Happyreader, I hope you can perk up your DD. That is really special how she described the campfire in her heart.
Does she like nature? My DD loves it...and I think there are alot of therapeutic qualities to connecting with nature...and where we live there are small nature centers nearby where they have safe trails, an education center and scheduled classes. We're going to a family one in a couple of weeks and she's taking a class with other kids the Sat. before Easter. Next year she'll be old enough to join a nature/environmental club. You can also join up with clean-ups and invasive-species removal.
Also if you have a college or university nearby, see if they have any girls' science/math/engineering/computer clubs or camps. Sometimes they don't start until middle school, but sometimes they're age 10 and if your DD is 9 already and you write or talk to them about her waning interest in science, they might be happy to let her join, because the purpose of these things is to not lose girls who have the interest in STEM subjects as they struggle with those upper elementary and middle school years.
It was very interesting to read that others have that issue with the teachers and marking things correctly when they are wrong. Interesting but not very encouraging.
The parts I have the hardest time keeping my frustration in check is the inconsistency. DD has issues with organization but it's extremely hard to support her with this at home regarding schoolwork because they're always changing how they do things and don't tell you about it, it's always chasing things down and reacting after the fact. She prefers to self-advocate so I'm "not allowed" to write any notes or e-mails about these things. The teacher mostly writes stuff on the board for the kids, and they copy it down, but then the teacher will decide she wants to "test their listening skills" and something important will be communicated verbally. If DD misses something, no recess and she knows that and gets stressed about it since it's her favorite part of the day. However she's getting so tired right now earlier and earlier in the week and it's tough. The upcoming conferences include the child so you can't really say much the teacher if you have "issues".
They were supposed to have book reports once per month and they did in Dec. then it just evaporated. They were bringing home the spelling tests to be signed and now they're not. They were bringing home math multiplication quizzes and then they switched to oral quizzes. The spelling word process for the week has changed three times this year. And all of this has no communication from the teacher...you just figure it out after the fact. DD gets so mad at me when I ask questions, or maybe she thinks I'm just really dumb because I'm always confused. !!
I've spoken to other parents in the class about it, just in case it's "just us" being really out-of-it, but it's everyone. You just shrug your shoulders and do your best.
Last week on Thur. DD was upset because we didn't have the "right" type of thesaurus for her to do her homework. I said what kind does she need, etc. (she didn't want to use mine, but she ended up using it anyway) and I said we'd have been happy to get it for her if we knew about it, but it was Thur., I didn't have a car that afternoon. I said I needed more notice from the school to get her the items she needed, and it was never on a supply list or I never got the memo.
And I won't even get into the food issues. Treats brought in every Friday for a lunch party, 3rd graders still having their parents send in treats for birthdays, using food for science projects that are either filled with sugar, artificial dyes, or last time was vegetables and the kids handled them alot, then ate them while dipping them in dip, and DD was sick as a dog after that. They use Skittles for multiplication, they get Starburst for "rewards", they used graham crackers for fractions.
AAAARRRRRGGGGG.
She literally ticks off the days until spring break and we have little days shaved off this week and next for conferences. She'll keep tally marks in the kitchen like on the walls of the movie prison cell...and it's pathetic but somehow it seems to help her.
I think all they are doing in my DD's class right now is going over and over and over the material for the assessments. In our state they are changing things over this year and including the 3rd graders on some new stuff.
I've thought for a little while now that girls need to be intercepted a little earlier than traditionally the 6th grade time, to keep them interested in being students and in math and science. The age for struggling between the adolescent social things and doing well in math/science seems to be dropping. The camps and activities for girls to support them haven't kept up with this too much, they really need to drop it down to 3rd grade instead of 6th/5th grade. They are starting to a little. Even that Sci Girls PBS show is cute, but my DD doesn't relate to the girls in it very much because they don't look like "girls" they look like young women.
Anyway I guess this has turned into a total rant. Thanks for listening.
