Because school doesn't start until 9:15, they do conferences in the early mornings. So we hauled our sorry western-edge-of-the-time-zone asses out of bed at 7am in the full dark, had a mishap involving hot coffee and Dillo's ear, nearly lost mr. flea when he didn't realize we were in the car waiting for him and started wandering off down the street on foot, and got to school at 7:45. (I pointed out that last year, when I was working, we left the house at 7:20 every morning. Nobody believed me.)

Casper led her own teacher conference, following a script she'd prepared as a class exercise. She identified her strength as organization, and a weakness as spelling. She also noted she enjoys and is good at group work. She identified assignments she felt were her best work in all 4 subject areas, and assignments where she felt her performance showed a need for growth. She decided to focus on her math, noting her grade of 100% on a recent homework assignment made her feel good. She said she wanted to work on her basic math facts (i.e. the time tables) so she could succeed on future assignments like that.

Wow! I agreed with almost everything she said. She is doing very well at staying on top of her assignments and being responsible for getting work done, with almost no need for checking by me. I know that this issue is a big one for many 4th graders, and I feel like she's really stepped up in this area. She knows she's weak in spelling and basic math facts, and wants to work on them (!). We'll see how well she follows through, given that she hated the flash card times tables project of the summer and resisted it often.

I also met with all 4 of her teachers, and the school psychologist, last week, about assessment for possible interventions (the required precursor to any formal testing for a learning disability). Her reading teacher did an assessment and reported she was reading at a 3rd grade level. Her math teacher said she was able to do the work and understood concepts, but she was very slow. The teacher was already cutting down the number of problems she was giving Casper for in-class work, to allow her to have a reasonable chance of completing them in the allotted time; the example was she have Casper 3 problems, when some students were doing 20. (Whoa.) The Social Studies teacher, who has the most experience working with gifted kids, and who is Casper's favorite, noted that her test scores on file were very mixed - overall she passes, but she either excels at a section (scores "enrichment") or bombs it (scores "reteach.") They noted that she is compensating for her struggles remarkably well, that she works very hard, that she knows where she has trouble and asks for help, and that she is cheerful about it all, and does not seem to be ashamed. This made me really happy. The next step is some assessment by the school psychologist to try to pin down what exactly are the areas she has trouble with. (I've been doing reading and I am pretty sure she is dyslexic - probably mildly so, and really good at compensating for it. Among the things that make me think this are her troubles with learning to read, especially around inability to sound out words, coupled with problems memorizing times tables, which is a very common symptom of dyslexia apparently.)

Dillo's conference followed a more traditional format. The teacher said he was doing very well, and there were no areas that seemed to challenge him or that he needed to work on. The class is 12 K students and 6 1st graders, but she is mostly teaching at the first grade level. Dillo needs no help, and generally finishes in-class work with extra time, which he is allowed to use reading. She sat a new student next to him because Dillo is good at helping others figure out how to do their work. She mentioned she might start looking to pull some 2nd grade work out for Dillo and a couple of other kids who are at his level. I ran into the paraprofessional for his class yesterday (whom I like and suspect is actually a better teacher than his teacher), and she is working with the top readers, and wants to get them into reading some chapter books at the Magic Treehouse level. (I was in the school library showing her what we have.) He's also doing just fine socially; he's got good classroom behavior down but is friendly with the students and has a friend at every table. She recounted social interactions with the 2 boys Dillo has identified as his two best friends.

As a note about "gifted", Casper, who is pulling low Bs, is reading below grade level, and has other struggles, is the one who tested into gifted. Dillo, who is working well above grade level and has not yet had anything academic challenge him, took the same gifted test Casper did (CogAT) and while he scored high, did not qualify as gifted on the first go-round (they test 'em all in K, and re-test the ones that score high but don't qualify later on.) So there's that. I would like to see Dillo challenged, as I think Casper's struggles have overall been a boon to her, in terms of character development. We're talking about music lessons or sports as a way to introduce the idea of working hard for a result to Dillo, since right now school is not going to be able to provide that.

No, not Who.

