A good excuse

T asked to be excused from class yesterday.  She was taking all her siblings and her daughter to the dentist--all ten of them.  They range in age from three to 18.  She said all but the youngest had no cavities.  She was "pumped" about that and so were all of them.

Miss J did Talk With Your Baby today and asked for examples of conversations with their children.  T was first and broke the ice by telling of her own daughter's asking about her brother's death and how she really doesn't like to talk about it.  Everyone did tell some incident or at least shared a bit, but T got it started.

J said later, "T is a gift."  I told T that later and she got a wicked gleam in her eye and said, "Just wrap me up like a birthday present."  I got a vision of the old Saran Wrap fantasy in what was that old book about being a perfect wife--Marabel Morgan?  Can't remember.  It made me laugh.  But I did not share my thoughts!  (later correction:  Marabel Morgan--The Total Woman!)

T has so many abilities and gifts.  How can I get her to pass the GED when she suddenly couldn't answer a question this morning about which fraction was larger than 1?  3/4?  3/2?  12/15?  We have attacked that idea with pictures, rulers, computation, but it doesn't stick.   Her sister, who is also in the class, has had to learn how to write 1/2 and could not split a rectangle into three equal parts.  Two parts? OK, but not three.

I think T has a shot at a GED.  Her younger sister does not.  But do I tell her that?  Not yet.  She can learn and maybe more importantly, her four year old needs to be with us so he can learn.  He has made good strides in language and socialization just in a month.