American kids are supposed to start to learn how to read in kindergarten. They're not really expected to read whole books by the end of kindergarten, but to know the basics. First grade builds on that.
Her school seems pretty willing to individualize things, and there is a gifted and talented program. I really don't expect her to be bored, but that's definitely something I'm interested in. Last year she did well but not exceptionally until towards the end of the year, so we didn't really deal with it much. (Reading was the main educational benchmark in kindergarten, and she did fine but only fine until something clicked and she took off in maybe February or so. Then she went busting through the reading levels until she had surpassed all of them in May or so, and just did this and that on an individual level from then until when school ended.)
Re: Girl Scouts, she didn't insist on the Christian God per se but it was clearly the Christian one she was talking about. While there were Christian elements to the whole thing (they had to say grace before eating, and there are mentions of "God" in the pledge or whatever -- do you remember me complaining about this before, when she first joined?), a lot of it seemed to come from fellow campers. "What church do you go to?" Er, I don't. "You don't go to church??" Etc.
The Girl Scouts don't require that you be Christian but there seems to be a heavy religious/ Christian element, at least at this particular camp.
She had a fantabulous time otherwise though so I'm trying to just wait that part out. It hasn't come up again, yet.
Oh and thanks for the comments on "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," cyphercat, noted.
If it becomes and issue for her, UU churches are full of kids who want to be in church. It gives them a sense of belonging without the issues of a prescribed dogma.
sozobe wrote:American kids are supposed to start to learn how to read in kindergarten. They're not really expected to read whole books by the end of kindergarten, but to know the basics. First grade builds on that.
Her school seems pretty willing to individualize things, and there is a gifted and talented program. I really don't expect her to be bored, but that's definitely something I'm interested in. Last year she did well but not exceptionally until towards the end of the year, so we didn't really deal with it much. (Reading was the main educational benchmark in kindergarten, and she did fine but only fine until something clicked and she took off in maybe February or so. Then she went busting through the reading levels until she had surpassed all of them in May or so, and just did this and that on an individual level from then until when school ended.)
Re: Girl Scouts, she didn't insist on the Christian God per se but it was clearly the Christian one she was talking about. While there were Christian elements to the whole thing (they had to say grace before eating, and there are mentions of "God" in the pledge or whatever -- do you remember me complaining about this before, when she first joined?), a lot of it seemed to come from fellow campers. "What church do you go to?" Er, I don't. "You don't go to church??" Etc.
The Girl Scouts don't require that you be Christian but there seems to be a heavy religious/ Christian element, at least at this particular camp.
She had a fantabulous time otherwise though so I'm trying to just wait that part out. It hasn't come up again, yet.
sozobe, a word of caution about the gifted programs. When i was in 3rd 4th 5th and 6th grade i was in the gate program, in 4th it was great, but after that we were just coloring and doodling and doing idiotic projects.
Im not a genius, but i would always ask "so when are we gonna learn something?"
it was nowhere near expanding upon my education or advancing my only real talent of reading and learning things. in fact i hated it. so much so i couldnt go back in 7th, and by 8th i hated school altogether.( seriously school was so boring at that point there were no challenges)
i would advise you investigate any gifted programs extensivley, it doesnt seem to make sense, i think it was an isolated incident, (the school i was attending was extremely ghetto), and only furthered my convictions to become more intelligent regardless, but still. just a heads up.
I know what you're saying, and I'll definitely see what they're up to. The school is very open, parents are encouraged to just pop in and say hi or volunteer or whatever.
I was in a gifted and talented program in school and ADORED it. It was so cool. We did all kinds of logic puzzles, and made Claymation movies (doing it all ourselves -- cameras, lighting, scripts, sculpting, backgrounds, sound effects, etc.), and fun math stuff, and... I don't remember it all, but it was my favorite part of school and I made a lot of lasting friendships there.
So if sozlet's program is like mine, I'll be very happy. I agree that there's a possibility it would be like yours, though, and I'll be careful not to assume.
This kid's such a goofball.
We went to the State Fair yesterday, stayed all day. Some of the attractions: performing white tigers, jugglers, bands, newborn lambs, and rides rides rides. She has just passed a height increment and so was able to go on all kinds of rides for the first time, and had SO much fun.*
But what single attraction held her attention for a good 45 minutes, and she had to be dragged away from, only to go back about 30 minutes after that? A chick valiantly attempting to hatch from an egg.
When we first showed up, he'd been struggling for quite a while already. (Evidently it takes about 6 hours for a chick to hatch.) It was a whole incubator full of eggs, probably about 25 total, in various states of hatching. There was a hole in his egg, and his little beak would poke through and you could see him wriggling and breathing. He'd wriggle and struggle and push for a few seconds, then pause for a minute or so.
Sozlet was just utterly enchanted. Cheering him on, gasping every time he made progress, looking concerned every time he paused and caught his breath. She kept saying variations of "he's having a hard time, poor little guy..." and looking up at me with big moist eyes. I kept reassuring her that it was normal, that's the process, and he would be fine. Then he'd wriggle again and she'd gasp and say "Go go go! You can do it!!"
