The Graduate

He is my favorite 5 year old in the whole world!!!!

We decided to let Gabriel graduate from kindergarten this year. Even though he isn't technically a kindergartener until the fall, he has spent 2 years in K class at our home school co-op. The teachers all say what a delight he is to have as a student because he listens so well and clearly loves learning. Most of the teachers this year didn't know he was younger than all the other kids (in spite of the fact that he is short - even for his actual age), and he seemed to be doing pretty well socially so we thought it made sense to promote him.

We will probably leave him with his own age for most other activities (like church) and I will report him to the school district as being in the grade he should be in, but doing work on whatever level he happens to be on. At least that is the plan for now. Being Gabe's mom keeps me on my toes.

The ceremony was really cute. They put each child's picture up on the wall while they marched down the aisle, and then asked them all what they wanted to be when they grow up. Gabriel wants to be a police man and a singer. His focus right now is on careers that don't require college (go figure!). Then they invited the parents up to pray for the kids. I cried like a baby and blamed it on my hormones.

Testing

The results for Jacob's standardized tests came in the mail today. I was anxious to see the results - to see if my opinions on where we are line up with reality. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the results! Spelling and math computation were a little below average, which I expected (thank you dyslexia). Everything else was at or above the 50th percentile, with his composite "grade equivalent" at 5th grade, eight month (meaning he scored as well on the 4th grade tests as someone 5th grade, eight month should have - not that he is actually at that level).

I did have to laugh about his science score. You see, I maybe don't do quite enough formal science with the boy... I always mean to, but don't always get to it. He got nervous about the science portion of the test because he believes (for reasons I don't understand) that he is not good at science. And yet he scored in the 89th percentile on the science test - his best score of all!

So as we wrap up fourth grade I can sit back and relax a little bit. I am doing just fine teaching my son. I do know what's best for him, and nobody else knows my boy as well as I do. Now if I could just teach him to clean up after himself...

A quick update

I realize I have gotten out of the habit again... I would like to say there has been nothing to blog about, but that would not be true. Since my last entry we had a great vacation, Gabriel got hit by a car (and walked away without a scratch), I got my yellow belt, and we got to see the baby at my mid-pregnancy sonogram.

I'll just touch on the sonogram since that the was the latest event. Todd missed it, but my mom and all the kids came with me. The kids were completely fascinated watching the baby wiggle all around in there. It was trying really hard to suck its thumb and would kick in frustration when it didn't succeed. And yes, I will continue to refer to the baby as "it" or "number four" until its arrival. Todd and I really like the surprise when the baby is born.

I will leave you with a few pictures from our trip to Williamsburg...