This Wednesday...

So - today was an exciting teaching day for me. Not because we did anything remarkable or were up to our hands in paper mache - we weren't. We were just slaving over the Grammar and writing lessons that have been the bane of our existence these first 18 days.

Once upon a time there was a Unit on nouns that began on day 8 of school. I should have known it was ominous because we started it in the ICU waiting lounge while we were visiting Tony's brother. But hey, I figured after easily conquering subjects and predicates...nouns would be a dream. And I was right...it was a nightmare of sorts. Proper nouns vs. common nouns were tough - but we finally learned that the capitalization of those proper nouns gives us a clue. By day 13 (again...should have known...triskaidekaphobia and all) we were toiling on the singular/plural aspect of the darned things. Day 14 brought possessives into the picture and it seemed like she got it, but when we did a worksheet - the evidence wasn't there. We kept going though...right through the miserable review...where don't you know - she got the things I thought she wouldn't and tanked the things I thought she would ace (How about that for description!) And then the test....Crikey! She got 15/20 - which was not passing for our curriculum.

We left nouns alone for awhile and then Day 18 dawned and things felt right for a new approach. I decided to let Caitlin teach it all to me. You see, knowing Caitlin, she likes to be in control and in control doing things well. By golly - it worked - she got it and then went right on and got a 19/20 on the test. YES!!!! Moral of the story: maybe I get in the way?! Who knows....but we are stuck together and hopefully make a good team.