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A Better Day (At Least So FAR)
Sep. 3rd, 2014 07:59 am I'm at the coffee shop drinking a latte and scamming some free wifi for an hour or so.
I expect our new hot spot to show up some time today, but it will take a while to set it all up, so I'm going under the assumption that we won't be back to our normal routine until sometime tomorrow. HOWEVER, today has started out much, much better than yesterday already. I decided, once again, to go in to try to talk to a live human being, Ms. Sanchez, about Mason's 8th grade math and to basically make sure it was a decision the school made with some kind of forethought and wasn't just a technical error.
Turns out, they knew what they were doing.
But, I'll get to that. First, the lines were a lot shorter today, and, in point of fact, I by-passed them completely since I already knew the abilities of the people at the front lines. I just wrote myself out a visitor pass and headed up to the office. Where I waited no more than ten minutes and managed to catch Ms. Sanchez live and in-person in her office. I sat down with her and explained that we were VERY HAPPY with Mason's acceleration, BUT we just wanted to make sure that it was a decision that would be best for him. She looked up his test scores and said, "Oh," and then, "Oh, yeah, we have another one like him in 8th grade right now, so when the time comes to have college-level classes for Mason, we'll have it figured out by then."
Which was not what I was asking, but totally answered my question.
Thing is, Mason tested for UMPTYMP and didn't qualify so we were figuring that maybe he was only just moderately above average in math and not this accelerated. Now I think there are a couple of factors, one of which is that he was well and truly terrified of that test that day and simply may have not done as well on the test due to nerves. (Tests used to paralyze me occasionally when I was Mason's age.) The second is that Mason isn't really the UMPTYMP personality. If my friend Naomi's daughter is an indication, I think there has to be a love for math that goes beyond the average that Mason really doesn't have. I know from the essay part of the UMPTMP application that Mason had a hard time even imagining math as 'fun' or something that he ever thought of outside class. Plus, there are just levels of aptitude, all of which are valid, and Mason just may be in a different range of that than most UMPTYMP applicants.
But we're going to try 8th grade math in 6th grade, because why not challenge him? Gods knows he was BORED SENSELESS when he was required by his previous teacher to help others after he'd finished his own work. Plus, you have no idea how excited Mason was to be the only 6th grader in an 8th grade class. He loved the teacher, whom he described as funny and smart. (As a note, this may be the first teacher in a LONG time that Mason has labeled 'smart.')
So that was a great start to my day.
Plus, when I told Ms. Sanchez that I was a science fiction author (I only did that because we exchanged business cards), she was super-excited because apparently her son is a big fan of SF. I should also say that I was generally impressed with Ms. Sanchez. She kind of reminded me of some New York agents and editors that I've met, which is to say that she was sharp (in both senses of that word,) a bit abrupt, but straight-forward and no-nonsense in a way you don't find much around these parts (thought TBF to my friends, I do tend to find people like that to surround myself with). At any rate, I didn't have to deal with Minnesota Nice (which I hate) so I cottoned to her immediately.
For the rest of my day, my plans involve not going to my usual Women of Wednesday at the Black Dog, which makes me sad, but at the time I would have been there, I'll, instead, be at a different coffee shop meeting up with my writing collaborator, Rachel Gold, and our artistic collaborators Mandie Brasington and Alexis Cooke to talk about our SEEKRIT* project, which, with luck, will be launching at the end of September. This is a project I'm super excited about. I can't say a whole lot about it right now, but there will be urban fantasy and there will be art. (Two of my favorite things!)
*I kind of hate the whole "seekrit" thing, but mostly because I'm jealous when other people have them and I don't. :-) Also, this one shouldn't be under the table for too much longer.
So, if we can just get internet soon, life will be pretty good.
I expect our new hot spot to show up some time today, but it will take a while to set it all up, so I'm going under the assumption that we won't be back to our normal routine until sometime tomorrow. HOWEVER, today has started out much, much better than yesterday already. I decided, once again, to go in to try to talk to a live human being, Ms. Sanchez, about Mason's 8th grade math and to basically make sure it was a decision the school made with some kind of forethought and wasn't just a technical error.
Turns out, they knew what they were doing.
But, I'll get to that. First, the lines were a lot shorter today, and, in point of fact, I by-passed them completely since I already knew the abilities of the people at the front lines. I just wrote myself out a visitor pass and headed up to the office. Where I waited no more than ten minutes and managed to catch Ms. Sanchez live and in-person in her office. I sat down with her and explained that we were VERY HAPPY with Mason's acceleration, BUT we just wanted to make sure that it was a decision that would be best for him. She looked up his test scores and said, "Oh," and then, "Oh, yeah, we have another one like him in 8th grade right now, so when the time comes to have college-level classes for Mason, we'll have it figured out by then."
Which was not what I was asking, but totally answered my question.
Thing is, Mason tested for UMPTYMP and didn't qualify so we were figuring that maybe he was only just moderately above average in math and not this accelerated. Now I think there are a couple of factors, one of which is that he was well and truly terrified of that test that day and simply may have not done as well on the test due to nerves. (Tests used to paralyze me occasionally when I was Mason's age.) The second is that Mason isn't really the UMPTYMP personality. If my friend Naomi's daughter is an indication, I think there has to be a love for math that goes beyond the average that Mason really doesn't have. I know from the essay part of the UMPTMP application that Mason had a hard time even imagining math as 'fun' or something that he ever thought of outside class. Plus, there are just levels of aptitude, all of which are valid, and Mason just may be in a different range of that than most UMPTYMP applicants.
But we're going to try 8th grade math in 6th grade, because why not challenge him? Gods knows he was BORED SENSELESS when he was required by his previous teacher to help others after he'd finished his own work. Plus, you have no idea how excited Mason was to be the only 6th grader in an 8th grade class. He loved the teacher, whom he described as funny and smart. (As a note, this may be the first teacher in a LONG time that Mason has labeled 'smart.')
So that was a great start to my day.
Plus, when I told Ms. Sanchez that I was a science fiction author (I only did that because we exchanged business cards), she was super-excited because apparently her son is a big fan of SF. I should also say that I was generally impressed with Ms. Sanchez. She kind of reminded me of some New York agents and editors that I've met, which is to say that she was sharp (in both senses of that word,) a bit abrupt, but straight-forward and no-nonsense in a way you don't find much around these parts (thought TBF to my friends, I do tend to find people like that to surround myself with). At any rate, I didn't have to deal with Minnesota Nice (which I hate) so I cottoned to her immediately.
For the rest of my day, my plans involve not going to my usual Women of Wednesday at the Black Dog, which makes me sad, but at the time I would have been there, I'll, instead, be at a different coffee shop meeting up with my writing collaborator, Rachel Gold, and our artistic collaborators Mandie Brasington and Alexis Cooke to talk about our SEEKRIT* project, which, with luck, will be launching at the end of September. This is a project I'm super excited about. I can't say a whole lot about it right now, but there will be urban fantasy and there will be art. (Two of my favorite things!)
*I kind of hate the whole "seekrit" thing, but mostly because I'm jealous when other people have them and I don't. :-) Also, this one shouldn't be under the table for too much longer.
So, if we can just get internet soon, life will be pretty good.
