Writing Assignment

Tonight my young son was assigned to read a favorite book and then select a sentence and tell the class the reason he chose that sentence. This is the sentence my son selected + on his own +:

On October 4, 1957, the Former Soviet Union shocked the world by putting the worlds first artifical satellite into earth orbit

You could have tipped me over with a feather. He really had trouble focussing on the assignment, he had a hard time just sitting down to fill out the worksheet. He spent the better part of a late rainy afternoon reading the book - an astronomy book that was probably written for a kid maybe six years above his age - but I helped him sit down and finally get it done. He kept ignoring me so finally I got a banana and drew a face on it and said, hey listen - if you want to keep ignoring what I am saying and talking to me like you are talking to a watermelon, here - talk to this banana guy.

Sure enough about 12 seconds later he launches into one of his long intricate stories about squirrels or whatever, and so I pick up the banana and it looks back at him and he laughs. And then he turns back to his homework and starts writing. +He+ picked out the sentence then he complained as he was writing it down that it was a long one. I said. Hey, listen, I didn't pick it out. And so I lined a few more lines on the paper so he could write it on the form.

And there you have it. A six year old reading a fifth grade astronomy book. I still wonder if the part Jew, that I am , is really the best part. People of the book? Oy vey. You'd better believe it.