Only one week left of school for my little darlings.  Lola brought home her report card from her pre-kindergarten year.  We were so pleased to see that she got straight A’s.  Who knew she was getting graded?  Good thing I worked with her on colouring inside the lines!  Her teachers commented that she is very kind and friendly with all of her peers and she’s respectful to the teachers. 

Charlie has had a rough year with transitioning into a new school and clearly being the foreigner-new kid.  He is the only towhead in the bunch, which makes it easy for me to spot him in the crowd, but pegs him as a target.  At the beginning of the year, he came home complaining that the other kids would pull strands of his hair from his head and taunt him with it, “I have your hair!”  I told him that it was because they are jealous of his blonde hair.  He ignored them and it stopped.  His marks at the beginning of the year were fabulous – A+!  Charlie weathered his way through some trials in the middle of the school year that we finally worked out.  During that time his grades suffered, dropping to a B and then a C.  But Little Dawg managed to work it out in the end, pulling two A’s out of his sleeve!  We are so proud of him.  Good job, Charlie!  I knew you had it in you! 

My husband and I flirted with the idea of enrolling Charlie in a smaller private school that our friend’s son attends.  We even took a tour of the school, met the teachers, saw the facilities and got a quote.  At the end of the day, as we sat and discussed the pros and cons, we decided that it would be best to keep him in the school that he is presently attending.  He is just finishing Grade 2 and this is his 4th school in his short career.  As difficult as it’s been this year, he’s at a high point and we thought it best to build on that rather than start all over again.  I can’t bear to watch him struggle through another year like he did this year.  I’m proud of him for coming out the other side, stronger and victorious with good grades.  There is no need to deliberately stack the deck against him, and for that reason, we are keeping him in his school with his friends.

Just to demonstrate what a compassionate heart this kid has:  Charlie received a “Best Reader” award in front of the whole school.  There were a number of other awards handed out to various students, but Charlie’s best friend didn’t get one.  “He was so sad, Mom,” Charlie later told me, “he held his face in his hands like this.”  Charlie then made a “Best Friend Award” for his friend and gave it to him in front of everyone in class.  What a kid.  What a friend.  He’s my Charlie. 

So proud of you, little dude!