we'll get there

this week of home schooling has had days when being a patient at mulago might be slightly more appealing.  per mike and zoe's report, monday and tuesday hadn't gone too well, so i woke up ready to be flexible, to avoid conflict, to remain cool as a cucumber.  i even had a plan.  get the bad stuff out of the way first, but make it less bad and then the whole day will go better.  so we started with the dreaded copy work- only instead of copying the summary of her history reading, i chose to let her write out the song she'd been singing all morning repetitively, that old classic 'i lost my poor meatball'.  this was a good choice and instead of the 40 minutes of complaining i usually get, i had 20 minutes of singing and laughing.  but somehow it still went down hill and after about the fifth discussion about how 'learning is stupid' and me trying to convince her of it's importance - it ended in me deciding that i was done (for the day that is), that maybe 'teaching is stupid' at least when you have a student who doesn't want 'help' and doesn't care to learn (especially and perhaps only, when her parents are the teachers).  as i'm walking away, calmly down the hall, but inside cursing myself for jinxing us with said post, i hear her beginning to sing. then she goes into the kitchen and begins to peel a cucumber while in full song, thankfully not 'i lost my poor meatball'.  instead she is doing a talking therapy song, "ohh noo, i shouldn't have donnnneee that."  then i hear florence responding back in song- "eeeeaaat weeeel be okayyyyy."  like my own little operetta.  
thirty minutes later after apparently having practiced, she comes into the office in full song with hand gestures and to a made up tune, a little like 'elf',

"i'm sorryyyy mommyyyy.  i do want to leaaaaarn and i love you.  you can always help me-e-e-e-e, i won't mind.  i still neeeeed you, so please please keep on teaching me! i promise! i promise! i'll tryyyyyayayayay."

it was hysterical. 

i listened to the whole thing, loving it, and loving her.
then replied that it was lovely, and she was lovely and i love her but that actions speak louder than words, and songs, a saying which of course required an explanation.  one that i was happy to give. and thankfully, one that was happily received.  we'll get there.