Tag: school

PS

For all those worried about Calvin and his self esteem — don’t be concerned. He’s fine. His teacher couldn’t be nicer. (From looking at the work samples Calvin was turning in, he’s much nicer and more understanding than I would be). See, in the background of this picture he’s yawning his way through his flashcards. Not embarrassed at all.

Part of the issue is he isn’t confident with his math facts (and has always been that way) so when they are doing work in class he takes WAY longer to do it than anyone else. Thus, the multiplication flashcard suggestion to help him pick up speed. Hopefully increased speed will equal increased confidence and he’ll leave behind that deer in headlights look when presented a problem to solve.

The picture of him with his head in his hands and Josh mid-eyeroll was CLASSIC Calvin and pretty much summed up what math has looked like at our house for the past 6 years. If something doesn’t come easily to him he gets frustrated and gives up instead of trying to figure it out. He’d rather avoid than fight. This meeting was more of a “we’re going to make sure you keep fighting” coaching session.

So don’t worry that his confidence has been bruised or anything — he still thinks he’s plenty awesome at lots of things (whether he is or not). We’re hoping that someday he’ll be able to say that he’s awesome at problem solving, attention to detail and seeing something through to completion. It’s not about the math, but the man we’re hoping he will become. 

Proud Mama

“You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have: The Facts of Life. The Facts of Life.” That song is stuck in my head right now (unfortunately taking up valuable brain space) because I often have “funny” stories about Carter related to school — not wanting to read or take tests, his homework frustrations, his non-love of academics, but today I have a fabulous Carter school story.

Two days ago Carter came home and said that his class was hosting an assembly and his teacher had picked him and another boy from his class for speaking parts. I was sure I misunderstood him because a child who just two months ago refused to read out loud if his brothers were in the room wouldn’t possibly be willing to read out loud in front of the entire 4th grade. “Not the 4th grade mom. The whole elementary school!” Say what now?

Sure enough. Today I got to go watch the child I feared would never read, read into a microphone to about 500 people.

The purpose of the assembly was to remind everyone to take care of the toys and playground equipment during recess. Since the 4th grade was hosting the assembly they brainstormed and came up with the points that they thought should be brought up during the assembly: take turns, use the slide properly, always bring a water bottle and hat, wait for the recess monitor before getting toys out of the bins, be careful on the swings, etc.

Then a staff member filmed them while they demonstrated these points on the playground, interviewed each other, etc. The format of the assembly was a news broadcast and Carter and his friend were to be the news anchormen who would introduce the video.

A full house: the bleachers were completely filled with kids from preschool through 5th grade


right before going onstage


the main event


Carter on the big screen (he said being in the video was the most embarrassing part).

He did a great job and I’m so proud of him. I was also really happy that he invited me to watch him perform. It felt like I was watching a miracle in action . . .

A very wise person recently reminded me that my children will go beyond where I take them. Ah yes, the reminder that I’m not in control of much in my life. Funny how I always seem to forget that. And the idea that in a few short years these small humans will be in charge of their own lives, earning their own money (hopefully), and having families of their own seems crazy to me in light of the fact that I still have to remind them to brush their teeth and flush the toilet.

Josh married me at 22 (I was older and wiser at 23). In 10 years Calvin will be 22. And yes, I had to remind him to brush his teeth this morning before he left for school. I also got to explain what a condom was because his friends were talking about 8th grade health class where they learn to put a condom on a banana. The kid can’t find his rugby jersey that is folded and put away on the shelf in his closet, but we think kids that age can learn to use a condom properly? Hilarious.

One area where my parents excelled was in the area of sex education. I never felt out of the loop, misinformed. or in the dark. In fact, I always felt more informed and more prepared than any of my friends. I remember being in High School and going to the assembly where they tried to scare us straight by showing us pictures of diseased private parts infected by various STDs (that was also where the banana/condom instruction took place). The photos were supposed to be shocking, but they were tame compared to the textbook my mom had at home from one of her nursing classes. Photo after photo of private parts that were cracking, swollen, ready to fall off, bug infested . . . as my mom was studying for her STD tests we would look through the book and pick out the most disgusting photos and worst looking diseases on each page. I guess my mom was homeschooling before it was cool.

Anyway, we’ve taken a similar “free access to information” approach in our family and Calvin has known all the details of the birds and the bees for a long time, but I guess when you do it that early, you don’t think to discuss birth control. So I explained that purpose of the “love glove” is to keep the sperm from getting to the egg and making a baby. And to keep people from catching diseases (too bad I didn’t have any photos to use as a visual aid). I was rewarded for my efforts with, “Gross.” Then the bus came and they were off.

I’m not going to be able to take him very far in 10 short years. Good thing he isn’t limited to that.

MAP

This week at school Carter has been doing MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing. It’s a computerized assessment that is done in schools in the US to see how students measure up in the areas of reading, writing and math. The thing that is special about the test is it is tailored to the individual student’s performance. If a student is answering the questions correctly, they move into harder areas of the test, but incorrect answers guide the student toward easier questions. Sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure for the testing world.

When Carter came home and said, “I got 186 percent on my MAP test,” I knew that was a bad sign. When Josh pointed out that 186 percent isn’t possible he said, “Oh yeah, I got 186 points . . . I think. Other people got like 200, but I don’t care.” Not caring about school stuff? Shocking.

Carter: “It was OK. Mostly boring though. I just read the top part and guessed at the answers. I had to go fast because they said if you didn’t finish you could come back and finish in the afternoon and I didn’t want to go back.”

Me: “Were you even trying?”

Carter: “Eh, it didn’t matter if I got them wrong because my teacher told me if you get them wrong, then the questions get easier. We did the writing test today and we have the reading test on Saturday.”

Me: “How do you do a writing test on the computer?”

Carter: “I don’t know.”  

Me: sigh

I went and looked up information on the MAP test — it looks like there is no writing test, just reading, science and math. I can’t wait to see these test results . . .

Baby girl loves books. I think Calvin was the same way as a baby, but it’s hard to remember that far back. I’m positive that Carter was not excited about books and all I remember about Caleb and books at this age is he liked taking them and throwing them in the bathtub. When it was full of water. I went 30 years without ever having to pay for a library book and once he came along I had to pay for 3 in 3 months. That stopped my trips to the library until he outgrew the baptizing books phase.

But I see a blooming bibliophile in my little girl and it makes me happy.

Carter is supposed to read for 30 minutes every night for homework. So what book did he check out from the library? The Guinness Book of World Records. I suspect he’s just looking at the pictures of the man with the longest fingernails or the most facial piercings (really gross, btw) instead of actually reading the text. I asked him to bring home something different so next time he checked out Ripley’s Believe It Or Not instead. :sigh: He also counted this time that he was “reading to Camille” as part of the 30 minutes. He is not a fan of the books.
***In the background you can hear Calvin showing off his superior spelling skills. Great reader, horrible speller. 

(The “Hallelujah” is because he finished his homework.)