Teaching and Learning - Another Step

This morning I was messaging Ocean.  She and Ethan are hanging out with their dad for the week so this is how we're communicating.  Not that it's incredibly different from when she's at home.  If she is downstairs, she will text me rather than come up.  I don't mind too much and if I really think about it, I would probably save my voice if I did the same thing to her.

I am a spelling whiz.  Most likely because I grew up in an era where we had the "do it yourself (and it better be right)" version of spell check.  My mom credits Sesame Street.  In either case, I am good at it and I deplore both bad grammar and bad spelling.  I was worried about my kids because they are nowhere near where I was at their age.  Granted, their French is a million times better but I was still concerned.  I remember doing the "around the world" spelling bee in grade three, on a smoking roll and having to be put out finally with "chrysanthemum".  I've never forgotten how to spell that word.

Aaron seems to be taking after me.  Every week in grade one, with their regular words, his teacher would always throw in a bonus word.  We would have a little guessing game about what those words would be.  Around St.Patrick's Day we were doing this and I was throwing out tough ones - considering his list of "gold, pot, green, hat, day". He managed "shamrock" and "clover" with relative ease and couldn't fathom "leprechaun" but gave it an admirable attempt.  He's also in English and not French since we switched schools last year.  I know it makes a difference but I honestly expect that they should have the ability.   

Ocean and Ethan have been slower since they only began to learn English in grade three.  I was annoyed when they were being taught it as well because there seemed to be little phonetic instruction.  Ethan writes quite phonetically now and he obviously has a good grasp of the sounds. His English education was pushed hard this year to catch him up though.  

During our conversation this morning, Ocean made me proud - as you can see.  Her response was, I assume, typical for an eleven-year-old but I truly was ecstatic.  There are so many expectations I have for my children; eat well, be hygenic, be well-mannered, be able to spell and use proper grammar.  I'm a huge nerd. 

When I was helping Ocean with reading I had to be creative. She hates surprises and she is also a planner (where this last part came from, I have no idea).  In order to encourage some motivation on her part I told her that if she could read, no secrets could be kept from her and punctuated this with the example of displaying my Christmas present shopping list on the refridgerator because they couldn't read. However, when Geoff's daughter came to visit and proudly read everything in sight, despite being two years younger than Oce, that proved to be more motivating than anything I had said.

Realizing that each kid is different makes it hard to adapt my parenting style.  Or maybe that's what it has to be - adaptive.  The most influential quote in my life, and I wish I would have discovered it earlier, was: "Life is not about finding yourself; it is about creating yourself" which is attributed via Google to both "unknown" and George Bernard Shaw - stupid internet.  That's okay. I'm learning to be adaptable.