Thoughts About 2nd Grade

I've had several people ask me what Hayden thinks of 2nd grade.  I'm thrilled to report he's LOVING it!  He adores his teacher and talks about her as if she's the greatest lady he's ever known - and he's only known her for a week! Ha!  Last Friday he came home and couldn't wait to tell me he got to give his teacher a back scratch before he left to get on the bus.  That next day (Saturday) he woke up and said, "Do I have school today?"  I excitedly said, "No buddy, it's Saturday! No school!" And he replied with, "Oh bummer, I love school."  Who is this kid?!?!  When we talk about our best/worst parts of the day, he always replies that there were no bad parts, everything was good!

He came home Monday ready to do his homework (which was just studying spelling words and reading his story for the week), and yesterday came home with FOUR books to read to help him meet his AR goal.  One was even a chapter book he had started reading on his own!  Last year I kept having to remind him to bring home a book, any book, so we could work on his goal and practice reading.  Last night, at bedtime, I was reading stories.  He picked out a book and asked if he could read it to everyone.  

With all that being said, this post is not to brag and say 'Wow, look how gifted my son is', it's to document the struggle that we've had for the last two years.  Struggling to find motivation and struggling with lack of confidence in his abilities.  He's still testing at a below average (at a first grader 6 months into the school year) reading level so he's by no means excelling, but the desire to do better is finally there!  And that's excellent in my book!

I'm hoping his progress continues all year long!  Hope yours kids are loving school this year too!