An update in five parts:
Matthew: They made the change this year to not have letter grades in fourth grade, so, it’s a bit harder to tell how Matthew is doing from an endless series of checkmarks, and check-pluses, and the occasional check-minus (had two of these the first week, none since). The general sense is he’s doing fine; breezing through the spelling, no problems with the reading, and doing well in math. He’s been reading a lot of boy-in-nature books recently, to tie in with his overwhelming desire to fish every day.
He has been….difficult…in getting his homework done, and he’s 45% of the reason that there’s a new rule in the house, no screens (TV, Ipod, whatever) until the homework, all of the homework, is done.
Christopher: 50% of the reason the new rule is in place…..fifth grade has produced a huge upswing in homework, and, in the best of times, Cpher has never been focused enough to get through things quickly and correctly.
Doing very well in social studies and science (his grades are online now, similar to Kevin’s)……doing ok in reading and writing. Did not get off to a good start in math…..a little too much focus on reading this summer maybe? We’ve been doing extra problems at night and the stupid errors seem to be disappearing.
He qualified, through reading scores last year, for extra help and because of some new mandates they only time he, and other kids, can get that help is during social studies. We had a meeting with the teacher and ended that…he’s getting focused reading enrichment from his tutor (we found out recently that other parents have Laurie work a lot on that kids homework. We never do that….) and wanted him to be in social studies, which he enjoys. We reviewed the test results, and he only barely qualified….he is a slow reader, but, is now reading on grade level.
Cello goes well……don’t think he’s at the point of playing a song yet, but, getting there. Seems to grasp the concepts easily enough, but, don’t think I’ll find him writing music anytime soon.
Kevin: I wonder, a lot, what having computer access to my grades would have meant for me in high school (aside from more arguments…). I wonder, a lot, how Suzanne and my aptitude for math didn’t come through genetically AT ALL in our kids.
Asked, begged, Kevin to get his act together for the start of school. Not so much. Carrying a low B in pre-calc honors…..parents have moved into full remedial measure mode (homework will be done upstairs now, not in his room) and have denied him privileges (tennis is done, so, he can take the second part of drivers training anytime now….won’t happen until this situation improves, and the delay may jeopardize his getting a license on 12/12). Kevin has told us that it IS a lack of effort that has him here, so, we’re not thrilled about that
Everything else goes as it should, he’s slipped at times but has the grades he should have in the other courses. He’s just killing German, he said 75% of his class failed the latest test on present verbs and he was the only one to get an ‘A’. He’s the only underclassman selected for the German foreign exchange program…..
Athletics: Both boys tried out for travel basketball. Matthew made one of the two fourth grade teams….they say they are split evenly but I don’t see that, his team looks like the ‘A’ team to me. Since they didn’t have a coach for the other fourth grade team until late, that kind of supports my theory, they took the top eleven and put them on the team they had since, if a coach wasn’t found, the next group would have to go back to rec basketball.
Christopher made the ‘A’ team as well. Barely. I should, and will, write a more detailed post on this later, since his Dad the assistant coach is a reason he’s on the ‘A’ team……
Miscellany: Mostly a catch-all for Kevin activities….he’s trying out for All-State again in two weeks and he’s participating in Quiz Bowl. They have a four person team, and he seems to be the first alternate and resident-geography expert. Like tennis, Kevin doesn’t seem to be on top of the events like he could be and this gets his parents on him more than he would like (said he needed to be at the TV station for a taping at 7:15….Mom and Kevin arrive at 7;15 and turns out it’s 7…and they can’t get into the studio….)
He may appear on TV later this year….they post the episodes on the internet so we’ll keep people updated…..
