Even though Open House is next week, we were invited to a GT meeting last night to get to know the teacher. He is awesome! I am so glad Brendan got into this class. It may be just the thing he needs to stretch his little mind. The teacher says his three rules in class are Respect, Responsibility, Reaching. He's world traveler so his emphasis will be on History and Geography, so right off the bat, Brendan has that in common with him. But his ideas for curriculum are astounding. He doesn't have a state-mandated textbook and he doesn't have to teach to the TAKS (standardized state test), so he makes it up and can be as diverse as finding clay and throwing pots, to reading Dante's inferno to building a cathedral outside with flying buttresses and clearstory windows to making tortillas.
He's very tough and demands the best. He constantly asks, "How can you take it a step further?" He hates posters, Powerpoint and shoe boxes. And he admits up front that not all kids like his style. He intentionally gives vague instructions and guides the kids to explore from there. His first assignment was to find out what a Pavlovian Reaction was and draw a cartoon about it. After last night, Brendan said, "I think I need to do my cartoon again. It was more of a rough draft. It wasn't really my best." (COOL!)
I got excited just listening to him. I wanted to ask, "Can the parents play, too?" The only thing I worry about is limited resources in this 30 ft. box. So I assured Brendan, if you get an idea, we can find the materials. There's Hobby Lobby down the street and PawPaw has a wood/workshop with anything you might want. I'm going to have to be very careful not to take over, but to support in any way I can. I can't wait!
Friday, 31 August 2007
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Life After the First Day
Who knew that the first day of school would be the easy part? Kids float through the day hyped up on adrenaline. With all the new stimuli, the day is over before they know it. The hard part is getting them to go back every day after that. At least it is in our case.
Brendan seems to enjoy his classes. He looks forward to GT (gifted and talented) and Art. His teachers are pretty cool. He has three male teachers. His science teacher reminds him of his favorite teacher back in England. The only part of the day that he worries about (obsesses about) is lunch. If he didn't have that 30 minutes to himself, he'd be okay. The reason he doesn't like it is because he doesn't have any friends to eat with. That breaks my heart.
So Bill worked with him last night on a plan to make lunch go by faster. He's to eat slowly and take a magazine to read. Thankfully, I had one he was interested in about the last Harry Potter book. Maybe that will be a conversation starter in the lunchroom. Then Bill pumped him full of positive thoughts and taught him to work through his tummy aches.
I suppose I do remember the struggle we had with the days after the first day when he started at Collingtree. But the kids there were so inviting, he made friends immediately, on the first day. That was such a special place.
Here, many of the kids knew each other from Elementary, and so far, he hasn't broken into any groups. I pray for him every day, throughout the day, to find a good friend. that would make all the difference in the world.
Brendan seems to enjoy his classes. He looks forward to GT (gifted and talented) and Art. His teachers are pretty cool. He has three male teachers. His science teacher reminds him of his favorite teacher back in England. The only part of the day that he worries about (obsesses about) is lunch. If he didn't have that 30 minutes to himself, he'd be okay. The reason he doesn't like it is because he doesn't have any friends to eat with. That breaks my heart.
So Bill worked with him last night on a plan to make lunch go by faster. He's to eat slowly and take a magazine to read. Thankfully, I had one he was interested in about the last Harry Potter book. Maybe that will be a conversation starter in the lunchroom. Then Bill pumped him full of positive thoughts and taught him to work through his tummy aches.
I suppose I do remember the struggle we had with the days after the first day when he started at Collingtree. But the kids there were so inviting, he made friends immediately, on the first day. That was such a special place.
Here, many of the kids knew each other from Elementary, and so far, he hasn't broken into any groups. I pray for him every day, throughout the day, to find a good friend. that would make all the difference in the world.
Monday, 27 August 2007
Holding His Hand
Today was Brendan's first day of Middle school.
Brendan is the type of child who needs to prepare well in advance for change, so we've talked through the first day several times. It helped a lot that we've been to the school already for registration, a few AP placement exams and an orientation, so he knows where the cafeteria and the sixth grade wing are.
Still he started fretting about today on Friday. He woke up with a stomach ache. So we went through it again. I told him everything I'd learned from the parent orientation and he added detail to the pieces that I didn't know much about. Thankfully, he spent the night with his aunt on Saturday, which was a welcome distraction from Monday morning. Yet, when we were driving home last night, he said, "why do they throw all this stuff at us on the first day? How am I supposed to remember where my classes are, when to go to PE and my pin number for lunch?" So we assured him, again, that the teachers were there to help and would be very lenient on the first day.
Then, last night, I read to him before we went to sleep to try to calm him down. We read a devotion out of Skateboards, Scooters and Scripture by Anne McFarlane, a great book for kids, and we read the accompanying scripture passage. He settled down a little. Then I read to him from Isaiah 41:13, a passage we found from an earlier devotion, which spoke right to the situation. "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." With that he went to sleep.
This morning, Brendan could only manage to choke down a glass of milk for breakfast for all the butterflies in his tummy, but there were no tears. When I stopped in the drop-off lane at school, I said, "I wish I could go in with you, but I can't. Just remember God is holding your right hand." He slipped out of the car and I watched him bravely walk into his new Middle School.
Brendan is the type of child who needs to prepare well in advance for change, so we've talked through the first day several times. It helped a lot that we've been to the school already for registration, a few AP placement exams and an orientation, so he knows where the cafeteria and the sixth grade wing are.
Still he started fretting about today on Friday. He woke up with a stomach ache. So we went through it again. I told him everything I'd learned from the parent orientation and he added detail to the pieces that I didn't know much about. Thankfully, he spent the night with his aunt on Saturday, which was a welcome distraction from Monday morning. Yet, when we were driving home last night, he said, "why do they throw all this stuff at us on the first day? How am I supposed to remember where my classes are, when to go to PE and my pin number for lunch?" So we assured him, again, that the teachers were there to help and would be very lenient on the first day.
Then, last night, I read to him before we went to sleep to try to calm him down. We read a devotion out of Skateboards, Scooters and Scripture by Anne McFarlane, a great book for kids, and we read the accompanying scripture passage. He settled down a little. Then I read to him from Isaiah 41:13, a passage we found from an earlier devotion, which spoke right to the situation. "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." With that he went to sleep.
This morning, Brendan could only manage to choke down a glass of milk for breakfast for all the butterflies in his tummy, but there were no tears. When I stopped in the drop-off lane at school, I said, "I wish I could go in with you, but I can't. Just remember God is holding your right hand." He slipped out of the car and I watched him bravely walk into his new Middle School.
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