Diorama Dilemma

The kids were off from school today and I kept thinking it was Saturday all day long. It was a long day, too, because it was a battle to get the boys to clean their room. It also took them hours to do it and Kara ended up helping them finish because my frustration level was just off the charts. I was also trying to get dinner made (I made my fabulous beef stew – yummy) between cleaning tasks.

After dinner I was helping Ty study for his vocabulary and spelling tests tomorrow and came across a project information sheet from Ty’s teacher. Guess what!! We have our first at-home school project. They’re studying different communities and Ty has to make a diorama or either an urban, suburban, or rural community. Want to know something else? I have no clue how to make a diorama. I know it gets made in a shoebox, of which I have none, but other than that, I’m totally lacking in diorama knowledge.

Tyler will have a blast doing it but I’m not sure I can help him. I don’t think I can handle the third-grade diorama dilemma. I guess I can Google instructions and help him gather supplies; but he’ll do the rest of the work himself. He’s a better artist than I am and he’s a lot more creative so I’ll have to ask him to plan what he wants and I’ll do my best to help. One thing I forgot to consider when having kids is that I’ll have to go through grade school, middle school and high school all over again.

I don’t recall ever making a diorama in grade school but I may have. I did lots of projects, some that I can remember, but this one is completely new to me. I want to know why they have to make a diorama anyway. Why can’t they just draw the community of choice rather than having to build it? If one of Ty’s classmates is aspiring to be an architect, engineer, or contractor, let that kid make a diorama; let the rest of them do something easier so we moms don’t have to stress over it.

Okay, I’m not really stressing because it’s not my project but I’m sure Ty will ask for my help at some point and then I might stress. I’m afraid that, if I try to help, I’ll screw up his project. I’m definitely going to make sure he gets it started over the weekend so he can take his time and not be rushed at the last minute. It’s not due until the 22nd but I’m not taking any chances. Maybe if he does a little bit every day he’ll get it done with time to spare. That’s where I come into the project; that I can handle, a little nudging every now and again.

It’s also a little exciting when I think about it. My Ty is in third grade and has his first real project. He’s such a big boy now. I know, he’s only nine but I can still remember his first day of Head Start. He was standing next to me the other day and looked really tall. I don’t want him to grow up because that means I’m getting older. But I guess I can’t control it so I’ll just go with the flow. At least I get to relive my childhood through him and I bet our diorama will be fabulous. I’ll post pictures of Ty’s great work after it’s done.

Until next time…peace to all.