Either Kid can now read chapter books pretty fluently, or he has a photographic memory. Either one is kind of weird, but neither justifies why, once again, he was the last one through the school doors this morning. We careered to school, nearly took out a city bus and a cat (not really, but Kid believes it to be true), were temporarily blinded by the rising sun and the bits of frost on the window that I hadn't gotten in my frenzy of last-second scraping, and entered the alley in a cloud of gravel dust. He grabbed his backpack, scooted out of the back seat, blew me a kiss and took off running through the frozen field, shoes undone, jacket unzipped, arms and skinny legs flying in so many directions that it's nearly impossible to believe that he had a torso keeping them all together. Such fierce love for him as I have should surely be strong enough to get him to school on time so that he's not THAT Kid with THAT mom in THAT car. Every morning I seem to have a new excuse for the frenzy. This morning it happened to be that I discovered that Kid can read Jack Stalwart unassisted, so of course we had to read until I heard the school bell ringing 6 blocks away. Yesterday it was that I couldn't find a juice box for his snack. Tomorrow? Probably a rabbit will have been discovered in the laundry room along with a talking weasel.
And then I could be THAT mom with THAT talking weasel.
Everybody is going to want one, you know. The talking weasel part. Not the shit show part. And yet there is something very unique about making your kid defend his fluency as the reason for today's frenzy. It seems like a better use of the time, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteDespite how it may appear, pretty much EVERY household is a catastrophe in the morning....
ReplyDeleteYour young man is going to benefit far more from reading with mum than he will conforming every day to the cattle call that is the public school system.
I have one of those kids - the kind that can't keep their face out of a book, and can't be distracted once the face is in there. In her grade nine year, due to endless scary missives from the school, I finally met with her teachers, who informed me that my child, who at 13 read at a university level and spoke three languages, was slated for the 15 (read 'compromised learner level) classes in high school because her marks were poor - very, in some cases.
An hour-long push/shove with the five teachers present revealed that despite her not doing a lick of home work (the zero part of her combined marks), she was getting in the 70 - 95% range on her quizzes and in class work. This fact was revealed to me with the caveat, "If she doesn't do homework, she won't achieve," which I pointed out to stunned faces, didn't make much sense in light of her actual marks.
The English teacher, who said my child didn't understand the gramatical conventions of English (but whose newsletters showed exactly why) didn't know who Anne Rande is, so didn't understnad that it was somewhat significant that my child had read Anthem. In 5th grade...
Bottom line is a kid who is blessed with an ability, a love and a thirst for reading will always, always have a huge advantage.
So read away. If he's late a few times - or every day - because he's entrenched in a book, good. No better place to be.
My kid is in first year uni now, excelling, writing and having a fabulous time. She may have been late often and she may not have been good at the 'sit down, be quiet' part of public school but her thirst for knowledge- and ability to satisfy that thirst, make her very much a happy, achieving student.
Read on!
I am THAT mom. In every instance. Welcome to THAT club.
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