So I'll have to start paying more attention during the mind-numbing four hour class instead of doing this.
Greg told me last night when I couldn't find my way out of the community center parking lot, "You should quit now and save yourself the embarrassment of failing."
Look, I've only been to the community center parking lot 112 times, so I was confused when we parked in the back lot and not the front lot.
We were at the kids' game last night and Gregory made three baskets even with Giant Man Boy playing at the same time. He made his first basket ever during a game last week and it was a glorious thing to see the look on his face when the ball swooshed in. As soon as that happened, he got his confidence. You should see his face when he plays sports. He is a remarkable athlete. I really don't think there will a sport in existence that he doesn't excel at. It will be a matter of him just choosing to play the ones he likes the most.
Sarah and Austin are also really enjoying basketball. There are only three girls in the entire league and Sarah is right in there with the boys. Boys are pretty aggressive players and she's right in the pack with all of them. She holds her own. She took a shot for the first time last night but didn't make it.
While they are playing, Amanda sits on the bench and drives me insane.
I went to her last jump rope performance for the year yesterday. She got so much out of doing that on her own. It really changed her confidence level. What a great experience for her. I know I only tend to bitch on my blog about the crappy teachers, but I would challenge anyone in Nevada to produce a better P.E. teacher than ours. On her own, she runs the jump rope team, the dance team, she teaches the fifth graders to dance formally for the Manners Dinner, she puts on all the performances at all our PTA functions, she writes grants and gets us money, she set up a fitness room, she's running two different programs to encourage running, she does the Bike Rodeo, she has two more family events planned in the next two months, and she divides her time between our school and another school and still manages to do all that and do it well.
These are the kind of things the kids remember about school. They don't remember the day-to-day grind.
So speaking of teachers that will never measure up to our P.E. teacher, the most remarkable thing happened on Thursday during music. My kids came out of music singing a song they learned. In fact, they sang it the whole way while we were walking home. Not only did they sing, they played the xylophones. They were so animated about it! My kids LOVE to sing. I cannot stress that enough. It was like I gave birth to the Von Trapp family and if they are introduced to songs, they will sing them over and over and over together. So the fact they actually learned a song and were singing it was just music to my ears.
The best part of this story is that I didn't even go to the school or talk to the music teacher. All I did was bitch about it on Facebook, where a friend of a friend picked it up, and the problem magically went away on its own. I love this. I love that the kids had fun. I love that I didn't have to go get involved. I am supremely happy and hope this is a start to what will be a different and fun experience for them.
Now if I could find some friends that are friends with the librarian, my life would be complete.
So moving along to my next crisis, I was informed yesterday that they would be testing in the next few weeks for GATE (gifted and talented education). Sarah's teacher told me that she is certain that Sarah will test in but she wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the other two? Did I want them tested also, with the understanding that they might not make it and how was I going to handle that?
I told her that I absolutely wanted the other two tested. Who am I to decide which of my children have high IQs and which of my children don't? Is that really MY decision? They are individuals and like it or not, they are going to have different strengths and weaknesses and they need to pass or fail on their own merits. I can't judge this one. I think they are all extremely smart and talented in their own areas. Being book smart doesn't necessarily equate IQ level and the only way to know that is to test for it.
"What will you do if they don't all make it?", she asked me.
I told her we'll deal with it and not to worry about it on her end. Just test them and we'll go from there.
I tell you what, this parenting thing never gets any easier.
7 comments:
I guess that is the beauty of not having your kids in a litter, they won't know it if one is in a more accelerated program than another. I will be interested to see how this turns out, my daughter will be tested at the end of this year and I am certain she will test into the "faster moving" 1st grade class. She loves to be challenged. Last night, she did 2nd grade singapore math, I was like "What!?" Crazy.I love that she is learning what her brother is learning even though she is in K and he is in 2nd.
As a personal experience- I was in a gifted program from grade 1 to grade 7. We moved when I was in the middle of grade 7, and my younger sister (she is a year younger)and I had to be retested into the new district's program. My sister got in. They told my parents I wasn't smart enough. Obviously as a 7th grader, I was devastated but also extremely jealous of my sister. There were lots of tears. Eventually, however, my parents convinced me that the program just wasn't for me, and that there were many other opportunities I could still participate in. They pointed me in directions other than my sister, because I could carry a tune I began to embrace band. They encouraged me to take on other leadership roles, and made sure I stayed at the top of my classes. When the time for high school came, I was in the same advanced classes as those that were in the gifted program.
My sister has some great memories from her time in the new program, and I definitely have some great memories from my time as well. I don't know how your district does it, but kids were tested every year, so maybe if someone doesn't make it this year, there will be other opportunities.
And just to finish up- boys in my gifted program always had a harder time for some reason, ESPECIALLY in the older years (middle school).
I have been living that situation. One of mine got in 2 years ago and another got in last year. My third is no dummy, but is pretty average academically. He gets A's, but totally has to work for them. We could see the whole gifted program issue coming for a long time so, we were prepared for it.
My "smartest" son wants nothing more than to be a professional baseball player, but he's almost 10 years old, about 45 pounds and probably has a bit of cp. Although he is happy that he is smart, I think he would trade it away in a second if he could hit homeruns instead. My academically "un-gifted" son got all the athletic abilities of the trio.
We've always talked about how lucky they are to have been blessed with the gifts and talents that they have. We always encourage them to participate in things that are interesting to them. If it is an area that doesn't come naturally to them, it doesn't mean they can't do it, it just means that they will have to work a little harder than some other people because they have different gifts. The approach has worked pretty well and we've avoided ill-feelings. However, my smarty-pants thinks it's completely un-fair that he has to spend hours practicing baseball and is still not as good as his brother. At the same time, his brother has cried many tears because he still has homework to do, but his brothers are finished already. Too bad, so sad...now do your homework.
Two of my best friends are identical twins. When we were growing up, they did the testing before third grade. One got into TAG and one did not. Their mom did talk to the staff about the testing some, but that was just it. We did talk about it a fair bit on the playground over the next week or two, but I don't really remember it ever coming up in the rest of school. One was in plain honors and one was in TAG honors.
They both graduated from highly rated liberal arts college (but not the same one) and are highly successful now both personally and professionally.
I like this post ... its tone ... its attitude ... the message it subtly conveys ... i like it all ...
Downton Abbey paper dolls! You crack me up!!!!
Adam had a college soccer scholarship. His sister was all state bc she played like a boy. She always played with her brothers and they didn't treat her special for being a girl. She played rough or got plowed. Go Sarah!
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