I dragged the kids on bikes to the doctor together - about 2 miles there, then 2 miles back to school. They were okay with it, although Casper complained some, largely because she had a heavy backpack. Bad luck - the math textbook had come home. Dillo got his training wheels off a couple of weekends ago, so he is gung-ho for any biking, and Casper had a brand new (Craigslist) bike after her old bike got stolen off our porch yesterday. We got a bike rack for the car this weekend, so biking excursions are a thing now. (Except for me since I do not own a bike.)

Dillo had a full checkup and is 48" tall and 47.5 pounds, on the tall side and average weight for age. She said he looks skinny but it is perfectly fine. They did an eye chart and it seemed to me like he struggled a little bit, but they said he passed. Something to, uh, keep an eye on.

Both kids got flu mists.

Aug. 15
"Mom, would making a friend from earwax be over-weird?" (Dillo)
( Read more... )

The kids started school last Wednesday, at the newly-reopened public school that's a 10-minute walk from our house. Casper is in 4th grade at the gifted academy, and Dillo is in first grade as a regular civilian. So far, so good.

Dillo's class is actually mixed K-1; I think probably 1/3 to 1/2 of the kids are in 1 and the rest are K; they tested the incoming K kids and the ones who were more advanced were placed in this room. This could be good or bad (or both); Dillo has always been on the young end for his grade, and because of his shyness is undersocialized. Now he's one of the older kids, and could develop some maturity as a mentor to other kids, or have more social peers since they are younger. On the potential negative, academically he was already at the top end, so I worry that he won't be challenged enough if the teacher is also pitching to K students. I am not yet very impressed with his teacher; she seems nice, but I don't have much of an impression of her. She's only been teaching 3 years, after a career in HR, and is probably older than me.

At Casper's grade level, they have a homeroom and then rotate for the subjects: math, social studies, language arts, and science. Casper's homeroom is the math teacher, who is also older than me and just returning to the classroom after a few years as a master teacher/coach for developing teachers. I like her energy and air of cheery competence. Casper was very excited to find a couple of girls she knows from Girl Scouts in her class. We've just started getting homework in earnest, and there's something in each subject each night. It's assignments that would be manageable for someone who could settle down and focus on homework; as it is it's kind of a lot. Tuesdays, when Casper has dance class from 4-5:30 and soccer from 6:30-7:30, will be a problem. (We'll ditch soccer that night if we have to; we also don't have to leave for school until 8:45, which leaves some time to finish things in the morning.)

The content does seem more interesting and hands-on than last year. Tonight she's factoring numbers to 50 (only needs to do two factors per); writing definitions and providing examples of 4 terms in language (simile, metaphor, etc.); answering two questions about her favorite things to study in science; and doing a "quiz" of new vocabulary related to maps in social studies.

Today at pick-up time the science teacher - who is young and has a reputation as being very strict with the kids - came up to me and asked me if Casper had ever been diagnosed as dyslexic; apparently she noticed that Casper sometimes still reverses letters. I said no, that she's struggled with reading a lot but always came out as "at grade level" so was never formally evaluated, although I have my suspicions that she has some reading disability. She said they can certainly deal with kids who are both gifted and learning disabled, and I said I'd welcome starting a conversation about that. mr. flea is a little trepidatious - I think he fears labeling her - but I am mostly relieved and impressed that the teacher noticed an issue like this the first week of school, and brought it up with us. That never occurred in the 8 months Casper spent at her "excellent" elementary school last year; nor did it at the special reading camp for kids who struggle with reading at a local college's Education department this summer (where she was assessed as "reading at grade level" and so they focused on content. She GETS content; it's stuff like sounding out words and spelling she can't do.)

Interestingly, one thing I read today about dyslexic kids is they may have trouble memorizing math facts, which would certainly explain why despite drilling with flash cards all summer Casper has no more ability to recite her times tables than a kitten. (She can multiply; she just has to work it out every single time).

I have been unusually sedentary this summer (because of the heat, and sitting around the house unemployed), and I am about to turn 40, and I have begun to live out my genetic destiny and develop my mother's little belly. (I must state for the record that I have very little to complain about in re: genetic destiny.) So I was trying to eat more vegetables and not eat just because I'm bored, which is about as close as I have ever been to dieting. mr. flea has a little more weight he'd like to lose, and is at the point of wanting to do something about it. I suggested he should keep a record of what he eats, as a first step to seeing what might be ripe for change. So we downloaded food tracker - slash - calorie counter apps (he on his iPhone, me on the communal iPod touch). Today was my first day.

