#12 of 15 Ways To Teach Your Child to Write Using Books -- You Are the Teacher

I spent 17 years in the classroom before I student taught in my Music Education program. Being a student is easy. You sit there, listen to the teacher a little, give a little thought, engage a little, regurgitate information in a way you think will be pleasing to you teacher. Being a teacher is hard work.

When I started student teaching, I got to the high school or middle school at 7:15 a.m. (it had been a 25 minute drive in traffic) taught till 3:30, sometimes changing schools midday, 2 days a week I drove from the suburbs into the city for a two hour rehearsal, then drove Chicago rush hour traffic back out to the suburbs. I then curled up in a chair to nap until my mother woke me for dinner after which I went to bed. It. Was. Exhausting.

I didn't even have many classes to teach. But, when you are the teacher, you have to be prepared. You have to be able to think on the fly when you are being asked questions. And, there is no checking out! Unlike being a student, where you can hope someone else will respond, as the teacher, you are on all the time.
All of this is to say, you've got a tough row to hoe, Mom. I get it. And this process of leading your children through literature is not a natural one. I had my mother's and my husband's teaching and help to get where I am after 25 years of reading with my children. So, I am going to give you some of their best quotes for when times are tough and you feel like you are being completely ineffectual:
"I don't know."
"Let's find out."