Make-it, Take-it

The kids school had a make-it, take-it workshop Tuesday night. I'm thinking it will be 'make a craft with your kid' - sounds nice enough and A really wanted to do it (his teacher was talking it up, I'm guessing). So, I told my Scout co-leader that we wouldn't be there and we went. Well...turns out it was really just for parents (though luckily they had a movie in the library for the kids), and it was to make/learn about ways to help your child with math and reading. Not exactly what I had in mind, nor what the kids really need, but we were there, supporting the kids. There were maybe 20 parents in the 1st grade classroom (out of almost 100 1st graders) and from which parents I knew, I would guess that many of them were parents of kids who didn't need much help.

We got instructions on how to help A tell his coins apart and to learn what you can change 5 pennies for. Ummm.... he's a bit beyond that - yesterday I gave him a handful of money and asked him to make various amounts for me, sometimes restricting certain coins (ie make 37 cents, then do it without quarters, then how few coins can you make it in and how many). He does great. He could be a bit faster when we're at the store... but maybe that's just my parental anxiety over not wanting to annoy customers behind us (they don't usually look like they mind and some even comment on how nice it is to see him handling his own money).

Meanwhile D was in the 4th grade group - where they didn't make anything, just talked about AR tests and how the Social Studies book is seemingly written on an 8th grade level (D says one teacher said she taught middle school SS out of this same book).