The first thing I notice is how hard it is to enter things when a lot of your food is made from scratch. I guesstimated on the pizza, for example - I picked a lowish calorie commercial frozen pizza, because we make our own and are sparing with the cheese. I built my own salad and salad dressing in the calorie counter, which is sort of tedious (2 cups of lettuce, 10 cherry tomatoes, 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, blah blah). I was thinking about baking tomorrow morning, but estimating the calories will be such a pain! Like, if there are 6 T of butter in 12 scones, then each scone has 1/2 T...

Overall, though, I guess I am not very surprised about what I'm learning, such as how many calories certain foods have, and such. I know how to eat well, is what the machine is telling me. Which is nice. I just need to do a little less of it, now that I am middle aged.

mr. flea immediately developed what I consider a potentially bad habit, of looking at his calorie count after dinner and saying, "ooh, I have 300 calories left, what can I eat?" While this could help limit his evening snacking (he seems to be good at following rules so far), what about those times when he doesn't actually WANT a snack, but feels like he needs to use up those calories? That seems kind of an unhealthy way to look at it.

I am doing better suddenly than I have been in a long time. Today I did work on my "hobby" projects, got the kids to help (a little) cleaning the living room, played a lot with Dillo as Casper was out at the neighbors' doing girly stuff all day, and cooked a proper dinner and dessert of raspberry fool and dark chocolate digestives, which we actually ate (well, most of us) at the table while having a sort of conversation.

Now I'm tired, but not depressed and mindlessly surfing the internet, they way I am mosy days at this hour.

(Now watch, tomorrow will be hell. Casper is going to work with mr. flea, a special program for employees' kids, and it's just me and Dillo.)

Sartorial Note: I did not let him leave the house in a sleeveless Spongegbob t-shirt and too-smart carpenter jeans.

Always:
Frozen smoothie fruit
Frozen blueberries
Frozen tater tots
Grapes
Watermelon
Cherries
Chocolate anything
Ice cream
Marshmallows
Steamed broccoli
Plain cooked noodles

Sometimes:
Hard boiled egg (whites only)
Sweet Italian sausages
Cooked plain chicken (must not be on the bone; must not have any spices, even pepper, added)
Hummus
Vanilla yogurt, yogurt tubes
Grilled American cheese sandwiches
Baguettes, ciabatta bread, white pita bread, plain flour tortillas, stoned wheat thin crackers
Boursin cheese, American cheese
Apples, bananas, corn on the cob, carrot sticks
Frozen peas, frozen corn
Noodles with parmesan cheese
Plain white basmati rice

Pretty Much Never:
Everything else

I am getting very tired of trying to keep this skinny kid alive and growing with these options; when does the picky phase end? It's harder in summer, because at least in winter he'll eat the pasta or rice or whatever we have with soups or stews.

I browse the free romance novels for Kindle at Amazon, and download the ones that might be likely; I've found a couple of good ones, but many are examples of How Life Is So Terrible Now That Nobody Can Write Any More. One I tried last night had the advantage of some amusing word choice errors:

1. Laura shut her eyes as tightly as she could when she heard Nathaniel's admonition of love.

2. "No one wants to dance with me anymore!" Claire pouted. "How can you say no to your old friend?"

Leander looked back at his sister, letting her catch the pained expression on his face. ... "Very well," he capsized. "Let's go."

The book also uses "alright" throughout. Note, this is not self-published or anything; a press put this out.

***

I've had a bad week; at home, not working, not doing anything much worthwhile and as a result very unhappy. Each day I've meant to go out and do something but I have not yet succeeded (today I will; there's a school even I am going to.) It's Memorial Day weekend, and we were going to stay here because of a Girl Scout event tomorrow, but that's been postponed, so we could go somewhere. But I want a vacation, not a "listen to the kids act up and bicker in new places" weekend. We went out to dinner last night and Dillo was a jerk. I am so ready for the kids to act more mature, but I don't seem to be able to manage to teach them to be so.

This afternoon Dillo asked if we could go the the Alps. I asked why he wanted to, and he said so he could follow dinosaur tracks and then dig at the end of them.

So, maybe after the Badlands. (I can't think of any famous fossilized dinosaur tracks in the Alps, but he seemed very sure.)