Moodle

Today something interesting happened. Well, kind of. At least I thought it was interesting.

I spoke with one of my best friends who usually volunteers with me in our sons class once a week. We go in and test the kids on spelling words they have missed in the past. Yesterday she couldn’t make it and I went alone. When I got there the teacher had something different in mind. She wanted me to actually help some of the kids who had done poorly on the last spelling test study. I looked at her and said “How do you want me to do that?” and she replied “However you study with your son”. I said “I just quiz him once a week, that’s all he needs”. “Don’t rub that in,” she said. “If he had to study more, do what you would do then”. I looked at her, saw she was done explaining to me, and not wanting to embarrass myself further went in the other room with the first child.

I wasn’t trying to be a pain, I really didn’t know how to study with them. I was not a good studier in school, and I didn’t pass most of the tests I took. Don’t get me wrong, I studied a lot. I did all of my homework. I thought I knew the material. Now, whether it was poor study skills or my ADD (not diagnosed until I was an adult) I don’t know. It really doesn’t matter, because helping a child study is not my thing. So far I have been lucky, my son is a great memorizer and has required very little from me. When he needs more my husband helps him, since my husband is an awesome test taker. So I was being serious, I honestly had no idea how to go about helping a struggling child study, even something as easy as a spelling list.

I improvised, and crossed my fingers I that I had helped them.

So when my friend called and asked how it went yesterday, I told her - the whole thing. She busted up laughing. Hard. “I’m sorry” she said between snorts. “I don’t really mean to laugh… but you don’t know how to practice spelling words?” Insert some more snorts. It’s a good thing I love her so much - or I might have taken it the wrong way. “I’m serious” I said. “I didn’t know what to do, I’m not good at it”. Her laughter turned into a case of the giggles and she said “It’s just so funny - it sounds so funny. You’re smart, it just sounds weird”. I had to agree with her on all of those points. She went on to tell me that it would have been the best day for her to have been there, since she has to help her son study for everything. Figures. LOL

I don’t have much of a point here except that I guess good study skills are a good thing to learn early in life. I certainly haven’t picked up on them as an adult, and now I wish I had better ones to help my children more. At least studying and tests are my husbands strong suit.

The other thing I wanted to point out is that not all kids are good test takers. I wasn’t, and I am smart. (really I am) Think twice before you get on your child because they constantly under-perform on tests. See if there is something you could do to help before you just assume they are lazy. Most children want to please their parents, and F’s don’t do that. There could be an underlying problem such as AD/HD, a learning disability, or even something as simple as not knowing how to study properly. Of course, there are kids who just don’t bother as well, but if you have a suspicion that your child is trying and still failing, look into it. Otherwise they might end-up like me, an adult who panics at the idea of helping a 5th grader study a spelling test!