It Takes a Village

Logan. I'm so proud of him. I really feel that this year could have gone drastically different for him. He had a fairly steady first three years of life (with the exception of the little bump of having a baby sister with a disability join the family). Then he got to spend a whole year at home with his mom when he was three. The whole year. We were together almost all the time, day and night. Then during his fourth year, I was taken away from him and spent most of that year in the hospital with his sister. He watched from afar as his sister put up the fight of her life, and he faced the reality of possibly losing her. That's big stuff for a four year old. We were back together again as a family shortly after his fifth birthday, a slightly broken family, but a family none the less. Can you see how Kindergarten could have been a complete disaster? But it's not.

We received his grade card last week, and met with his teacher for a parent teacher conference on Thursday. He's sailing through his first year of school. He does need a little improvement in the handwriting area, but I'm convinced this is just a sign that he will someday be a doctor. (A while back he told me he was going to be a doctor and take care of kids with cancer like Chelsea and if Chelsea ever gets cancer again he would take care of her ... awwww.) His reading skills have excelled and he is reading around the same level as a second semester first grader. His writing skills are also comparable to a first graders'. The Dibels reading tests they perform on the kids' also showed his strengths in reading. He is well above the expected level of a second semester Kindergartener. There is a vocabulary section that is new and while there is no baseline to compare him to, he is at the very top of the chart. There really wasn't any higher to go. Logan has a strong vocabulary, that doesn't surprise me, he's always got something crazy to tell me. His math skills are also strong, he's performing all of the tasks the teacher wants him to do. By the end of the year she wants them counting to 200 and he counted to 190 for her the other day ... he's almost there! He can identify his coins, count by 2's, 5's, 10's with ease. I apologize for the long brag, this is mostly for grandparents ;) I am just so proud of him!!!

I did ask the teacher if there was a way to challenge his reading skills beyond their daily shared reading and that very same day she talked to the principal about some things they discussed and they decided to start him on AR (accelerated reader) books. I've never taught at a school that used AR books, but I know they are books that are leveled, the kids' choose books on their level, then take a test on the computer which accesses them on vocabulary and comprehension. I don't think the kids' in Kindergarten usually use this program, but we'll give it a shot!

I contribute his success to all of the wonderful people he has had in his life. We have truly been blessed with the people we have had in our children's lives. For the first year and a half he got his Grandma's undivided attention. Need I say more? I believe that is where the story telling came from. The kid can listen to, repeat and tell stories all day long! When she went back to work, we found a spectacular home daycare, and he spent a year and a half with the most amazing babysitter, Carol. She was like a grandmother to him and all of the kids. She loved them like her own, she read to them, played with them, fed them healthy home-cooked food, and she taught them how to follow rules and get along with the other kids. Once I stayed home with him, he attended a Catholic preschool two days a week where Ms. Marsha taught him his letters, how to write his name and other exciting school skills. The next year while Chelsea was sick, he attended the school where his Grandma worked. He was in a special education preschool class in the mornings, as a peer model, and was in the regular preschool class in the afternoon. And I can't forget to mention that Grandma is the para for that afternoon class, so that sure was a nice perk!

When they say it takes a village to raise a child, I agree. Put spectacular people in your kids' lives and they will in turn be spectacular! It's no secret, Logan began Kindergarten very emotionally vulnerable. Once again, we were blessed to be paired with another wonderful educator. His teacher is a fairly new teacher, but you would never know, her teaching skills match those of a tenured teacher. AND she can put up with me, so you know she's got to be good! We've averted any major behavioral issues and academically he is soaking in each new skill that is taught. I am one very, very proud mom!

*Chelsea's village coming soon!