Third Grade Math: Circumference

I finally have a meeting with a school counselor on Monday to go over the results of Ryan's test scores.

But I don't need a test score to tell me that she doesn't understand basic concepts. She has done phenomenally well in school for a child that obviously doesn't have a clue as to what it's all about.

What a brave kid. She has been following the rules as best she can without really knowing why. Pretty smart to be able to cover up as well as she has been able to.

Little things give her away. Things that the teachers don't bother to pick up on. She has average scores and that's good enough for them.

But just LOOK at the work, ladies, not at the final grade.

Circumference for example. She is busily, and happily, counting the squares AROUND the shape, the way she thinks she has been taught in school. Not realizing that she is, in fact, supposed to be counting the lines and boxes that make up the outside of the shape - ie, the basic concept of circumference - but actually counting the entire row of boxes SURROUNDING the shape in question.

The entire CONCEPT of circumference eludes her.

The concept of length as been an enigma since second grade. She still has no concept of mms vs cms vs meters. Anything with a 65 in front of it is obviously bigger than something with a 5 in front of it. The CONCEPT of length is missing.

Shouldn't the teachers have picked this up when she couldn't correctly identify the lenght of a bus versus the length of a person versus the length of an eraser in second grade?

But I keep getting told that I'm expecting too much, that I am overambitious and that not all children are the same.

Well, yeah, but... is it expecting too much for them to be able to tell an eraser from a school bus?!

Ryan has memorized the entire multiplication system without knowing what multiplication actually is. Good enough for the teachers, but not good enough for me.

Im frightened. Not that my child has a learning disability but that none of her teachers seem to care.

Random Thought: Sand

Sand is not dirt.

Tracking sand into the house is a sure sign of spring.

It brings a little beach into my home.

(And yes, this picture was taken in April. It is really THAT cold here.)

Random Thought: Puzzling with Twins

Nothing like a pair of twins to turn a jigsaw puzzle into an extreme speed-sport.

I'm exhausted. (Go ahead. You try to do TWO 48 piece puzzles side-by-side with two impatient little men screaming at you with puzzle pieces in their hands. See how relaxing you find the whole thing.)

Nice Germans

The lady at Edeka last week who let me cut ahead of her in line when she saw I was only buying 2 bars of chocolate. (Prudent move whenever you see ANY woman just running in for a chocolate fix but nice just the same.)

The lady at Subway who WOULD have waited patiently behind us as all four kids picked out their Subway meals. I was glad to see her served and enjoying her meal while we were still deciding on toppings and sauces.

The man who called to sell us a monthly wine subscription today and was pleasant even when I told him we were Mormon. (Just kidding, but I did tell him we don't drink.) He stopped his sales pitch immediately, asked how I was enjoying the weather and told me he was sure it was bound to get better soon. Huh?

All the folks at the Ritter Sport factory in Waldenbuch last Sunday (it's a chocolate factory) who commented on my children as the filed past in single file. "Oh. Look how cute they are. So happy, each with one bar of chocolate." My kids ARE cute. Anyone who appreciates this is automatically placed in the superior person category.

The coaches and trainers at the indoor swimming pool in Boeblingen who actually came over and got down on their knees to explain to Aidan and Matthew - all ready to swim with boards and towels in hand - that there was a swim competition going on. And then mentioned the Ritter Sport factory as an alternative.

Oh.

I hate it when someone else has the same thoughts as I do and writes them down just that much more succinctly.

Here I've been bitching and moaning and psychoanalyzing myself for a year.

Why don't I fit in? Why I am different? Why is it just so damn hard here?

And then I read Stefan Theil's piece in last week's Newsweek (March 15 edition, Waiting for Merkel) and he sums it up in two sentences.

Okay, he's talking international politics and I'm talking personal fulfillment, but I think we're both on the same page.

"Over the two decades since its reunification, Germany has turned into a sated and inward-looking power concerned more than anything with preserving the status quo. Merkel has become Germany's most popular leader since World War II by promising Germans continuity, and won reelection in September 2009 on a platform of avoiding change and reform."

Oh.

Thanks for waiting with that bit of insight, Stefan. I would have been a boring person without all the inner turmoil and conflict.

Random Thought: Spring Cleaning

What a joy to finally be able to leave the doors and windows open today and watch the spring breeze chase all those winter dust bunnies out of hiding!

Lucky 13

I gotta admit it, I was pretty psyched when I got home from Florida a few weeks ago and saw I had a new fan.

I had a new follower on my blog, number 13, and let me tell you, as much as I say I am writing for myself, it felt really fantastic that someone I didn't even know had signed up to read me regularly.

I've also kept some good reviews - from Lynn-Anne, Liz and Sylvia - just for when I'm looking back (fondly?) on the early years.

There's also a little thrill - and a sense of gratitude - whenever Catherine or Babette or Sue or Anita mentions that they read something of mine. When Amanda comments from the USA or Maarit mentions a piece over the phone.

I guess I gotta apologize to readers 11 and 12 too, because darn it, I couldn't figure out who you were to email you and thank you. I'm pretty sure one of you may be Laurie, only because I googled "twintensity" a few weeks ago and found out I was one of the ten most popular blogs read in Haiti.

ONE OF THE TEN MOST POPULAR BLOGS IN HAITI. Means more to me than my sarcasm shows. I thank my one follower there. (I will NOT cry and make sad comments; I will NOT cry and write something melodramatic.)

I've been writing this blog for over a year now. In that time I have become a writer. Because I have to write. Because I love to write. Something I lost, or gave up, almost twenty years ago in order to pursue the more practical and serious pursuits of life and veterinary medicine, has become a part of me again.

(Insert memory of pretentious twenty year old at Cornell University telling her creative writing teacher that she wouldn't switch from premed because she wanted to live and experience things, have a real life, and not just "settle" into writing as an undergraduate. Ouch. And duh. Arrogant little snot. Serves me right.)

Number 13 introduced herself to me at English group last week. I think I might have blushed. It was almost like learning that the cute guy with the really great biceps one seat ahead of you in highschool geometry class likes you too. (For the record, I got a "C" in geometry, but I still remember the biceps!)

Writers often claim to be needy and insecure. Yup. I don't need EVERYONE to love me, I just want MOST everyone to at least like me a little bit. Oh, who am I kidding, I want you all to find me as clever, witty and insightful as I find myself.

Number 14 joined recently - silently, during a time when I didn't have access to my computer. And the thought, once again, that someone I didn't know found something I had to say even remotely interesting, or perhaps just kinda funny, inspired me to learn how to access my blog from my netbook.

I write. I have some fiction I am working on. I have some ideas on a collection of personal essays. But honestly, I'm just as thrilled to share my thoughts and ideas with those of you willing to read them.

Nice to meet you. I like you already. You are obviously brilliant!