The education of little E

At our end-of-year conference with Edith's teacher, he mentioned that one of the things he loves about teaching first grade is that he could hardly keep the kids from learning if he wanted to--their brains are just developing so fast and absorbing so much at this age. We'd been thinking that same thing in a general sort of way but were particularly struck by it when he handed us Edith's assessments from the end of first grade together with those from the beginning of kindergarten. (I'm guessing that over the years they've learned the wow factor inherent in doing that.)

Two free-write assessments, K versus Grade 1:

That's "I looked at American [Girl] dolls with my mom" (L).

And then there was the artistic change. Self-portrait, K versus Grade 1:

Not to mention her awareness of the masterworks and her attempts to copy them. :)

First grader no more

No, we can't believe it's the last day of school either. We'll look forward to a full September-June calendar on the East Coast. But Edith was ready.

Oh, how we will miss Edith's friendly school in the mountains!



In the last few weeks the first grade has been up to some neat stuff. There was a first-grade poetry recitation in the auditorium; Edith recited "Sick" by Shel Silverstein. My favorite were the kids who got up and announced, "My name is X, and I'm going to re-write the poem..." --and often, they did.

The class also made a human rainbow:

And they studied manners for a week (snort) and then enjoyed a formal tea party, at which Tom, Alice, and I were waiters. A professional photographer took a series of portrait photographs of the guests that I can't share here but that would serve as great fodder for Norman Rockwell paintings.

Last summer, Edith told us she was a "nothing grader." (Zero comes before 1, after all.) Now she is a "summer grader." Fingers crossed it will be a good phase for all.

Someday I'll get some pictures up

Meanwhile some recent Alice comments and pronunciations worthy of note:

• shweatshwirt (Try it--it's fun.)
  
• She is frthree years old. Interesting to me that she's got the right pronunciation in there, but it's proceeded by something extra that makes the whole thing even more complicated.
  
• [changing after church] "Will you unhelp me with this dress?"
• "The thermometer says the water is nine-de up-to-five 'grees."
• Similarly, she looks at the tags in her clothes and announces that they are "Size Up to Three."
• [at a dinner where I was urging her to eat her healthy food] "Mommy, I wish you were a babysitter. Why didn't God make you a babysitter?"
• "What happens if someone dies, but they still have to get their mail out of the mailbox?"
• And then the biggies. NPR was on and they started talking about a suicide bomber in Syria taking out 37 people. I didn't imagine that the report would mean anything to Alice, so I was surprised when she asked from the backseat, "Mommy, why does God make bad people?" A little probing confirmed that the question was prompted by the news story. I gave my best answer. She latched onto it immediately. And now she is frequently asking questions along the lines, "Mommy, why do people turn away from God and make bad choices?"

 And then there's Edith. Apologies to some contingent of our readers, for how much we've evidently warped her. They were talking about Osama bin Laden on the radio, and Edith wanted to know who he was.

"A really, really bad person," I said, "who did terrible things."

"Oh," she said. "Was he a Republican?"

Oh, dear.

I have since exploded her mind by alerting her to the fact that some of her dearest relatives are Republicans. Substantial cognitive dissonance has ensued.

Celebration

What are you celebrating today?

Cinco de Mayo? The Kentucky Derby? The full moon?

We're celebrating seven wonderful years of Edith May Eleanor.

 

The birthday kid gets to wear a fairly fabulous monkey hat while handing out treats in Edith's class.

 Three friends came home with Edith for a first-ever (for any of them) sleepover birthday party. But as I kept saying, how could a party with Faith, Grace, and Serenity go wrong? It wasn't quite that simple, but we got through the party with no tears, no midnight wake-ups, and everyone reasonably sanguine the next day. The one thing we hadn't counted on: While we expected them to stay up late, as they did, we didn't realize that these guys were young enough not to sleep in. So while they drifted off around 10:30, they were up at 6:00, excited for the party to continue.

Alice wanted to make sure no one forgot there are two daughters in this family. And to be fair, she also just likes a good party. Later in the afternoon after the guests had left, she asked wistfully if  F,G, and S might come for another sleepover for her birthday when she turns four, as she could imagine nothing better.

 

A parrot kept the "7" company on Edith's low-key birthday cake. In her perfect world, she would have gotten a pet parrot for her birthday. The nice thing about seven year olds is that they often understand how and why the world differs from their ideal.

Parrot tattoos seemed to be a reasonable substitute.

 

Or monkeys, if that's more your style...

Happy birthday, kiddo. No longer a little kid but a full-fledged, school-aged, in-the-prime-of-childhood kid now. And yes, it's starting to fly. But oh, what fun.

Down payment

We're overdue on posting pictures of fun with visitors, of Easter, and of life since. As many of you know, it has been a rough several months around here, and unfortunately the way doesn't yet look much easier or clearer. Tom and I have spent much of our marriage assuring ourselves that we were in the middle of the hard part (professionally and logistically, not romantically) and the easier stage was around the corner, but so far it seems only to be going the other way. We would give a great deal for a bit of stability, despite everything we know about that being an unrealistic wish in this world.

But lest we overlook the better parts of this spring, I wanted to start getting up a few of the overdue photos as a down payment on the whole bunch. So today, the church shots:

(1)

 Edith's spring choir concert. We were amazed at the jump in musical ability and performance behavior from the kindergarten choir to the first/second-grade choir. These kids have grown up in a year! The music education at this church has been incredible, and we will miss it wherever we land next. How many churches can say they have a graduated series of five youth choirs, each with its own professional music educator as director, its own accompanist, and its own set of 3 full-time parent assistants? Then add the overarching director for children's choirs, and director of music for the church as a whole, playing a role in coordinating the curriculum. It's an amazing organization that provides excellent musical and spiritual teaching--and Edith is very proud of the new beads she earned for her choir necklace by her participation this year.

(2) Easter.

For the first time in many years we didn't manage to get a family photo. Instead, we got some photos with a lovely family of four kids at church who are friends of the girls and who surprised E and A with baskets full of Easter presents. Random acts of kindness, as well as the more intentional and sustained kind, are a large part of their homeschool curriculum, and it is an inspiration.

Finding her basket in the dryer

Not the proper shot on which to end an Easter post, but rather than let this linger another week while I upload and sort through more, we'll go to press as is. Best to all.