I invite you to take a gander with me down Homework Lane and live an afternoon of my life helping my oldest son with his homework.
FACT OR OPINION
Directions: Read the following passage and use the information to complete the facts and opinions below.
My name is Ishai. I just came to America with my mother and father. In Israel, I lived in a kibbutz. In America, I live in a large city. Just my family lives in the our apartment. In Israel, all of the children lived together in the kibbutz. They were like my brothers and sisters. I miss them, but I like living in our apartment too. I think my daddy likes his new job. He smiles a lot now when he comes home. He tells us funny stories in Hebrew. That’s what we spoke in the kibbutz. I tell him that we are in America now. The he laughs and tries to tell the story in English
Directions: Write 3 statements of fact from the passage. Write 3 statements of opinion.
Me: Ok, Payton, let’s start with the facts.
Payton: *blink blink**
Me: Payton? The facts? Let’s find three.
Payton: I don’t see any facts!
Hmmm, does he not understand what a fact is? They’ve been covering this concept for a couple of weeks now. Obviously he doesn’t belong in the gifted program if he can’t even remember what facts are! What am I doing, fighting for the retest?!
Me: You don’t know what facts are?
Payton: YES! I know what they are. There aren’t any in this story!
Me: How is that? I see facts in it.
Payton: There aren’t any facts because it’s a fiction story! Ishai isn’t a real person!
Me: *blink blink*
I then spit upon his honor and offended his principles when I suggested we pretend Ishai is a real person. I had to sacrifice a lamb at the stone altar in order to atone for my moral transgression, how dare I throw my honesty into the wind and think it’s okay to make up facts about people who don’t even exist.
What do you do when your kid can outsmart the curriculum at nine-years-old?
I called today to reconfirm my reservations at The Betty Ford Clinic. For the teenage years.
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Boy are you going to need it. They only get worse the older they get.
Exactly. A page from my diary over here.
Our guy takes every assignment, project, whatever, literally.
It’s as if we have to begin at the beginning of the beginning. Now, with that homework, what I’d have to say (since I’ve had double Payton’s lifetime to figure out some clues thrown my way.) I’d have to say, “Now, today school wants us to read this pretend story here, and then they’re going to ask if that IF this person in the story were to be real, and IF his life was real, then what in the pretend story would be real about his life in it? Let’s look at the first sentence, and write F or O after it. Ready? I’ll go first. blah blah blah. Oh, I’ll write F because his pretend name really is Ishmael.” *SIGH* and we’d do it bit by bit.
And then my son would look at me with those fantastic clear eyes, and ask, “well, then, why don’t they just ask me to write 3 fact, 3 opinion statements?”
I don’t know, honey..maybe they want to make sure you can tell a fact apart from an opinion. I don’t know, honey.
Can you imagine just.how.boring school must be for them, listening to the teacher drone on and on when they’ve already mentally checked out at the beginning of her spiel? I get glimpses of it every now and then at home. They must just barely endure it.
Im thankful my kids are only mediocre at best.
.-= OHmommy´s last blog ..A letter to my daughter on her 3rd birthday. =-.
Well…how do you (or anyone) KNOW it’s not a real story? Perhaps Ishai really wrote this about himself (in a journal, at school or something) and it was incorporated into this book; that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it! Explain that since there is no way to verify the veracity of the story, the question is operating under the assumption that Ishai is a real person. It is possible to write the publisher of the book and ask for a detailed back story and explanation behind every word problem but why bother?
I’ve used the following explanation a lot. School (or life) is like a game with rules (chess, monopoly etc.). We all have to go to school (play the game). In order to succeed (graduate to the next class) we need to follow the rules of the game. Do the rules make sense? Not all the time. Are the rules dumb? Yes probably very very dumb. That’s okay. We know they’re dumb rules with dumb people enforcing them. The fact is that this is how life is. You will go to colleges with dumb rules. You will work for a boss/company with dumb rules. You will live in a city/state/country with dumb rules. The trick is to learn to live and operate within the rules and find ways to make your own fun at the same time (like playing a game of monopoly without cheating).
He totally has a point.
.-= rimarama´s last blog ..Fun with Book Club =-.
