I was mentioning to Rowdy the other day that I was sad that I didn't have a new calling. He said, "But you're a new mom! That's your most important job right now."

Well...it's not like I have a neonate that's keeping me up at night and needing me every minute. But there are still some things that we're adjusting to. Take last night, for instance. We dropped K off at the church for the YM/YW fifteen minutes early, and as we drove away, R said, "Are we bad parents for dropping him off so early?" It was like the first time parents feeling bad about getting a babysitter.

As part of his "To Do" list today, I had K read the first three chapters of his Biology textbook, with the thought that we could discuss it when I got home from work. You know, mitosis, meiosis, cell membrane, active transport. I'm all over that. Well, the textbook's layout is just a bunch of activities. No facts, no information, just "Break into small groups and discuss how humans are different from other creatures", and "Try to use a key without using your thumb. How do humans' thumbs differ from other primates'?" I am paraphrasing, but beyond that, not making it up.

Parents with high-school-age children: is this typical for textbooks these days?