Anya’s teacher says the change in three weeks in her
understanding of all things school is amazing and all of a sudden it will click
and she will jump ahead. I, however, feel like I will be sitting next to her in
this class until she is 26. I am too close to the trees to see the forest.
There are 70 phonograms that the kids are learning. A
phonogram is basically a letter or group of letters that makes a sound and has
a rule. For instance, “dge” is shown on a flashcard and the kids say, “j (the sound of j), three
letters”. They also take tests where the sound and rule are given and the kids
write the proper phonogram. Obviously I have to learn them too in order to help her. So, the teacher
held up a card and Anya chanted off the three sounds it made. I didn’t know she
knew it nor did I know if she were correct until the teacher gave the answer. She
is learning them faster than I am! She took a test and told me, “I am
remembering in my brain!!”
Anya was melting down at number 17 out of 20 on the test (it
was the first one I had her take alone while I watched) and the teacher pointed
out that during the first three weeks of school for rest of the class, they only
had to learn 10 phonograms and Anya is trying to learn 70 in her first three
weeks. After meeting with the reading teacher for her weekly assessment, she
had done really well and came back in the room saying/singing and dancing to
me, “I’m getting really smart, I’m getting really smart!” Of course that set
her into a bit of regression (changes and advancements she didn’t know she
could do cause that and this one has great possibilities) and the rest of the
day was pretty difficult for her.
Compassion 101 by
Anya
The previous weekend I’d taken Anya for a burger and a
couple in their late 70’s or 80’s were getting out of a booth to leave. I told
her, “Someday Papa and I will be really old like that. Then you can help us walk.”
Pause. She squints one eye a bit.
“No way. Use your stick.”
That’s my girl.
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