Transitioning to 2nd Grade

A did well in K & 1st. No problems adjusting, no big issues with the change.

But 2nd grade is different. We've been having screaming, crying, "I don't care if I get good grades, I can't do this" meltdowns. And of course, any suggestions from me are met with looks like I've grown horns and have become evil incarnate.

She had a religion test yesterday. It's a Catholic school for those who don't know. Wed night she had to memorize the days that God created the earth. She was so mad. Mostly because it didn't make sense to her. On the first day, God created heaven and earth, dark and light. It wasn't until later that he created the sun, moon and stars. She couldn't get past the problem that if God created dark & light on the first day, why weren't the sun & stars there with the dark and light. The sun provides light to the earth, why wasn't it there when God created light. Then she had a problem with the day where god created all the land animals including man. How could he have created all the land animals including man if dinosaurs lived before man.

Wow, she had some valid points. I had no idea how to explain to a 7 year old that the bible doesn't necessarily have to read literally, it can be interpreted. Especially when she is suppose to memorize what the bible says word for word in order to pass the test.

So I took the easy way out. I told her 'Just memorize this sheet and ask your teacher these questions in class.' I'm a total wimp!!!

That didn't go over too well, because I discovered that she didn't know how to memorize things. I guess what she has learned before was easy enough that she didn't have to really try to remember the information. I told her to write them all down 5 times. That would make it stick with me. Well, we had a repeat of the 'teeth baring, you're horrible for even suggestion such a thing, door slamming so the whole house shook' episode.

Then we had to have a discussion on how to handle our anger & frustration over schoolwork and not take it out on the mother & the door. After her cooling off period I sent DH in to try his hand at helping her. Luckily, he figured it out with her. He told her to read each line, turn the paper over and try to repeat it aloud. It did the trick. 30 minutes later she could recite the information word for word.

She still questioned the order of things in the bible and evolution but we'll deal with that later. Seriously, I think I need to take a refresher course of some sort to handle these situations later. I tried taking a course at church last year, but it was much more about spirituality and prayer life. They need to offer a repeat doctrine class for all of us who forgot what we were taught in our 17 years of Catholic education.