One of the reasons Cora likes Mickey and Minnie so much is that Nyla is really pushing it onto her. It seems like the moment Cora wakes up, Nyla asks her if she wants Mickey. We have two Mickey toys, a small stuffed one and a Lego Duplo one. Nyla asks Cora if she wants to wear her Minnie shirt. Sometimes if Cora doesn't want any of these things Nyla gets mad and yells at her that she is not getting her a Christmas present. I'm having trouble convincing Nyla that it is not a nice thing to do.
When we were in the science center in Orlando there was an area with paper and tape. There were instructions on how to build something that would fly in the wind area. Nyla couldn't read the instructions so she designed her own. I was surprised at how well it flew. I told her she was an engineer and ever since then she has been making all sorts of things. Some of it is just art like a paper doll with clothes and some of it meant to be useful like the house she made for D's cat last week. She thought it turned out too small so we just threw it away. Yesterday she made herself a paper basket. We go through a lot of tape in this house so I was glad to be able to find a six pack at the dollar store.
The schools in Kansas are supposed to be excellent and after talking to somebody out there with a second grader I want to put Bohdin in school as well once we move. Supposedly the elementary schools are among the best in the country. If Bohdin is ever going to attend school this is the one. It has a few things going for it. The school has great teachers, lots of money, and great students. Almost the entire school is made up of kids with parents going to school on post. None are poor or have uneducated parents. These things can make a difference. The other thing I like is that there are lots of new kids. Most kids are only there for 10 months. The school is used to a huge turnover. Bohdin shouldn't be the only new kid at the time. Every single kid will know what it is like to be the new kid in school and most have been there just a few months. It seems like it would be easier for Bohdin to make friends in that situation. My concerns are that he doesn't like the noise of a lot of people at once. He can't concentrate with lots of people talking. In Lego League on Wednesday all of the kids were trying brainstorm and he kept trying to get everyone to talk one at a time. Eventually he walked away. That was only five other kids. My other concern with Bohdin is he crumbles under time pressure. I can see him failing a spelling test because he will be so focused on time that he will be unable to move at all. I tested him out at home with a spelling test and it ended in tears. I'm hoping the teachers will work with him and if it doesn't work out that's fine. I don't anticipate that Bohdin will be behind academically. They are starting to learn cursive which Bohdin hasn't yet. I thought about starting him and seeing how much we can do in the next few weeks. Bohdin might also feel overwhelmed if he went in and had to catch up.
I'm not concerned about Nyla at all. I think she will thrive in school. She has a completely different personality than Bohdin and it is the kind that works well in public school. If the kids have learned something that she hasn't she will just learn it. I expect that she will be one of the most popular kids in the class by the end of the year and doing somewhere between fine to great academically. Nyla isn't reading yet but she's progressing well. She's getting better at putting sounds together into words but still needs more time to mature or more practice. I'm not certain which.
Nyla and Cora laying together watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Cora finally watches tv and now that she likes it she wants to watch it all of the time. She would watch all day if we let her. In the picture Cora is wearing Nyla's underwear. Many times Cora will wear only Nyla's clothes. She won't wear her own underwear at all. It must come from Nyla's drawer. Yesterday she wore Nyla's pants and popped in them. Cora likes to wear underwear but she won't sit on the potty even when she knows she needs to go. There are times that Nyla can successfully take her but even Nyla isn't 100% effective at convincing her. I don't know what Cora will do with herself when Nyla is gone. She's going to miss her tremendously.
5 comments:
"None are poor or have uneducated parents. These things can make a difference."
History is filled with great people who were born poor. People that changed the world with their ideas. Abraham Lincoln, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey are all great examples. Don't be so quick to judge people based on their socioeconomic status.
Nyla sounds like a great big sister, and Cora is sure to miss her when Nyla starts school. But, I wouldn't be surprised if Cora didn't have a few tricks of her own design hidden away! I think Bohdin will do fine in school; there's room for all sorts and he has a lot to contribute.
Every baby is born with a lot of potential. Some kids are born to parents who read to them and help them learn and unfortunately there are parents who don't. Read about the Harlem School Zone. They tried to infuse a bunch of money into the school aged kids there but found they needed to start at birth because they were already so far behind by the time they were five.
There are millions of examples of people rising beyond their circumstances. Hard work and determination can take a person really far. Poverty can't take that away any more than affluence can create it.
It's a fact that the schools on Ft. Leavenworth are higher achieving schools. Maybe it's because there is higher parental involvement. It can't be easy to be an involved parent if one is single and working two jobs. Maybe it is because all of the kids are well traveled since are all military and should have moved twice by kindergarten. It could be any number of things. Those kids in those schools are way ahead. How do you account for the di9fference?
Suppose I find a study that compares IQ of people based on hair color and it find that on average blondes have a lower IQ than the rest of the population? Does that make it okay and socially acceptable to keep my kids away from these less than smart blondes? What if I use a similar excuse for people of a different race or gender?
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