Lauren had an English assignment to plan/write a newspaper article on an item in the news. She was her usual harrumphy self as she tried to find something in the work that would engage her, starting by looking for a story. We were stuck about what to suggest, coming up with obvious things like the London Marathon, but nothing we could come up with caught her interest. Eventually she went upstairs for an hour and came down to tell us that she’d finished her homework, having done an article on the recently deceased Jack Ashley, a former MP noted among other things for being deaf. I sometimes think she’s even smarter than I give her credit for, which is a lot.
Snowmen
Claire and the kids are in Morley for part of the holiday. Much excitement from Sam, who sent me the following image:
SATs
Lauren is in the middle of practice exams for her SATs (which I recently learned officially doesn’t stand for anything any more). She’s keenly aware of what she needs to get to be a particular level, to the extent that in her level 6 maths she both knew and achieved the exact score necessary to count as level 6. In case that sounds like coasting, 11 year olds are expected to be level 4, level 6 is for 14 year olds.
She’s also been made peer monitor, which means she has to help organize assemblies (and they really do; the teachers basically sit by and watch what happens). And to round out the maturity kick she just finished reading Animal Farm, though to be honest I think she missed out on some of the Stalinist subtext.
By contrast Sam is in a quiet period at school – no tests, no milestones to hit – but we’re pleased that he’s picked up his effort to the extent that we’re now very definitely on his side rather than the teachers’ when they make comments about what he’s doing. We’re certainly not thinking ‘problem solved’, but ‘problem contained’ is fair, and should give him a chance to remind everyone just how sharp he is.
Themes
Yes, another new layout! I’m trying to make the archives work, but as I don’t know why they’ve broken that’s proving rather tricky. Will I give in this easily? Well, possibly…
Update: Working now. I think.
VPL
A while ago Claire dragged the kids round M&S, and in return Sam asked what VPL stood for. From Claire: “I told him and smiled at the lady standing next to us then Lauren said that Sam probably didn’t like hanging around in this section of M&S.”