Goodbye...Earl...

My son received his report card today. He is received "at grade level" or "above grade level" on everything! Yay!

This is especially exciting for us, because last year he was having so much trouble. They really expect a lot (too much -I think) from children now. My son was in kindergarten last year at a church sponsored private school. The teachers were very nice and the kids, for the most part, were very nice. Unfortunately, my son was the youngest, and with children, months make a BIG difference. He was not catching on as fast as some of the others, and it was really affecting his self-esteem. He even had one boy in his class (I will call him 'Earl' ) who told my son he was "stupid" on a few occasions among other things. Believe me, had I heard, I would have given him a lecture that would have made him cry for his mommy. I don't think I have to tell you that that kid wasn't well-liked.

Anyway, around here, they expect the children to come out of kindergarten knowing how to read, add, tell time, count to 100 by 2's, count to 100 by 5's -just to name a few things. Basically, my son was expected to know things some of which I wasn't taught until second grade.

So, long story short (I guess I haven't made it THAT short), we decided to hire a tutor to help him with reading (that has been GREAT!), and we decided to put him back into kindergarten but in our public school. Lots of parents do that -especially with children born in the summer (and especially with boys!). So far, things couldn't be better.

Besides the academics, my son has a new confidence in himself and has made lots of friends. We are really proud of him.

Hmmm...wonder how "Earl" is doing? Probably in juvenile detention...grrr...