Christian had a great year in 1st grade. He got along well with his teacher, Ms. Sudman. And although his two best friends from last year were not in his class, he made new friends. He talked most about Julian. He loves math and doesn't like reading, but he is a very good reader. He was referred for gifted testing and scored high enough to be put in the gifted class(es). He really enjoyed being in gifted or PACE as it is called at the school. He would put his soccer ball in his backpack and could be found playing soccer before school and at recess. We are so proud of Christian and his hard work.
Hannah enjoyed 4th grade. Although she had the teacher she requested and she did like her, she wished she would have been more fun. Hannah had old friends in her class and made lots of new friends. Hannah was very active during her 4th grade year. She participated in the after school choir and showed off her talent playing the piano at the school talent show (which you had to audition for.) Hannah likes art a lot. Unfortunately art is not a special, so the classroom teacher has to teach it when she has time. She also enjoys recess but realizes it is not really a subject. She loves to read and write but she didn't really like reading class. She likes math but feels like she is not good at it, but I disagree. Hannah is so smart and talented as well as beautiful.
Cameron was super excited to "graduate" from elementary school and go to middle school. We toured several middle school and decided on the neighborhood school (although not our home school), Fees College Preparatory Middle School. He applied for and was accepted into the STEM program, which he said was a mistake. Well, luckily he had a mom who agreed and we asked for him to be enrolled in all honor's classes for the second semester. I volunteered weekly in the STEM classroom and I was unhappy with the teacher, the curriculum and the students in the program. He was unhappy with all the writing. I also volunteered in the science room and was disappointed in the atmosphere. Otherwise, we would have encouraged him to stick it out until the end of the year. Cameron did not make a lot of friends, but had one good friend, Curtis, who was in most of his classes and is a kid you are happy to have your son hang out with. "Middle school started out good but went downhill from there and ended horrible." says Cameron. When asked why, he said, "Classes got boring, teachers stopped trying to make it fun, the rewards were stupid, kids could not shut up so we were constantly getting lectured about shutting up." And he really really hated the Second Step program that the school was teaching. It is a program used to teach kids life skills: how to deal with conflict, how to have empathy, why to not use drugs, etc. But all that aside, he made straight A's (mostly A+'s) and was very involved. He was accepted on the Honor's Team. One of their many fun activities was spending a weekend in California going to Universal Studios, the Holocaust Museum, a play and an art college. He played flute in the band and made the Junior Varsity basketball team. He also tried out for the baseball team but did not make it. That lead us to Little League baseball (more on that to come). He was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society and participated in an after school Biology program offered by graduate students at ASU. Although Cameron did not love middle school, I am happy that he was willing to get so involved. We really hope that in the future Cameron can find more enjoyment at school and find a desire to do his best.
