may i have the country of origin please?

E becomes another person when it's time to do homework. My usual pleasant, mild-mannered, sweet daughter turns into a sulky defiant crabbrat...especially when it's time to go over her spelling words for the week. She's supposed to read the word, spell it, then close her eyes and spell it again. 12 words, 3 bonus words. Then we do a quick (HA) quiz and go over what she got wrong. This should take about five minutes tops right? noooo, it's a painful whiney ordeal that lasts forEVER. (and it's not that she struggles, she hardly gets fewer than one or two words wrong...She just fights the process because she wants to play instead...I don't blame her, but I really thought that by MAY she would have accepted it as a necessary evil. No.)

Well today, we were about three words into the list and all I'm getting is grumbles, letters shouted at me defiantly, dirty looks etc. She's trying to bait me into a fight so she won't have to do the task at hand. I'm trying not to sink to her level. I just calmly say, "Spell the word without the attitude please." "E,lets just get this over with, then you can go outside."

She excuses herself to the bathroom (oldest stall tactic in the book). I sit exhausted from my day, forehead resting on the kitchen table awaiting the return of the 'tude.

SFX: flush, water in the sink, door opening, scraping of chair on linoleum, then a voice.

Awesome English Accent: "Okay mother I am ready for my next word."

I look up to see E sitting, smiling demurely at me.

I decide not to comment. And show her the next flash card.

Awesome English Accent: "wrapping. w-r-a-p-p-i-n-g wrapping.

I try to stifle my amusement, but she sees it. I still do not comment. She does one hell of an accent! I love it. Sounds just like the Narnia girl. And she proceeds to be this proper little English girl, dutifully spelling her words for the remainder of the list and taking her quiz and writing her missed words without complaint.

Awesome English Accent: "May I please go outside Mum?"

"Of course dear," I reply.

She's speaking normally again when she comes in for dinner.

I really hope the English girl shows up again tomorrow! Maybe I'll start homework time off with tea and crumpets instead of lemonade and goldfish crackers.