...I remember 4th grade. Do you? I hated every second it. My teacher was a former nun who still believed in rulers on the knuckles, and that children couldn't possibly be more intelligent than the grade that they were in. Which was why she figured that I couldn't possibly have written a book report on 'Romeo and Juliet' and understood the nuances of the story without something like Cliff's Notes and failed me immediately.

Thank goodness my daughter doesn't have a teacher like that. Her regular teacher is on maternity leave and the substitute isn't that desirable, but she's still better than what I had. And her regular teacher is a wonderful lady. But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about the same thing that my daughter and I had to do in 4th grade...

Mission reports.

I'm not sure about other states, but if you live in California or have a 4th grader in the state of California, you have intimate knowledge of the California Mission Project. Otherwise known as a pain in the arse project to drive parents nuts.

For those who aren't familiar, here's a quick rundown: Children are assigned a California mission and have to write a 3-4 page report on said mission covering it's history, location, and anything else interesting about it. This report is to include maps, drawings, pictures, a bibliography, and table of contents. You also have to present your mission to the class in a 10 minute talk. Doesn't sound so bad until you get to the part where you have to build a model of the mission.

Yes, a model. There's a whole industry built around making models of the missions. There are kits available out there, and roofing tile plastics, greenery, people, farm animals, everything you could ever want to make your mission as authentic as possible. And I wouldn't really have a big problem with that either, except for one small detail. My daughter's school won't let you use a model kit. You have to build the model of the mission from scratch. That's right. Scratch. You can use the props, the greenery, but you can't buy the handy $20 kit that's got the styrofoam already pre-cut for you.

So we've been scouring the 'net for plans (thanks to DH, he found some really good ones) and much of the weekend has been spent working up A's mission and her report (which is due this coming Friday). We're working with a foam core base and posterboard walls that A is gluing together and coloring in. We've got green felt for grass, and some groundcover and moss materials to spruce that up some more. I know that someone in the class bought the kit, and someone last year did that too, but we don't know what the end result of the grades are going to be. I swear, if they get a perfect grade on the kit... well, I don't know what I'll do about it, but I'll bet that it will involve some loud complaining on my part. Probably only to DH, but still.

In all honesty, I'd rather they didn't build the model at all, because there's not really anything that they're learning from it. If they had better requirements for the report research (other than what is it's climate, when was it founded, etc) and the presentation then I'd be happy with the whole thing. The only thing you really get from building the model is how to glue things together. And how to not put it off to the last minute.

I remember building my model when I was in 4th grade. It was put off until the last minute because my parents focused me on the report research, which I was happy to throw myself into because I liked doing research. It was the model building that stank. I can't remember exactly which mission I built, but I was pretty proud of my sugar cube creation that started to melt slightly when I had to carry it through the rain to get to my classroom. Eh. I think I got an A on it anyway because my presentation was perfect, but it was hell. I hated that project and I hoped that my kids would never have to do it.

But here we are, with A in 4th grade and we're working away at the Mission Report and Model. And I am so wishing that she could use a kit. Other schools let you use a kit, and have you focus on the presentation. Some schools don't even have the presentation part of it, and make it a full on research report that needs to be at least 5 pages long. Some schools don't even make you do the model/report because the teachers hated it when they were kids and do an in-depth study of each mission instead. But not my daughters' school. They make them do the model from scratch. I feel bad for wishing that the kid (who is one of A's best friends) who got the model and is building that doesn't get a perfect grade on it because she should be getting dinged for creativity (yes, that's part of the score). Even so, if she doesn't get dinged on her grade, guess who's buying a model kit for B next year when *she* has a mission report to do....

....yup, and I'm going to lobby for using the kit as soon as I hear the words "Mission" uttered in my house next year. Unless DH and I have successfully gotten the model building portion of the report banned.