West London Chat Summer/Autumn

[vbus]

ooh the excitement of starting a new thread

Got discounted halibut steaks. Grill or claypot?

Sfx, don't know what to say. Do you have a parent's evening coming up soon where you could mention your concerns? It can't surely be based on how loud she speaks , it seems that they're not taking into account individual characters. In the meantime, carry on doing what you are doing at home!

Sometimes I think it is all a bit PFB syndrome so I back off, but it is not doing her confidence any good.
she is also a child who puts a lot of weight on rules and on the other hand seems incapable of answering a question simply, she goes around explaining this and that, and wondering about, even in maths. I can just imagine how well this will go down in exams

sfx - many years to go yet before exams. It's all about training. So can you do games where the rule is to give as short an answer as possible? I have a student who is incapable of writing short simple sentences ... I've even tried making her write paragraphs in the style of bullet points. Sorry this is not helping. But really it's too early to worry about exams.

my tutors are always on about me to write short sentences
, so apple tree bla bla, she gets it but likes to paint a picture, set the scene and so on
yes long to go, shall ignore

Sfx- sorry to hear about situation, not sure what to suggest other than talk to teacher about it and keep encouraging/praising DD when she reads well at home and hopefully she'll start showing the teachers what she can really do. DS1 reads much 'harder' stuff at home than at school.

Will miss you tonight we'll have a bop for you

Really looking forward to gig, could do with a stress buster. Neighbour is the one who is causing more grief again

nearly forgot about gig, missing course as well as dh will be late arriving home and I need dd to have a quiet night tonight, we are off to the London Eye tonight

London eye tomorrow that should be I will be in charge of 4 kids

Vbus I was thinking how your ds1 was faring on that front too he is a super competent reader

Just shouted at cold caller while trying to supervise music practice:

me: I'm busy
cold caller: Madam, you are not busy.
me: HOW DARE YOU SAY I AM NOT BUSY!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME? HOW DARE YOU blah blah blah

Strangely enough I do feel a lot better now.

Popping in quickly to say how dare a cold caller tell you that you're not busy!!! . Cheeky bint/git (delete as appropriate).

Copper , tbf they probably do get a lot of 'we're in the middle of dinner/we're busy etc' but not sure how telling you you're not is really going to make you listen, 'oh you're right, I'm not really busy, now what are you selling?'

Sfx, I don't think is pfb syndrome at all. You just want dd's abilities to be recognised in the classroom which they're not doing, simply because they don't match what they think she should be doing. Ds1's teacher this year is an NQT & from the chats I've had with her, she seems to be recognising their individual abilities rather than just sticking to a chart & personally, I think its much more constructive. It certainly seems to have boosted ds1's confidence in the last couple of weeks anyway.

Gig was fab, nice to see a bit of showmanship in the lead singer

vbus/kora/anyone else who might be interested - Ticketmaster have tickets for the Smashing Pumpkins both nights but I think I'm going to have to pass this time . Tickets are £43 not including booking fee etc, its just a bit too expensive for me given that its close to ds2's birthday & xmas.

Copper - If it's cold caller asking for me I usually say 'oh she's not at home, can I take a message?' They usually say no and don't call back

Tilly - will pass on tickets for same reason. Plus it's my b'day that day so not sure if DH arranged anything

Tilly/Kora - thanks for a top evening, the band were excellent and support group not bad either

Sfx - I managed to get £10 for your ticket, Kora/ Tilly were desperate to spend it on t-shirt and badges for you but you'll be pleased to hear I still have the money in my purse, I'll give it to you next time we meet! hope you're having a good trip

vbus, don't forget the bag!!

LOL, I can just picture it

nap time now, so tired after last night

vbus/tilly/kora glad to hear you all had fun last night, I was in bed by 10 shortly after dh got home, missed course
and thanks for cash back did you sell it at the door?

copper what a cheek from cold caller
I get 'thank you but I am not interested' 'you are not interested in saving money/' outraged tone - no thanks buy - that is on my chatty days

The London Eye was fun, tired now still to take dd to pool, think we will al sleep well

tilly thanks for supportive words too. I think all children should be supported to achieve their best and this also means pushing and stretching them too

just a quick drop in... been working like a demon getting the house ready... its on the market from tomrrow, first viewings Saturday.

sfx - we have the opposite problem - DS is very convincing to his teacher that he is better than he is (at almost everything!). I'm convinced he will be either a politician or an actor

Unless of course the joke is on me and he is actually gifted and talented in some way (actually he probably is - at charming adults....)

Quick hello! Thanks vbus and tilly for marvellous evening yesterday. Really enjoyed it .

Sfx, I remember how impressed I was with DD1's old montessori teacher - DD1 stepped into classroom for first time and stood rigid just looking around quietly. Rather than saying inanely, "ooh, is she a bit shy!", her teacher said to me "oh yes, look that's very sensible, she's just taking stock of the room and who's here, in a minute she'll choose where to go and play". And then DD1 promptly did. Here was teacher who understood my child within minutes and did not write her off as being "quiet". I'm sure part of that is experience, but part is also just good training and perceptiveness. Alas, not all teachers seem to have that. Contrast new teacher who told me "ooh, she's shy" (as per my previous rant). I'm resigned to lots of support at home, but I may have to be seen as "slightly overprotective" parent at school from time to time too.

Hello!

Did a version of wagamama's chicken katsu kids' meals for tea at popular request. Shockingly kids ate red cabbage.

Glad people had good time at the gig! I don't really enjoy gigs. Found myself meal-planning in my head and getting hungry last time ...

Unfortunately not all teachers are appreciative of different personality. That's why I'm always a bit scared when I hear people say they trust the teacher because teacher knows best. No doubt some teachers know best ...

sfx - I have been known to broadcast to neighbourhood when confronting cold caller that we have too much money and are not concerned with saving some meagre amount they promise.

copper what you need is for us to take you to a very loud one where the 30 front rows just have to keep jumping and shouting the entire time then you will have been to a gig

I got stuff for the race but they have a cut off of 2h30m for the 10k which I suppose means I am ok and might not be awarded the wooden spoon, even with walkies I manage 1.15 at least

now must try to run the course either Friday or Monday

sfx - good luck running the course!

copper - katsu sounds gorgeous, makes me hungry. Is there a wagamama's recipe book I might find? (although wish I had your obvious cooking skills too)

Bizarrely this evening I bumped into DD1's old teacher that I mentioned, lovely to speak to her. Such a different vibe to current teacher but I'm going to try to keep an open mind, it's such early days. I'm going in for curriculum morning tomorrow, I shall try not to be truculent.

nollocks painter was supposed t be coming in to do a few dodgy bits before Saturday viewing - but he has double booked himself - will try to get builder friend of friend to come over at least on Friday... otherwise will just cross fingers and hope they don't notice filled patches which haven't been painted over.

I'm going to the phonics thing tomorrow Kora (is that the same thing?)

nollocks?! bollocks

Yep, I've heard it called something about "literacy curriculum" but yeah, the phonics thing basically!

Good luck with builder friend - boo at double-booking. Maybe a few new pictures up? Unless they're patches by the skirting board

well some on the ceiling - perhaps a mirror or two