Thursday, March 25, 2010

child, Genius.

Every parent wants to believe their children are smart, maybe even smarter than themselves. I've always known my children had more intelligence than I. My dad likes to say "children are born intelligent, it's us adults that dumb them down", so I always striven to never talk down to my children and treat them with as much respect and maturity as possible while still being in the parental role. This has worked well for us. This past week I have gotten to say, look at that my children ARE smarter than me! My 13yo will be skipping 7th grade and jumping to 8th grade this school year and I couldn't be more proud of him for pushing to be challenged.

Today was the 9 & 7 year old conferences and what an amazing conference I had with both teachers. My 7yo, V who is currently in 1st grade is reading on a 3rd grade level as well as doing 3rd grade math. Her writing is impeccable and her art? Wow! The teacher said she believes V could certainly bump up a grade, perhaps not sip 2nd grade but rather bypass 3rd and go to 4th after she finishes her 2nd grade year. I am so impressed with how focused and determined she is and how she strives for excellence. On to my 9yo's class and the teacher calls him the wonderboy! He entered this school year only reading 37 words per minute and is now at 130 wpm! His math is well above level too. I didn't discuss the possibility of skipping a grade with him, maybe next year after he has gained a little more confidence and worked more on his writing as right now his writing is below what the 3rd graders are doing nevermind the 4th graders. So that is what he will be working to improve this summer break.

For those who may not follow me on facebook, I am starting a school food revolution! Finally something my activist heart can really bury herself in and make a change with. My inspiration came from the show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. It made me look at my kids lunch menu, I mean really look at it. And what I saw was terrible! The school has a wonderful garden with greenhouses but they aren't utilizing them to the fullest. Not only that but our state is a part of the farm to school program and yet hardly any schools are using this wonderful thing! If you are interested in following my journey and starting your own revolution in your child's school look for me on facebook under "mom's for a school food revolution".

2 comments:

  1. Jenny,
    Wonderful news on the kids school progress. They seem to by very intrinsically motivated, which is so great. You don't have to chase them around about their learning. They are all over it and yearing for more. My son is like that too! Love it! Congrats on the wonderful reports!

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  2. Thank you so much Amy! I am infinitely proud of them :) The librarian was gushing all over the 3 of them today while at the book fair. Yay for the love of learning!

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