I have a whole new appreciation for good grades now that my kids are being judged on their progress. When I was in school, I had great success with little effort – the A’s came so easily that I came to expect them as my due. I never had to sweat out an exam or worry that I might not pass. I wanted to do well in everything, and I did.

I wish I could go back to that smug teenager and smack her upside the head. How dare she take all that success for granted? How dare she complain because she got slightly below 90% on an assignment? She had no idea of the kind of effort some kids had to put in just to squeak by. Because everything came easily, there was no challenge – and no thrill in the results. It was just expected. Ho hum.

I’m singing a different tune now. On the whole, both of my kids are doing great in school, but it’s not like they haven’t had to work at it. Brayden shines in reading, math, science, social studies…but it has taken months of work with an occupational therapist to get his printing up to grade level. I’ve never been so thrilled to see “meets expectations” on a report card. Go dude!

The increased expectations of fourth grade are throwing Justin for a bit of a loop, though. He still rocks the fact-based subjects (math, science, social studies) but language arts does not come naturally, and this year for the first time he has had to buckle down and do some serious homework to keep up. After many hours of sitting with him doing book reports and novel studies…he did get full marks for effort. You can’t ask for more than that.

Happy holidays everybody!