The girls have been anxious to receive the news as to what class they'd be in next year, and who would be in their classes. J has been in a class with her BFF since the year we arrived (1st grade for her), and it's a little uncanny that they've stayed together this whole time. But!! Success again! They are on their way into their 4th year running in class together.

This time, they have the *favorite* teacher in 4th grade. Mr. Wonderful. I sort of didn't want J to have Mr. Wonderful, b/c I fear that if a teacher is oh-so-wonderful, in the way that this Mr. Wonderful is rumored to be, J will be L.A.Z.Y. Mr. Wonderful will love her, and will enhance her self-esteem, and make her think school is fun ... but she doesn't need to think school is fun in this Mr. Wonderful kind of way. She thinks Math is fun. She thinks writing stories is fun.

Yesterday, or the day before - not sure which - we were on the T. She had a funky look on her face, with her brow furrowed and such. "What are you thinking about?" I asked her. She spent about 2 minutes complaining about how I had interrupted her train of thought, and how she was not longer thinking about ANYTHING, but before I so rudely interrupted her, she was doing a math problem.

A math problem.

On the train.

She's 9.

(freak).

I hope she has a good year.

E I worry for as well. Reason being she has all three points of the world's nastiest triangle in her class - well, since she's one of those points, it would be hard for her not to have at least some of the triangle. Hopefully the fact that she has a few other friends in the class who are not associated with those triangle peoples will mean that she will not become distracted with the nastiness, and will focus on school and positive friendships, and not get caught up in the drama of the negative friendships.

Unfortunately, I don't have much evidence that E's personality works that way. She loves Drama. It draws her in. She likes to argue.

(like her mother.)

It's just a big year for her, and she can't afford to spend 6th grade focusing on catfights instead of school work and building positive relationships with the people in her class.

And she's 11, and anything I say to her is met with, "you just don't understand," and when I say, "explain it to me" she comes out with something about privacy, and it being HER friendships, not MY friendships, and yadda yadda yadda.

Did I mention they leave tomorrow? We're getting up at 4 a.m. This makes me sad. I'd rather get yelled at.

Labels: kids, school

posted by Zuska @ 2:52 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Growing Pains

I am really glad that the school confronts adolescence head on. E is in 5th grade, and it's time for them to start to learn about development and puberty, etc.

Today, E brought a friend home with her from school. Straight in the door "oh, we saw this movie in our class today," and "we saw that, too - it isn't fair that the girl section is 15 minutes and the boy section is like 30 seconds. We are so unfortunate." "yeah, someone in my class asked 'why does a penis get hard?' and the teacher made us a diagram." Someone else's 10 year daughter using her finger to depict the penis in its flacid, semi-erect, and fully erect state.

Nice.

The conversations that just went on after dinner (just our family) sent Beloved running from the room out of fear that he'd say something inappropriate ... E came out with, "[it ocurrs to me that repeating this conversation will result in many search hits which I'm not really looking for]." Basically, Beloved and I were trying to stop ourselves from saying things that would clue the girls into knowing that we are, in fact, despite our status as their parents, sexual beings. We know the things that they're learning right now b/c of experience - and the girls don't want (or need) to think/know about this right now. So we'll just stifle our thoughts, keep from sharing our inside knowledge, and smile later at the kids' ability to be so very candid and open, and comfortable while talking about hand-held mirrors and the benefits of knowing where all your equipment is located.

Phew.

We're watching American Idol. I am leaving 1/2 way through to go my book group where I can make sourpuss faces at the book - Eat, Pray, Love. I think I'm NOT a memoir person. If I don't know someone - I don't care 300 pages worth about their life. Not if they're just some chick who got sad so traveled to some different countries. She's just some chick!!!

Labels: *E*, *J*, American Idol, school

posted by Zuska @ 7:53 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

And in other news ....

I've done most of my International Law reading, and after last week's sabattical from reading, I'd almost forgotten that I like International Law. I like the reading.

***********

I think I'm feeling better than I was this a.m., and am hoping for a good night's sleep tonight so that tomorrow can be a normal day.

