Boy Genius vomited at school today. Don’t worry, I’m not going to exercise my descriptive skills with regard to that! It really opened a can of worms though; ewhhh, mental picture! Anyway, I had to go pick him up early because vomiting, like fever, results in an automatic “sent home.” When I asked him why he got sick, he said that it was because of the grape juice. (Actually, it’s pomengrante blueberry, but that’s not really the point, eh?) Then he proceeded to explain how he really likes the juice, it’s just makes him sick when he drinks it — okay, well, sorry tastebuds, but no more juice! I decided to go ahead and check The Girl out early so I wouldn’t have to get Boy Genius out again while he’s feeling bad. Because The Girl was at recess, I had to go to her classroom to pick up her backpack and out popped the worms…
Now, we are well aware that The Girl is an excellent reader; she loves to read, retains the information quite remarkably, has an advanced vocabulary, and so forth. But, in an almost too stereotypical manner, her math skills are lacking. Oh, let’s be honest, her math skills suck! She has a math test every other Friday, and, shockingly, she brought home her first “F” on a test the second week we were here. It’s not that she answers incorrectly; she just never completes the tests, sometimes leaving entire rows of problems unanswered. I’m not sure if the issue is lack of skill, lack of concentration, or lack of trying – or a combination of the three – but it’s definitely a lack of something. So I knew of this math issue and we’ve been using flashcards at home to try to help her improve. What I didn’t know is the bigger issue. While I was gathering her stuff from her cubby, her teacher started voicing her concern about The Girl’s work and effort as a whole. What???? The teacher explained that she’s not completing her morning work, writing sloppily, and, of course, failing math. She explained that she has talked to The Girl about these things and that she responds with either a stomach-ache complaint or a puppy-faced “I miss my friends in Tennessee.” Now, The Girl is a bit of a drama queen (she’s already been to the nurse 3 times in the month we’ve been here for her infamous “stomach-aches”), and she can also be a little manipulative (I know, not my baby?!?!?!) Thankfully, however, her teacher is not a sucker for her baby blues. The teacher told me she has been firm with her, explaining that it’s normal to miss friends, but that’s no excuse for falling behind.
She’s always been our good student. Honestly, we expected Boy Genius to be the “no-effort” one. Also, she’s always been easily adaptable to circumstances. Again, we expected Boy Genius to be the one to give us grief over the move and changing schools. He has had a rough time of it; every couple of days he says he wants to go back to TN (but it’s always followed by a day where he talks all about his new friends non-stop). Worse yet, The Girl, who never seems to shut-up, has not said a word about how she feels about this move! Is she already started to bottle things again or already starting to not open up to mommy and daddy? I mean, I thought I had another 3 years, at least!
So it just goes to show you that you should never presume to have your kids all figured out. Just when you think you know what to expect, you get thrown a curve ball. The Girl may not be any good at math, but so far I’m the one not batting a thousand.
Categories: