Any teachers out there?

[Veronica]

Amelia Earhart - research project! What does he think happened to her? He has to support his hypothesis with some research. You could probably get newspaper articles from the time, other books to read about her. Science could be stuff on engines, flight, weather, human psychology...

Or encourage him to write a "puff piece " about what happened to her...Bermuda Triangle, alien abduction, murdered by her navigator...


V.

[uforgot]

Amelia Earhart - research project! What does he think happened to her? He has to support his hypothesis with some research. You could probably get newspaper articles from the time, other books to read about her. Science could be stuff on engines, flight, weather, human psychology...

Or encourage him to write a "puff piece " about what happened to her...Bermuda Triangle, alien abduction, murdered by her navigator...


V.

Make paper or balsa airplanes! Study Bernoulli's principle. Why do planes fly? What sort of things could have brought her down?

[stacie]

Dear friends, I just want to thank you so much for the support. We attended open house last night. I thought it was important for my husband to see what I was seeing. It was not comforting My son is attending one class which seems interesting. It's called critical thinking. The focus is to get kids reading and talking about books. There is a great deal of discussion and then writing about your ideas in detail. The teacher pleaded with me to help her convince administration that she cannot be successful teaching to 45 kids. There was a general feeling of frustration, even opposition from the teachers.
I'll stop with the self pity. I've cried and worried more than you can imagine. I'm afraid that I'm not up to supplementing his education. I'm fearful. I can't talk to my girlfriend's here about it. They were able to get their children into the better schools. I'm thankful you have allowed my to cry on your shoulder and I will accept you offer to help with finding mind stretching work and books.
We talked at breakfast and decided to stay in this school for the first nine weeks with the agreement that we will do these additional things on our own. This isn't my first choice, but a compromise. I'll need your help.

[maillotpois]

I've been lurking on this thread. The perspectives have been great and I really thank you all for sharing your experiences and your thoughts on this issue.

My daughter started middle school today. I'm actually more worried about the social aspects than the educational. Girls can be SO rough on each other.

My daughter is very bright but she can be lazy. I know that I will need to push her to read extra and do extra projects. I don't think they have "advanced" classes in the 6th grade level here - she only got her teacher/class list a couple of days ago. I'm in wait and see mode....

[stacie]

I received my first ever email from my son last night. It said I love you and played the song You're beautiful.
I feel more peace than I 've felt since this started.

Mail, I spent a week on a field trip with kids this summer. I was surprised at the way girls treated each other. And these were the really nice girls! I would encourage you to read Reviving Ophelia. I wish my mom had read it. I felt more empowered just understanding why I got so screwed up!
Be the strongest woman you can be. That will help her so much. Listen and Talk a lot. Knowing you are there to support her and go to bat for her will give her strength. I hope she has a great first week.

[maillotpois]

A friend made the same book recommendation! I have it - I have to read it.

Our situation is tough socially because we're scraping by in a very affluent community. So we're lucky in that the public schools are well supported by the community and the families. But it's a lot of pressure all around. The girls my daughter hangs out with can have anything they want, etc. Our financial situation is not as rosy. Even if we could afford to give her everything, we wouldn't of course. But we can't and moreover, I work full time, which is also different from most of the other moms. She's a great sport, and I am really making an effort to work at home as much as possible so I am as available as possible. I just know it is going to be tough.

Reading about the email your son wrote made me cry! Yesterday after a very good guitar/piano lesson, DD was marching around the house chanting "I am 11!" over and over - it was so funny, but I wish I could just bottle that self-esteem and positive energy she was feeling at that moment because she'll need it later, I just know.

[Crankin]

Excellent book recommendation. The girl thing is pretty, well, horrible. I looped with my kids for 6th and 7th grade and after 2 years together it was unrelenting. And some of the parents, moms especially, just had no idea that their precious daughters could be so mean. At least I was mean at home, too! I definitely was one of the mean girls, but I don't think anything I did in middle school could even come close to what I witnessed in the last 10 years or so. Probably the worst thing was hearing that one of my former students was beaten up by 3 other kids who were all on my team after they went to the high school.
But, usually it peaks by the beginning of 7th grade and as they get near 8th grade, they become more human...