All By Myself

Third grade requires a lot more of its students than in second grade. Ella completes monthly book reports and weekly homework packets on her own. She also manages her own spelling lists and completes weekly multiplication and division quizzes. She has become an independent learner. Daily, she is required to read for 30 minutes (she even sets her own timer!). One day, while she was reading her scriptures for her 30 minute time window, it occurred to me that this child is ready for more responsibility. So, I handed her the mixing bowl and a recipe and told her she could make cookies all by herself. I stayed nearby for “consultation,” but remained completely “hands off.” She made her first solo batch of chocolate chip cookies and they were great! Ella really is a wonderful child. She already manages a lot of household tasks without ever being asked. For instance, she unloads the dishwasher, sets the timer to do her reading, finishes her piano, and completes all homework without ever being asked. On the weekends, she cleans the upstairs bathroom, dusts and cleans the stairway, her bedroom and the toy room. Ella is truly independently dependable.

She Can Do it!
Kayla is now in first grade and the expectations are increasing. Since Kayla has struggled with reading fluency, I have been selecting books at the library that I feel she can manage to read on her own. She often whines, cries or complains as we try to read each book. This was the very first book that she picked up and read cover to cover without any help. She was soooo excited that she wanted me to buy her this book as a prize. She could not stop smiling. Hopefully our confidence will continue to increase and the crying will cease!

While I'm on the Kayla topic, she got into trouble this month.  Her teacher put a check on her chart and said that she did not finish her work and then did not go to study hall.  Apparently, if they don't finish their work in class, instead of going to recess, they are supposed to go to study hall and finish.  Well, Kayla claims she "forgot."  But, we think she weighed her options and decided that getting a check was worth going to recess instead of study hall.  She had a little smile when she was telling the story.  To be honest, recess is a hefty penalty to pay for not completing something at Kayla’s age, so we were secretly a little proud of her for doing a quick cost/benefit analysis and choosing the wrong.  Of course, we told her that we expected her to use her powerful memory to be obedient to her teacher.  So far, she is choosing the right!