***********

I have a parent-teacher conference re: J in the morning -- at 7:30. Geez. What is wrong with me. Why do I schedule things in such a way to cause me pain and suffering? Well, quite simply, b/c the other options were smack dab in the middle of IP.

I'm not anticipating much from this conference. J is doing phenominally both socially and academically. She's a whiz at math, reads at a higher-than-third-grade level, and loves science and social studies. Really, the only thing to think about is next year. Which teacher will work for her? Who will be in her class? That kind of thing. Her teacher has been bringing those things up in other conferences.

Now I know the secret -- school's a free ride until 5th grade. And worse --- 6th grade. When the Honor Roll starts. And real grades.

3rd grade? Pfft.

And it's not even because the work's easy or because my kids are smart (although they are) - it's because they're young. And they love school. And they love their teachers. And life is rosy.

Until 5th grade.

Frizzum Frazzum.

**********

Instead of snow on Thursday, they're now predicting sleet. Woopty Doo.

**********

I bit my tongue at dinner. It hurts. It bled.

**********

I was unable to purchase prepared chicken at Whole Foods. I made a greek salad - complete with home made dressing. I wanted grilled chicken on top. The only cooked grilled chicken at Whole Foods was Korean BBQ. Not gonna work.

So I actually cooked. Fathom that. It was good. Until I bit my tongue. Then the red wine vinegar in the dressing wasn't so good. Then it hurt. I wanted to snack on a couple olives tonight, but now I can't. Because it will hurt.

***********

E had to write a story for school. It was "realistic fiction." She sat down with her teacher today to go over the first draft, and was very happy to have little to no revisions, and the feedback that it was exactly what the teacher was looking for. It's a mystery taking place on the sinking Titanic.

When she was in first grade, she read a Magic Treehouse book about the Titanic. She became obsessed. She then read 1,000,000 books about the Titanic - including those way above 1st grade level. The obsession lasted at least into 2nd grade. Perhaps longer. She wanted to watch the movie once she heard about it (when talking with friends about all she learned, their reference point was Jack and Rose). I told her I would only let her watch the movie if she wrote a report about everything she learned. She did. She even illustrated it. It was great.

I didn't think I would see her rekindle this interest. But her assignment was to write a "realistic fiction" story. She chose to write a mystery, set on the Titanic.

I think it's fun, and I'm proud of her.

Labels: kids, life, school

posted by Zuska @ 9:26 PM 2 comments

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Uhhhh ..... scratch that?

I took a blessed nap after posting earlier. I never do that. NEVER. But it was beautiful. I don't regret it.

The parent teacher conference.

I was going in with such trepidation.

First, as is typical, I was given E's report card. Waiting for all the Commendables and Grade Levels to have gone to Needs Improvement, and the 1's {highest} to have become 3s and 4s.

Not so.

She had all 1s. Except self control. Reason? She's so engaged in the classroom discussions that sometimes she still shouts out answers (but they do roundtable discussions -- so it's less inappropriate than in a "you must raise your hand or be silent" classroom setting).

She went down in NOTHING - she didn't go up in any categories, but her teacher is constantly saying what a hard grader she is.

In the little "teacher's comments" paragraph? It said she's an excellent student. That she's having a wonderful year academically. That she's ceased having trouble with other students, and that she is solving any small problems that do come up beautifully and on her own.

I raised my questions. There had been 3 mediocre grades that I had seen. One on "prepositional phrases," one essay which E did at home and I saw the mistakes, but sort of didn't realize it was a BIG end of unit project, and so let it go. I thought she was sloppy, and deserved the feedback. The final was item was a geometry test.

The teacher told me that the prepositional phrases was an "advanced unit" that an outside specialist is coming in to work on - I think, from what she said, that they're uber-prepping the advanced kids. She said E will see it again in a couple of YEARS, and that she was never expected to be at the level that a perfect grade would have indicated.

She said yes, on the essay - it was a mess. But nothing has been since, and she's glad I didn't fix it for E.