The incubator had a glass front, and hatching chick was near the front of it. There was a step stool for kids that'd fit 2 or 3, and sozlet wasn't interested in relinquishing her position there. An assortment of other kids came and went, and one family was similarly enthralled, and we all chatted. Us two moms admitted that we wanted nothing more than to reach in there and (very gently!) remove the rest of the shell (it was already nearly split in two by this point), but we knew that was a bad idea, and the professional (farmer? 4-H?) information-providing person reiterated that when she overheard us.
Anyway, it was definitely interesting but it was going on FOREVER and there were so many other things to do. I suggested a few times that maybe we should go and then check back later, only to be summarily rebuffed each time. I finally stated it more strongly, and sozlet said, "Mama, all I want to do is see that little tiny chick come safely into the world...!" I can't possibly do justice to the amount of drama that went into that sentence.
I settled in to wait a bit longer (there were tons of other things to do but ultimately we were there for her to have fun, we didn't have anything we HAD to do), and then finally she decided that it was time to go off and do other stuff and come back.
We came back about half an hour later, and there he was, being held by a farmer guy, freshly hatched as of a couple of minutes before! He was still very damp, and looked rather confused. Sozlet was just so happy to see him, and got to pet his head very lightly. Then she sighed a big contented sigh and was ready to go on to other things.
*We had a wristband for unlimited rides and she went on a zillion of them -- I lost track but we were there for about 8 hours total and fully half of that time was her going on rides. We talked about that before bedtime, which ones she liked the best etc., and she mentioned the Tilt-a-Whirl. I made the stupid boneheaded mistake of asking if she was totally fine on it, that I was a little worried that she'd have tummy problems. She assured me that no, she didn't. I put her to bed, she fell asleep.
An hour later, she showed up shivering and crying. I calmed her down/ tried to stop the shivering, no fever, not sure what was going on. Then she turned out to be nauseous. Barfed 3 times over about an hour and a half. Evidently she'd had a vivid dream about being on the Tilt-a-Whirl and woke up nauseous. (Bonking self on forehead... she is incredibly suggestible about this stuff. There doesn't seem to be anything else that would have precipitated it -- I kept her well hydrated at the fair, and we even had real food, no cotton candy or anything. The suggestibility aspect has come up several times before.) Anyway, eventually managed to get her back to sleep (by stroking her head to give her something other than her tummy to focus on), and by the time she woke up this morning she was fine (I didn't get much sleep, though... yawn.)
What kind of a mother are you soz?
No cotton candy at the state fair?
hummmph! orta be a law!
We had fruit smoothies!
Uh....
Where do I pick up my "bad mother" badge?
sozobe wrote:Where do I pick up my "bad mother" badge?
I thought the "bad parent" badges were issued at the hospital at the time of the birth.
'Cause your damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
sozobe wrote:But what single attraction held her attention for a good 45 minutes, and she had to be dragged away from, only to go back about 30 minutes after that? A chick valiantly attempting to hatch from an egg.
Congratulations -- you're officially hatching a scientist. ("Scientist" is a technical term for what you Midwesterners call "goofball".)
Certainly apropos!
Hadn't seen it, thanks.
Thomas, this seemed to be more "this girl needs a pet already!" than science, but probably some of each.
Don't get me wrong, I was enthralled the first 15 minutes, too... 20, even... but by the time we hit the 30-minute mark and the chick had made hardly any progress I was ready to move ON.
sozobe wrote:Don't get me wrong, I was enthralled the first 15 minutes, too... 20, even... but by the time we hit the 30-minute mark and the chick had made hardly any progress I was ready to move ON.
I see. I got this feeling some time ago when a 3-year old boy played with a musical box playing "pop goes the weasel". On "pop goes the weasel", the box would open, and a weasel would pop out. It was fun, but got old for me after the 100th repetition of "pop goes the weasel". Not for the boy though. I guess kids haven't seen it all yet, unlike us.
That's an archetypal 3-year-old thing, though. (In the background, the Teletubbies chorus "Again, again!") Also needs to be pretty much an exact repetition. This was sustained, if slow, progress.
Anyway, she enjoyed herself. The part I thought was goofiest was the high drama. For the "come into the world" line she was looking up at me with big huge shining anime eyes, and was so overcome with emotion that she could barely get the words out (there was some lip-trembling).
I'm waaaay behind.
Just found this. It's from earlier this summer, I'd guess June or so, after she lost her seventh tooth and refused to give up her seventh tooth. She has some notion that the tooth fairy is a middleman -- pays for the goods and then sells them at a profit, or something. And that by depriving the tooth fairy of all of these teeth, she (sozlet) was damaging her (Tooth Fairy's) livelihood.
So I found this and a couple of dollars under her pillow:
I love little kids writing - so sweet!
Seems like, sozlet has already a good social conscience.
I just printed the tooth fairy note for my desk. I needed the reminder that some people are verra verra nice.
Very cute.
It reminded me and mumpad. We are now looking for the easterbunny note from our daughter
