Hardscrabble

Do you know what’s more challenging than finding a high-scoring play when saddled with a vowel-laden rack? Answer: Trying to teach Scrabble to a class full of sugar-laden second graders.

I’d volunteered to teach mini-courses at Olivia’s school on the basics of the world’s best board game. In fact, many of the members of my family were involved with the mini-course event: Beni was a lead organizer, my mom taught a class on kamishibai (Japanese paper theater), and my dad helped my mom with her first lesson and tried his best to quell my combustible second lesson.

Having Olivia in my class was AWESOME (62 points), and my dad was HELPFUL (65 points), but the experience was a little too CHAOTIC (64 points) for my liking.