima Latina stuff out ten times, and my hand cramps, so there will be a pretty Huge learning curve.

Wisteria,
It Was a confidence booster to see another mom, who I figured would do something really impressive, at work. Now that I think about it, that sort of makes the experience worthwhile!