Tuesday, February 9, 2016

It's my blog and I can brag if I want to...

In the last week I have been bursting with pride for each of my kids.

It started last week with Spencer.  I had received an email from his English teacher that their persuasive speeches were due to be presented in class that week.  These were three minute speeches attempting to persuade the audience about something to be changed at the school.  I  mentioned it to Spencer in the car while we were driving hither and yon - picking up and dropping off - which is basically my life lately.  He told me he had his speech and was almost ready to present.  I was skeptical since he didn't seem to even be able to start it without his notes in front of him.  I told him that three minutes was a long time to talk and would seem to go on forever if he was not prepared.  I told him that the thought of giving a speech to this day still gives me the cold sweats, but lucky for him he has a father that can stand in front of a crowd of hundreds and pull a completely polished sounding speech out of thin air. The night before he was due to present he did his speech for his Dad and he told me he thought he had a good handle on it but I was still skeptical.  While I was at work the next day the schools' grade system sent a message to my phone telling me Spencer's English grade had gone up to an A.  When I logged into the portal I saw that he scored a 38/40 on the speech.  I guess maybe the kid got his Dad's skills in public speaking.  We can only hope.

Because they are nearing the final weeks of play practice, the kids are not allowed any absences from rehearsal.  That means that Evan has to miss DI which he is really bummed about.   I sent an email to his DI coach explaining the situation and was so surprised when she wrote me back.  She said that Evan had explained the situation to them (shock - since neither of my other kids would ever do that) she said he was a great leader to the team and that they would surely miss him.  She said she had been using a game that Evan made up to keep the kids in line (since DI kids always seem to get a bit out of control from what I can tell).  She said she was looking forward to seeing him in the play and of course having him back full time.  He seems like such a quiet kid, but DI is where he really tends to shine when I asked him about being the leader of the group he was so matter of fact about it as if he just knew that was where he was supposed to be.

If that weren't enough about Evan, a few days later I received an email from his Social Studies teacher saying:

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know what a great job Evan is doing in Social Studies this year.  He is always prepared, completes his work on time and most important to me he is always very respectful.  I really enjoy having Evan in my class.

That made my mama heart grow three sizes that day.  It is always nice to hear that other people think your kids are as terrific as you do.

Then there is Miss Hailey.  Her teacher stopped me in the hallway and told me that mid year assessments would be coming home. My heart sank a little because I didn't know what to expect to hear.  She told me that when she saw Hailey's results she got goosebumps - she was so excited at her improvements since the beginning of the year.  Two out of the three markers they test on Hailey scored above average.  She still struggles a bit in comprehension and didn't gain there but her teacher said she wasn't worried about it at all.  As happy as I am with how well she is doing in school, I was even more thrilled when she came home extremely proud to show me this:


She received an "I am kind" Spirit Stick for helping be a friend to a new girl in her class. (Spirit Sticks are a new reward system the school has implemented this year - they can earn spirit sticks for good behavior, academic progress, birthdays etc. )

 I am always proud of my kids' academic success but I am even more proud of them when they act out of the goodness in their hearts.  Lately they are doing an amazing job at both.  

1 comment:

dr said...

This is awesome. You should be proud of them, and yourself! Nice work, sister!