I agree, Vee, life is nothing but a game, ALL of it. But is the trick to learn to live and operate within the rules? Completely? Unquestionably? If so, we would still be here, thinking the world is flat.
With maturity, I’m fully confident my son will get better at distinguishing between which rules to accept and which are worth the effort to question. This is practice for him, and I’m fully behind him in this learning experience.
Even Captain Kirk changed the rules of the game.
Of course the rules have to be changed! I used that explanation to help my son cope with elementary, homework and all the crap that comes with dealing with them (administration in general) when I had done all that I could on my end. It’s so hard for a young kid to SEE the unfairness, wrongness of a situation and be powerless to help them. Games and rules were something my son could absolutely relate to – especially chess because he sees things as black or white; right or wrong. Life and school is an IMPERFECT game but the analogy worked for my him.
No, I don’t want him to always follow rules without question but when he was younger I needed to help him find a way to enjoy what he could while adapting to our stupid school and narrow-minded teachers. By the fourth grade he was able to connect with an absolutely amazing teacher that made a world of difference in his school experience. Questioning rules and rocking the boat is something I absolutely advocate and foster in my children as they’ve matured. He was just to young and paying too high a price at the time.
.-= ~vee´s last blog ..Playing =-.
As I said, with maturity comes better discretion over which rules to question. All we parents of gifted kids can do is meet our kids wherever they are and support them in their life learning experiences, which will be, understandably, different than the average kid.
Oh does this ever bring me back to the 4th Grade with Robert. I got a note from the teacher that he refused to do an assignment. When I questioned him what the assignment was – it was to write a story about a picture prompt that they were given. The picture was of two Cows, one holding a handbag and they were standing on two legs next to a car.
Robert wrote something to the tune of “I cannot possibly write a story about a picture that is so obviously false, and forcing me to be creative about something ridiculous and obviously impossible is dumb” – Hence the note from the Teacher.
The challenges have been for him to learn when and how to question authority, how to be true to himself and still fit in and not call unwanted attention to himself. If we ever figure it out and perfect it – I will be sure to let you know.
Hang in There!
.-= Tracey´s last blog ..Please say it isn’t so…. =-.
I think its great hes so smart and can think outside of the “box”.
Wow, just wow.
I wouldn’t even know what to do. But I’m starting to run into similar things with my 7 yr old. Its hard to explain.
.-= monstergirlee´s last blog ..See-Saw or Teeter-Totter? =-.
I am with ~Vee, there is nothing to suggest that this passage is fiction. Just because something is written in a school book or on a homework assignment does not make it “not real” otherwise, we wouldn’t/couldn’t have history.
My son. now 15 is also a very literal child and it used to give me fits, still does sometimes, but wow that boy is consistent with himself, his friends and his values.
I am so very glad that part of his spirit wasn’t broken by the school system.
Can I join you? At the clinic I mean.
.-= anymommy´s last blog ..Perceptions =-.
*sigh*, I used an explanation much like Vee’s. For kid’s like this, the point of the assignment is not the problem, it’s the method of the assignment. If he could just get past the presentation and process the question without worrying about the details like the reality.
Oh my… This reminds me of the round and round debates (and meltdowns) my younger son and I had when he, at 6, was asked to write about his “favorite” whatever. He “has no favorites”, just several things he likes, how dare I, his momma ask him to just “make something up” or “pretend” (gasp!!! but that would be less than fully truthful, momma). Now at 9, he’s over debating or meltdowns, he simply lectures his peers or teachers when they use “imprecise language” (*snort-laughes*). Have fun.
Frickin wonderful. Gotta love it. Not only does he think outside the box, he jumps up and down on it and hands it back. *giggles* Ahh, school…
Brace yourself for the remaining ride.
Wow, the part that got me was when he said that it wasn’t a real story, so there weren’t any facts. I can relate to that logic! Reminds me of when I offered to rent Star Trek for the kiddos, and my boy said, “No thanks–I *don’t* like movies or shows that use *fake* planet names!”
I can also soooo relate to dealing w/ the administrators and such…such endeavors truly test one’s parental mettle.
.-= Just Margaret´s last blog ..You Never Know Unless You Try =-.