On the geometry test, she said yeah, E struggled, but the test was very hard, and she's done well since. She said it was an exception, not a rule.

She said E is NOT slipping.

She said E got in trouble twice for talking. One of the times, she made E write a letter of apology and that E was clearly VERY upset with herself for her behavior, and she didn't think any other action (i.e., a call home) was required.

____________________

E is fine. I need to keep up with her, and be sure things DO NOT slip. But it seems like if I caught anything, it was the very early stage, and I can still help to avoid it being an issue. Like Housewife commented on my other post, this is a challenge year for E. I think, however, that she will pull it off.

E is still in the highest reading and math groups, and is getting 100% on science and social studies tests (she doesn't get 100% on the others, but is performing at the high end of class).

She's relieved. So am I.

Why, I wonder? Do I jump to the most negative conclusion? At least my freak out happened on the day of a parent-teacher conference, so I could quickly be set straight.

And she did still go too slow this a.m.

So there.

Labels: kids, school

posted by Zuska @ 6:09 PM 0 comments

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Update

It is 2:02 p.m., do you know where YOUR grades are?

I do not.

Update (to the update) --- the announcement I predicted was made. The evals (i.e., grades) will be coming out TOMORROW, not today.

Since we get narrative evaluations - they're long. Not just a letter to plug into a blank. I believe I said here once before - my longest was 21 pages. So WHY they thought in the first place that they'd be able to scan hundreds and hundreds of pages in one day AND email them out, I do not know. But they just posted, and said that today, they're scanning, and tomorrow they'll start e-mailing, and that they ARE going alphabetically. I do not think that the latter part of the alphabet will get their "grades" for some time. Fortunately, I'm not in the latter part. I'm not in the very beginning, either, but I think I'll get into the first day of send-pressing.

Labels: school

posted by Zuska @ 2:02 PM 1 comments

More Qs on Course Load

They're internal, though. I don't want advice.

I just was over at one of my favorite fellow law student blogs, and saw that Lyco is taking an INSANE amount of classes. The actual # of classes isn't so high, but her credits!!! My God!!!

And I thought - I, too, love law school. I, too, would love to get as much out of my last quarter as possible. So I went to peak at the course schedule, and think about whether I could take 5 classes instead of 4. Right now, since all 4 that I'm planning on are 3 credits, my credits are low, again. Only 12. Which is what I need to graduate. I could take First Amendment, TOO.

But then, in classic Zuska fashion, I vacillated. I thought - you know ... This is the last year that I'm not working full time. I ALREADY e-mailed the people in charge of the girls' play and let them know that I'm free on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to help out with play practice (70 kids are in this play - they need help!!). There are no Tuesday/Thursday classes that would make that impossible, but if I have reading for FIVE classes to keep up with, I am not sure I want to give up that 3+ hour chunk of time* twice a week.

Although, it is only for the first 3 weeks of March, which is the very start of my quarter, and I won't yet be stressed ....

And then there's the end of the year craziness that happens at their school. There are concerts and parties and open houses, and there will be sports, and MORE plays, and performances, and and and.

BUT (tee hee) - I think most of that happens after I'm done. I finish a solid month before they do. I'll be in Bar Review, but that's only in the mornings.

I think I'll register for the class, and go to it. Then I'll make my decision. If it was possible to take Trusts & Estates as the 5th class, I think it would definitely happen. But it conflicts with that seminar course I'm not willing to give up FOR THE THIRD TIME.

* Play practice is from 2:15- 4:30, but it will take me at least 20 minutes to get to their school from mine -- unless I decide to drop the bike and my bag at home first, then it would take 30 minutes, and then at 4:30 - what am I going to do? Go back to school? No. I'm going to take my kids home with me, or to the library, or something. Whereas otherwise, on a Tuesday or Thursday, I likely wouldn't arrive at their school until 5:15-5:30 to pick them up from after-school care. In effect, I'll be leaving MY school at 1:45 instead of 5 p.m.

