Am I Bragging?

I am not a bragger. I swear, I'm not. I just want to share with my friends and family how proud I am of my oldest son, Andrew. Just cannot contain the joy any longer......

This afternoon, Cory and I (and Mitchell) attending our first Parent - Teacher conference with his Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Moore. Everything started out pretty basic with the things I expected to hear - He's a joy to have in class, he follows all the rules, he's on time every day.. etc etc etc.

The part that really took me aback was when she began to explain his advanced skills, so to speak. She has been testing the kids' reading level, and says Andrew is at a 2nd grade reading level. That means he's got a 2 year advatage! At this stage in the game they are only required to recognize and write a set of 5 specific numbers and letters, but that Andrew knows all of them already. Mrs. Moore also said that Andrew seems to be bored with the homework packets she sends home on Monday, so she is going to start sending him home with an "extra" packet called Challenge Work. One of the projects they are starting next week requires the students to take home a particular book each week. Once the student is able to read the book from start to finish without any help 3 times, she will send home the next book in the collection. But since Andrew is beyond all the books that she has, she's going to be finding some more challenging books for him. Despite his strength in reading, he still swears his favorite subject is MATH! Of all things - Cory and I aren't sure where that came from, because we despise math, but since he hasn't gotten into geometry and statistics, maybe that won't be his favorite subject for long - although I would be so happy if it was! She closed the meeting by saying that Andrew is a very bright child, that he is always the first one to finish his work so she has him help the other students with their work, says he's eager to answer questions and participate in class discussions.... On the flip side, he needs work on tying his shoes, graphing and classifying and sorting objects. I worked with him for awhile today on tying his shoes - It's HARD!!! I didn't realize how difficult it would be ... I tried teaching him last year, and today I was reminded why we always buy him velcro straps! Anyway....

Besides sharing my great news, I just want to say this:
When I first had Andrew, one of my co-workers told me how important it is to read to your child from the very beginning. I took his advice, and started reading to Andrew at 6 months old. I believe that's where his love for reading came from, and what has helped him to excel so well in that area. SO READ TO YOUR KIDS! Even if they don't understand a word you're saying.

Even though I'm pleased where Kaitlynn is "academically" (she's only 2, lol) I'm resolving to read to her more often. We started early with her also, but currently she has pretty much NO attention span to sit for a book. But I'm not going to let that deter us. I'm convinced that the work you do with your student at home is JUST as important as the work that the teacher does in the classroom.

Well anyway - for an update - tonight we spent 3 hours carving pumpkins and I was the lucky one that got to clean all 4 of them out :( I remembered why I HATE carving pumpkins - UGH. We just BARELY put up our decorations outside late this afternoon - talk about procrastination! Tomorrow Andrew has a little parade at school where all the students will be in there costumes. I'll be stopping by for that and then we have to head over to Kaitlynn's school for her Fall Festival where we'll have games and treats and crafts. During the day I'm hoping to magically get my whole house clean and laundry caught up, then I'll have to figure out something super simple for dinner before trick or treating! Pictures to come!

Everyone have a safe and HAPPY Halloween!!!

"colto presto e colto spesso"