Elizabeth is SOL

The state of Virginia gives standardized tests to each grade schooler annually called the Standards of Learning and fourth graders are in the middle of them as we speak. Elizabeth starts her third day of testing on Monday, with this set covering social studies.

They're multiple choice questions, so in the end, she knows she can pretty much always eliminate some answers before resorting to giving an answer, even if she's not sure. However, Elizabeth was distraught to learn that she got a question wrong on the math portion on Friday.

"How many meters are in a kilometer?" she asked us at the dinner table that night.

As I usually do when one of the kids asks a question like that, I turn it back around at them. "Well, Elizabeth, how many meters are there in a kilometer?"

She hesitatingly responds, "a hundred?"

I told her the bad news and she was visibly shaken. That's when we realized it was a test question she'd gotten wrong.

Last year she somehow got two questions wrong for the entire week, but she didn't know that until her scores came back over the summer. (Not like there is ever any danger of her not passing.)

I don't know if she was worried by the result, but tonight we spent an hour and a half reviewing U.S. and Virginia history. Thankfully for me, a lot of it overlaps what we learned in American History class since so much stuff happened here. Zebulon Pike? Not mentioned.

We'll see how she feels when she comes home from school tomorrow. The area which needed the most review seemed to be the branches of government, and that's without even talking about checks and balances or overriding the president's veto or all the fun stuff in that area.

They don't even have to know who the governor is. In fact, a study sheet she brought home from school had Mark Warner's name and picture on it under executive branch. He hasn't been governor in more than two years.

Now I guess I'd better get to sleep. I have to get up and make Elizabeth a good breakfast in the morning.