Sophia Update - Parent Teacher Conference

I had to go to the first parent teacher conference of the year tonight.  Last year I took a translator.  This year I tried it by myself.  I started the meeting by saying that I was afraid I wasn't going to understand.  Most of my communication with Sophia's teacher is written so I wanted to give her fair warning.  
Kenny got to spend the evening at a farewell dinner for the brigade commander.  I wished I could be socializing with him at a fancy hotel downtown instead of facing the unknown with Sophia's teacher.  I really had no idea how the meeting was going to go both in ability to communicate and the nature of the report I would be given.
The teacher started by saying that things did not go well at the beginning of the year.  Sophia was not on par with the other children in her second grade class.  They had covered much more material and were used to working faster here in Buttenheim.  We think that is because Sophia's first grade class in Weiden had a lot of students that did not speak German at home so the instruction was slower paced.  She went on to say that Sophia has now caught up and is with the rest of the class in reading, math, and science.  She is particularly good at science because she is excited about the material.  Her German is very good.  She understands everything.  However, her handwriting is the worst in her class.  The absolute worst.  This is not a surprise.  Her teachers are always complaining about her handwriting.  I've tried to work with her and encourage her but she doesn't make sustainable progress.  We're going to resort to bribery.  Her teacher is going to give her stars on pages that are done well or that show great improvement.  Ten stars and I will buy her a prize.  I don't know what else to do.  She just doesn't really care.  Her teacher cares because she will have to mark answers wrong if she can't read them clearly.
This is a good example of why military children should be working above grade level if possible.  It's no fun to have to play catch-up.  My challenge is that I don't exactly know what I should be expecting of Sophia.  She is the youngest in the class.  We thought we would be moving back to the States after German 1st grade and she would then do American 1st grade with other children her age.  Well, we ended up moving to a different post in Germany and her teacher had no hesitation about sending her on to 2nd grade.  Additionally, she's had to learn German.  I don't want to make excuses for her, but at the same time I don't know what reasonable expectations might be.
I'm just glad she's caught up to her class.  Hopefully she can be bribed into improving her handwriting.
As for me...I'm glad I was able to get through the meeting in German.


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Army Life - Thanksgiving Past

Thanksgiving 2005

I'm making pies today for our Thanksgiving dinner with friends tomorrow.  The simple act of piercing the raw crust with a fork made me think of my Mom.  It's her job to make the pies.  I plan the menu.  It's Dad's job to go to store after store to try to find the obscure ingredients on my list.  We all help cook.  Kenny entertains Sophia.  At least that's how it goes when we're lucky enough to be home for Thanksgiving.  The Army sends us all over so we don't always get home for important holidays.  Somehow making the traditional pumpkin pie made me particularly nostalgic this year.

But, this year is special in its own way.  We get to celebrate with our neighbors.  We live two doors down from friends that we had at Fort Irwin when our babies were just learning to walk.  Now the kids are 7.  We also have German neighbors that have done everything from help us find our house to help with work in the overgrown yard that came with our house to show me how to make jam from the fruit harvested from our trees.  I feel like they have adopted us into their family.  I am particularly thankful for my neighbors this year and I'm glad we get to share Thanksgiving with them.

It is not often we spend Thanksgiving with friends.  People don't usually want to have a vegetarian meal.  I guess the turkey is kind of important.  But, since Mary and I are teaming up to do the cooking we'll have the best of both worlds...a turkey and a cheese nut loaf with a bunch of vegetarian sides.  We'll have the pies of course and Kersten our German neighbor is bringing Tiramasu.  She makes desserts that look and taste like they come from the bakery so I'm pretty excited to try it.

And as for Christmas, the Army is paying for our way home since we were assigned consecutive overseas tours.  If all goes well we will arrive Christmas Eve.  Sophia's last day of school before the break is the 23rd so we're cutting it close.

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Army Life - Get Off Post!

I ran into a friend at the Commissary today and I commented on how well stocked the shelves were.  Usually we can expect them to be out of something important like potatoes or cranberries.  Sure enough, there was no cream.  A helpful employee heard me talking to another woman about the empty shelf and she went to check to see if there was any in the back.  The other searcher and I had a minute to chat.

I told her it was no big deal if they didn't have it.  I would just go off post.  She confessed that in 10 months here she has only gone into downtown a couple of times and she hasn't explored any of the grocery stores close to post.  She said it is too hard to get around with her big stroller.  I gave her the names of several stores and said they contain some really nice things.  I shop at my local grocery store several times a week.

What I wanted to say was that she needed to ditch that big old stroller and get out.  Get off post!  Sophia occasionally rode in a small stroller, just one step up from an umbrella stroller.  It was compact and it folded easily with one hand.  She rode in a jogging stroller but only if I was walking or running for exercise.  She rode in a sling when she was a baby and when she could walk she walked.  She climbed canyons in the Mojave desert when she was not even a year old.  I hated those monstrosities that would carry the baby and half of the nursery and I refused to own one.  I think I was in the minority.

What I'm really upset about though is that so many people here have been given this amazing opportunity to live in a beautiful country and they rarely even leave post.  Many are struggling to raise a family on a small salary.  Many have small children at home.  Many are intimidated about the language barrier.  Many just hate it here.  But no wonder they hate it if they never leave the gates of post.  I start to get claustrophobic just thinking about it.

I try to excuse some of them because they're young and pinching pennies.  Then I remember that I first came to Europe to study when I was 19.  We had lots of opportunity to travel with school, but Kenny and I explored on the weekends and then met up with friends along the way on a four week Christmas trip that went in a big circle from Spain to Turkey and back again.  I credit him with being the adventurer but I was a willing participant.  And, I didn't have much money.  My memory tells me I had only $400 of  spending money for the whole year but that is seemingly impossible.  Maybe that didn't include my Eurorail pass.  In any case, I had to be very careful about any money I spent.  I was thankful that I was wearing two sets of clothes for warmth when we were robbed on our train in Rome on Christmas morning.  I didn't have money to buy more clothes.  We found a way to make it work.

I made a summary scrapbook of all of the important trips and events of our first ten years of marriage.  When people were looking through it at the 12 hour crop the other week they were amazed that we have been so many places.  It helps that we are now on our third assignment in Germany and money isn't as tight.  But, we take advantage of our time here and try to see as much as we can.

And then there are the people that won't go to the grocery store to buy cream for Thanksgiving dinner.  It's too bad the Army doesn't figure out a way to send people that really want to be here.  I am so sad about all of the lost opportunities.





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Sophia Update - Reading Progress

Kenny has assured me that Sophia is not going to be in high school and not know how to read. Mary just told me this week that she's probably a little behind because she started German school right at the time many children begin to read in English. Still, I worry. Kenny and I were both early readers and we've read to Sophia since she was a newborn. She has always loved hearing stores. She could write her name and she knew all of the letters and their sounds at three. I thought she should have been an early reader too. She was actually right on track with reading in German last year but she seems to be a little behind her classmates in this new school where she is the only student in her class that doesn't speak German at home. So, we just plug along. Kenny and I both read to her every night and she reads a bit of German and English every day. But, it's a slow go and I try to mask my impatience and instead delight in the baby steps.

Imagine my surprise when I came down this morning and Kenny and Sophia were both reading quietly on the couch. She read this entire 100+ page book this morning by herself and then did the online quiz mostly by herself getting most of the answers correct.

I think she's holding out on me!

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