I'll also note that Matilda did NOT seem to get some stuff in first grade until the very end of the year (reading, math). And it took a special reading tutor and then BOOM the light bulb went on. And the same with math. And Matilda is young-ish for her class (September birth) and sometimes I think Piaget is right. You just have to get to a certain cognitive level before you can apprehend certain things.

Wow, Burrell. I'm glad today was a bagel-eating day for her.

Burrell, that has to be wonderful and surreal at the same time.

Uhg, I just went off on my uncle. He is a fox republican and always forwarding stuff. Normally, I delete, but I just lost it tonight and can only hope I was level.

We are always hearing about how Social Security is going to run out of money. How come we never hear about Welfare running out of money?

Because threatening kids doesn't get them to the polls cause they can't vote. If you get SS, or are eligible for it? You can most likely vote.

Welfare in this country only applies to those with dependent children. So then...

Because child labor is illegal and immoral. Because if you haven't paid into SS, you can only be a beneficiary if your parents have (so then it isn't welfare!) and screw the toddler for the parents' decisions? Really? You don't get unemployment if you haven't been employed. You get the food kitchen run by the kindness of strangers. The United States has no national program of cash assistance for non-disabled poor individuals who are not raising children.

Healthy kids benefit us all. Just ask North Korea. Or Pakistan. * I don't wanna live there. It's called paying it forward and being a responsible village. I believe our country should provide the safety net for our most vulnerable of citizens when the voluntary community cannot. That is what WIC and TANF do. Of which many will run out of money soon if the *** gov't doesn't open back up. Which means kids who have no responsibility or recourse for their condition go hungry. I don't find that acceptable.

One has nothing to do with the other.

• I got hyperbolic. He will either listen or not, but godlovehim, he won't research.

That's hard, Kat. Math really does require a lot of big conceptual leaps. I remember with my kids we started by counting on fingers or counting and adding objects (like grapes or what not). But they are both like Noah and picked it up easily, so I am sure I have a skewed sense of how to teach it.

Burrell, that has to be wonderful and surreal at the same time.

Exactly. I've been reeling all day.

Grace reads and writes close to grade level -- she wrote a 4 sentence paragraph about a field trip they went on this week with no spelling errors and only minimal handwriting formation issues. Her reading comprehension is inconsistent.

But other content areas are questionable. She had a science test today and got herbivore and carnivore mixed up, even though we studied it last night and this morning.

Burrell, that's wonderful news.

Noah is Noah when it comes to math. We were talking about how much testing Grace's teacher does. And Noah asked, "How many tests?" So I said, "it seems like it's 3 a week." Then he replied with "So twelve a month and 120 a school year." Um. Yes. Exactly that. My kid gets tested 120 times per school year and there are only 180 days.

Granted, the upside means that there are plenty of times for her to demonstrated what she knows.

But with Noah? He's all, "When can I learn division?" And when I explained it to him, he started doing it in his head. WEIRD.

Oh, yay, Burrell. I've been worried for you all.

Kat, Suzi, msbelle: much sympathy about the kids & school.

Burrell, really good news about your sister.

Sympathy for all the Buffista parents and kidlets.