Labels: life, parenting, school, working mom

posted by Zuska @ 10:33 AM 0 comments

Friday, January 12, 2007

Hypothetically, I'll be taking the following classes

Unless they contradict each other, I think I've decided on the following classes for this coming quarter:

Comparative Constitutional Law
Seminar: Balancing Security and Liberty

[and lest I start to sound like some sort of constitutional/public interest person]

Securities Regulations
Trusts and Estates.

A little con law and politics to feed the soul and a little dryness to feed the bar prep/future employment. Also, the two soul-classes are likely papers, and the other two are likely exams. Again, a good mix.

I had lunch with some friends - one who graduated from my school a couple (?) of years ago, and who I worked with last winter, and another who is a classmate of mine. My current classmate gave me some dirt on other classes that were on my short list, and so I think these are the ones I will do.

I hope I won't have to choose between them. I can discard T&E without too much trouble, but my Future Firm TOLD me to take Securities Regulations. They TOLD me to.

Labels: school

posted by Zuska @ 1:58 PM 2 comments

Thursday, January 11, 2007

more whining about my quarter system

I know that my school isn't the only one that does the quarter system, but it IS the only one that does the quarter system PLUS the co-op system.

In early December, it felt good to be start and loving a new job while others were sweating exams.

Now, however, in early January - it's depressing to STILL be working every day (ALL day, and often also at night) while other people get to have the excited start of new classes. I want new classes!! NOW!!!

[which is actually stupid - I think I'm learning more on this co-op, in a much more valuable way, than ever have in a classroom.]

It's making me anxious, reading about other people's first days (and seat choices! ha! I've done that .... well, sort of - I think I've gotten to class 10 minutes early, but not 2 hours), and I'm reacting by obsessively checking my school's site to see if they've posted the schedule for the spring classes.

There are about 8 classes that I'm interested in this quarter, and I can only take 4 (b/c I'm pretty sure 2 of them are 4 credits). Therefore, what I'm taking will greatly depend upon the scheduling.

Also - next week, my evaluations come out. I kind of don't care very much right now. I think I did fine. I may have done better than fine, but I don't THINK there are any classes I could have done WORSE than fine.

Labels: school

posted by Zuska @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

Thursday, November 09, 2006

she's the teacher, and for once, i'm NOT the student

i had the girls' parent/teacher conferences today. surprise, surprise, the girls are doing well and are advanced. j.'s teacher is working to find the right challenge work for her, and is going to push her to do it, since j. would just as soon ace her grade-level (too easy for her) work, and just sit and doodle with her remaining time.

e. has enough challenge trying to keep it all together - not substantively, but organizationally. i feel badly that she does NOT have a role model in this. i am always running around making deadlines and requirements by the seat of my pants. i have no routines. i don't have ONE PLACE that i put my keys, and i don't get anything ready for school "the night before." i often choose to watch a show or check bloglines instead of getting work done when i should.

who am i to teach her? i guess it's my job - regardless of my failure or success for myself in the same areas.

she's doing great so far. she has missed some homework assignments, but 4 out of 6 had valid reasons. I mean, who assigns homework on Halloween? She just, like her mother, is always just squeaking by - forgetting her journal and having to write on a separate piece of paper; having to call friends to find out what the assignment was, etc.

OH!! I raised the issue with her teacher that at the start of the year, the amount of homework was just overwhelming, that it felt like there was 2 hours/night, and it was a very difficult adjustment, while also conceding that now things are much more manageable, and it feels more like 45 minutes a night.

She said yes, I'm right. That at the start of the year, she did hit them hard, but has realized since that it's too much for them, and too much for her, and she's gone back on it. She's a first year teacher. At least she's willing to learn, and to adjust, right?? Also, as I told beloved today (who was a little sullen over the fact that e. is having to deal with a first year teacher), i'd rather she have a first-year teacher who aims too HIGH rather than one who aims too LOW, b/c that would be devestating for e., I think. I don't want her to have a chance to get lazy.

Neither of them need to be lazy. They can skip that part of their momma's school history, please.

Labels: kids, parenting, school

posted by Zuska @ 2:08 PM 0 comments

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