Half way to second grade!

Ady is done with her first semester of first grade! I am so proud of her. She completed a whole semester of Laurel Springs in three months. She has been working hard and she never complains about having to do school work. She loves being home and she will tell us "I am going to do school at home until I am done with 12th grade." We are going to take it one year at a time, but I am glad she is loving it right now! When I take her to her school for art, P.E. or other activities she will express how glad she is that she does not have to stay there all day. Yesterday morning it was snowing so we went outside first thing and played in it. She said to me, "I am a lucky girl I get to play in the snow when my friends at school have to stay inside and work." She is a lucky girl, indeed. But I am the lucky one who gets to spend those moments with her.

My favorite book by Dr. Suess is Hooray For Diffendoofer Day. It reminds me of why I became a teacher. I was reading it to Ady the other day and it made me think of the state that public education is in right now. Most of the teachers and administrators want to do a good job, but there are too many rules and regulations to keep them from really teaching their students what they need to know. We are considering another dual enrollment option for Ady after we move in January. One school I called, the principal told me that were an over crowded school, they did not have enough resources, and he sometimes wonders if they are challenging every student (I did ask him to be honest!). But then he went on about how proud he was of their test scores. He actually said they had the highest reading scores in the area with a 78% last year. He said they must be doing something right with a reading score like that! I don't think you can express how great a school is by just its test scores, but I can't imagine being proud of that. And they have only a few short years to get up to 100%, according to No Child Left Behind.