Facie’s Ramblings

Late this afternoon my (mostly) lovely eight-year-old and I were lying in my bed reading. J, a biography about Ben Franklin for a book report and I, a trashy magazine my MIL gave me. At one point, J told me that she did not understand something. Now this book was geared towards fourth graders, at least according to the library. But since the book is almost 15 years old, what was considered fourth grade then is pretty much third grade now, so I thought it was just right for her. And it certainly did not seem above her reading level, except for a few words here and there she could not pronounce. But, no. J was not struggling with a word. Rather, J looked at me, read the phrase "because he had gotten a girl pregnant" aloud, and then asked, "How do you get a girl pregnant?" What?!!!! My heart started pounding, my face got red, and I started stuttering. I think I said something like, "That is a good question. Hmm. Uh... Well... You know, it is hard to expl...

A blog I visit from time to time recently had a post about free-writing. Well, that was the part of the post that most intrigued me: Kristen explained how she responded to a simple prompt of "I" and went on to write about herself uncensored for five minutes. As my 40th birthday looms ahead (just over two months), I decided to try this free-write myself. So here goes nothing, off the cuff, from the heart. I... I worry a lot, about more things than I should. I love my kid and my husband more than anything else. I love my kid more than my husband, and I know I probably should not. I like football and hockey, to watch. I am a Steelers fan first and a Penn State fan second. Once I had a kid, I decided it was okay not to watch too many PSU games, but I do my best to watch all the Steelers games. I don't think you should leave sporting events early unless you have an emergency or some pressing concern; whether it is a blowout or a close game, I want to ...

One of these days I may write a heartfelt, detailed blog post about the angst I am having with my eight-year-old child. But this is not one of these days. Instead, I wanted to share a few recent things. Third grade is difficult. I cannot believe the amount of homework Jordan brings home most days. On a good night, she has about an hour; several times now she has had three-plus hours. Seems a bit excessive to me. On the bright side, she has pretty much gotten to the point where she remembers to bring the correct books home, which is a challenge considering most classes have a hardback book, a workbook, and a Simple Solutions book. I feel bad that my poor kid's backpack often weighs more than 25 percent of her body weight (yes, I have weighed it). Jordan came home from school today with a flier for a Magic Treehouse book club and an American Girls book club, each of which will meet once a month during lunch. Jordan told me that most of the girls in her class are going to be in the...

Last night, while my kid was (very slowly) getting ready for bed, she announced those words above. I was in the next room and had no clue what she was talking about, although the day before she asked me what V with three lines means (referring to VIII). So I walked into the hall to find Jordan standing in front of the full-length mirror, clearly pretending to wear a toga. I laughed out loud and said, "Oh, you are pretending to wear a toga. You are funny." Then Jordan asked if I was going to put that on Facebook. Of course I did (the exchange, not the picture). When I asked her today how she knows about togas and the Romans, she said she saw something about it awhile ago in a show called "Time Warp Trio." Good to see there are (or at least were) some educational cartoons out there (but for my money, "Phineas and Ferb" rules!). Seven is an interesting age. My kid is so much more independent. She can actually play by herself for an hour or more (I realize a...

Years ago, I gave up making new year's resolutions. I pretty much never keep them, at least not for more than a few months, so why set myself up for failure? This year, I decided to instead list resolutions I should make, but won't (except for number 3, which I clearly need to do). Here goes: Eat better Exercise more Find a job Spend less time on the computer Be a more consistent parent when it comes to discipline Read books Volunteer some place in addition to Jordan's school and my church I am sure there are others I can come up with if I spent more than a few minutes thinking about it. But since I don't plan to do any of them (again, except for number 3, which I would love not to do, but probably cannot avoid), why tax my brain coming up with them? Anyway, I wish all of you a great 2010 (I am pronouncing it twenty-ten, by the way. How about you?)! Oh, and wouldn't you just know it, I checked and at the end of 2008, I wrote a post entitled "Resolutions I shoul...

Jordan starts first grade in just over two weeks, and I am rather panicked, thus contributing to my returning insomnia. Kids are under so much pressure to learn a lot and early, and I worry Jordan is not where she should be, even though I worked with her a lot this summer. Fortunately, she does know a lot of sight words, but when it comes to sounding out words, Jordan acts as if she were in increasing pain with every sound she says. But it is more than that. I worry about structure in general. Jordan and I had a great spring and summer together, but I fear I let her play too much. Some of you are probably thinking that sounds crazy; she is a kid. But how can I expect her to learn, pay attention, listen, be good, etc., for about 6.5 hours a day, when she probably has not done any one of those things for more than 30 minutes at a time a few times a day? Ah, the discipline. Jordan, for the most part, respects, even fears, authority. I am hopeful that will continue into first grade. But is...

Now that it is January and the school year is half over (I think), I am starting to worry about Jordan not yet reading. She recognizes the 20 words in her the first sight word list and probably another dozen or so, but I just thought she would be reading most of the words in some simple books by now. I clearly am not some type of overachieving parent. I have no expectations for my child to be at the top of her class; I will be happy if she makes A's and Bs. Brian said as long as she tries, that is important. I mostly agree with that, but I will be disappointed if she does try hard and she ends up making mostly Cs. I'd like to think since I made mostly A's from 5th grade on, and I tried, surely she can make B's and A's if she tries; it is not as if I was some brainiac, though, to be fair, I think school was easier back then, and I don't think my alma mater was that tremendous. When I visited the kindergarten class near the end of last January, to determine if we ...