Put A Fork In It

Yesterday Kid's teacher shamed her during her spelling test.

She said something to the effect of...

"You have to start doing your tests faster. In the older grades, if you aren't done on time, they mark all of your answers wrong."

Um... okay.

Number one, I've gone through quite a bit of schooling myself and have never found that to be true.

Number two, SHE HAS TEST ANXIETY, and I'm pretty sure that didn't help.

Thanks for making this an even bigger issue.

So it came as no surprise that in the end she got 30% wrong because she was so nervous.

She messed up words she knew with 100% confidence at home.

This is just not the right teacher, not the right setting, and not the right curriculum for her.

Despite the teacher making comments all year to her, do you think she has ever once contacted us to talk about Kid's timing issues?

No.

She picks her apart in the classroom without doing anything to help her succeed.

The fact that, unlike all of the other kids in the class, Kid has never taken a test, nor needed to spell correctly before this year has never been considered. Frankly, she is doing pretty well considering the drastic change in curriculum.

I have gone in after school FOUR TIMES this month asking for her to please send Kid's desk work home at night so we could get it done, instead of letting it pile up and overwhelm her.

Has she?

No.

When I was in the classroom two weeks ago, the teacher actually said to the kids "You know what to do... multitask."

What?!

No wonder Kid is having a hard to time getting her desk work done.

This is second grade.

But like I said, despite going in and asking her to send work home because falling behind was stressing Kid out, to which she responded "Oh yeah, she does seem to get worried."***, I'd like to point out that the teacher HAS NEVER once contacted us to say Kid has difficulty completing her work. All of the work that comes home has stickers and smile faces. The only reason I know about it is because the pile of unfinished work makes Kid so upset she tells me about it.

Conferences are on Monday. How much do you want to bet she doesn't mention anything about Kid's difficulties?





*** which is a serious problem in and of itself, since I told her that Kid has an anxiety disorder BEFORE school even started.


.

Sorry

Yesterday turned into a rather bad day.

Kid and I got into it over spelling.

I was not/am not proud of my own behavior.

She can push my buttons.

But, my reaction was beneath me.

I know better.

And, I should have done better.

I apologized.

We hugged.

We ate some pumpkin gingerbread.

But, you can't take away what you have said.

And, so, I'm still not over it.

She told me...

"Mom, when you see me tantruming, than you might want to change your tone."

I laughed, and said...

"It's not always that easy. When you hear my tone, you might want to stop tantruming."

She laughed.

Which was generous of her.

Because, she was right in the first place.




Once I came upon some woman's wisdom, somewhere out on the internets. The gist of what she wrote, or the part I took away because it rang so true, was that when your children are the most repulsive to you, that is when they need you the most. It has proven a very hard standard to live up to. One I fail at more times than I'd like. But something that I think is important to reach for. Yesterday I failed. Today I'm hoping to do better.

Things I Don't Like About Getting Older

The fact that it takes my face well over an hour to wake up in the morning.

Quick Updates

Kid is home sick today.


40 days until Christmas. What?! We still have our Halloween decorations up. Time to take those babies down, I guess.


We had a great weekend. Spent time with family. Mr F and I even had a dinner out (without our Klingons). I literally can't remember the last time we went out without them (for real).


Finally switched out our god awful hall lights (turns out they only had 25 Watt bulbs in them... which explains the cave like darkness) for some new ones. Two small school house style and a small chandelier* for the entry way.(All three lights were $140 total) Golden boobs we are coming for you next.


I reupholstered our headboard last week. Came out great. $12 total. Now we just need to paint over the pepto walls so that it doesn't look like a clash-o-rama in there.


Candy cane Hershey's kisses are back. Yo!


Got in 5 - 60 min cardio workouts last week. Feels good. Shooting for a repeat. Of course, sick kids won't help me on that front.


Kid has a 1st Trimester spelling review on Friday. 40 words. Already had one tantrum (not counting the one I had when I found out). Pray for us...


*this house is getting a more feminine touch if you haven't noticed. Mr F got the last house.