Somehow we've stealthily crept right into the middle of the school year, (doesn't that make us sound like...Scholastic Ninjas, or something?) so it seems like an opportune time for an informal Family Report Card:
--At the halfway point of 3rd grade, Riley seems to have adapted to the increased demands of his daily academic challenges. I guess he's finally resigned himself to accepting the fact that when you're smart, they give you the more advanced and difficult assignments. (Tough it out, kid, this will be the story of your life for the next decade or so...or is that too much "cold hard facts" and not enough "parentally nurturing"? I'd better work on that...) And he's come up with his own coping strategy that seems to be helping: when he's particularly concerned about a specific issue, he brings it up at bedtime so we can "talk it through" in that quiet, peaceful time when it's just him and me and I'm tucking him under his covers. He'll describe something along the lines of “feeling time-pressured while he's trying to complete his Reading Questions”, or “not fully understanding the directions for his Math Worksheets”. Then we'll brainstorm ways he can manage these classroom dilemmas so that he feels more empowered and successful. I swear it's kind of like our own little Bedtime Business Meeting, with the agenda, and the discussion, and the problem-solving. But apparently it's working, because after one of our conversations he calmed down, implemented the technique we'd identified as the appropriate solution (in this case, the simple-but-effective "ask your teacher for clarification" method), and reported back after school that not only had it gotten good results, but his teacher had "thanked him for asking the question!" Whew, I'm finding 3rd grade to be SOOO much rougher this time around...
--Then there's Derek...who recently underwent Midterm Exams for the first time in his life. 6th grade? Really? I may not remember my own Middle School years with absolute clarity, but I'm pretty doggone sure I didn't have Exams. (Regular old Unit Tests, sure, but not the big-time Upper-Case-Exams!) In terms of WHY they administer Midterms at this point in one's school life, my only conjecture is that maybe they're preparing the students for the High School model...which is now based on College Semesters, meaning classes run from September to January, then wrap up and change to a whole new schedule for the second half of the year. But in Middle School, they just continue with the same schedule through June, so I’m guessing this is just practice torture—I mean “valuable academic experience”. They arrange it like a real Exam Schedule, with 2-hour slots for each class. However, Derek reported that the actual tests themselves took anywhere from 15 minutes (P.E.) to an hour (Social Studies), after which they chatted with their friends, watched a movie...or played basketball. But before I disparage the whole process as being a pointless waste of time and brain-power, I did take a peek at some of Derek's Study Guides to educate myself as to just what he would be required to know...and it was eye-opening, let me tell you. For example, in Social Studies, he had to be able to discuss topics such as: the geography and government of Ancient Greece; the influence of the Etruscans on the Roman Empire; the strengths and weaknesses of Alexander the Great; and the Punic Wars. A sample question from his English Study Guide reads: "Write a well-developed paragraph explaining how the author uses word choice and imagery to create tone in this poem. Use information from the text to support your response." Can I possibly express how elated I am that this is not my job to learn this stuff? Holy Advanced Topics, Batman! At least in P.E., one of the questions was: "What's the job of the Quarterback?" Even I could answer that one!
So there you have it. I feel like I should really go...pick up a textbook and take some notes, or something. If I'm going to keep up with my children, I've clearly got some studying to do! Jeez, I hope there's not a Mom Test coming up anytime soon...
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