Apples for homework

Today is Johnny Appleseed day. Seven years ago today I was in Mexico doing my student teaching. I was in the town of Colonia Juaréz, a town with lots of apple and peach orchards. One of my students brought apples for me and the other student teachers almost weekly. And they were so good. I had a peach bigger than my fist there once.

I was teaching the third and fourth graders. On Johnny Appleseed day I told them part of their homework that night was to go home and eat an apple.

The town was small, so I went to church with my kids, went to Enrichment with their moms, and saw them on the streets after school. One of my third graders lived in the house behind where one of the student teachers was living while we were there. Her husband, Jay, saw him on the street that evening eating an apple. He was on his way to scouts. He complained to Jay that he had to eat the apple for homework.

And here I thought I’d assigned some good homework. It’s better than studying spelling!