good job

Today big E is out of school. Teacher workday for our school district. I am pleasantly surprised by how this public school handles report cards. They do not give them to the students to bring home on their own, instead they call the parents on a workday to go over them in detail and then send them home later that week for signing. It was very personal, as personal as public schooling can be in my opinion.

Sometimes I think that public schools tend to focus on just 'getting the grade' at the moment - but long term learning should be the focus. We've been encouraging understanding math rather then pushing for perfection in memorizing and spitting out math facts. We've been insisting he take his time in reading for comprehension, rather then speed reading to grab facts in order to pass a test. Reading to learn, reading for fun, reading for vocabulary building skills.

Thankfully, big E's teacher is on the same page of teaching to learn, rather then teaching to get through the curriculum that is required. She told me today that she loves that he challenges her with questions and that he thinks outside of the box. I'm excited for him, he's really come a long way from hating school to loving it now.... from arguing about having to read all the way to reading 2-3 novels a week just because he wants too.

Just last week we were on our way home from school and we saw a motor scooter go by at a stoplight and big E says to me "did you know that paratroopers in WWII used Vespas?".... not only was I surprised, but I wanted to know when/where he studied about that! He didn't... on his own he picked up a book about scooters, read it and remembered facts from it. This was a book read for fun, not for any tests, not for any assignment, just a book he wanted to read! I learned alot about scooters from him. I was so excited that he'd read and learned from it that I came home and wiki'd WWII Vespas to find out more for myself....

So, big E made the A/B honor roll. Way to go big E! There are more and more days lately where he challenges us at home with questions, wanting to know facts about history or asking how something works in the world (especially with the election lately); then there are days that he goes on and on about something of interest to him. I'm not above saying that there have been a few times in the past few weeks that I can officially say "I am NOT smarter then a 5th grader".

30 days of thanks...Day 3 - I'm thankful for grasshotter moments and for the proud feeling I get when a teacher tells me that our child's eagerness helps her to strive to be the best teacher she can be.