My Fourth Grader

Somtimes I feel like the 4 year old gets all the blog love. Probably because he's around me all.the.time and I just have more to say about him. That...and he's totally ridiculous.

Not to be left out is the FOURTH GRADER. People, let me just tell you, fourth grade sucks. It just does, as I mentioned before in my rant on homework. We'll survive. Thank goodness there is a liquor store nearby. I kid, I kid.

Fourth grade plus a new neighborhood and new friends? Well, that part is pretty awesome. I've talked about where we lived before, it was pretty ghetto fabulous. It wasn't HORRIBLE, I went for walks, took the kids to the park and felt fairly safe. It was just run down and dirty and depressed...and not getting any better. I couldn't wait to move even though I was a little stressed about all the changes that would mean for everyone.

I can't even begin to explain how awesome it is when your kid comes home from school and the firs thing he wants to do is run outside and play..and ride bikes...and just be a KID. It's awesome. It's something we just didn't have before and something I always wanted for my kids. In general, I think this is one of those things that we just take for granted. As a kid I was always outside running around and playing so the fact that my kids really couldn't do that ate at me.

Tonight he came home in time to eat dinner and do chores. It was 6:15 and he asked if he could go back out and come home by 7:30. I let him go even though he still has things to do. Our hours of daylight are dwindling and I can't help it...it makes me happy to see him so happy. He gave me a hug and ran out the door.

I love that kid.

Fourth Grade Homework

Anyone that has a child old enough to have homework knows that it's not just for the kids, it's for the parents as well. And it sucks for everyone! Aiden spent his early elementary days in a Montessori school. It was a great school that I truly do miss and a major perk (or so I thought...) was no homework. Well, very little homework, he did have spelling that we worked on each night.

The downside to no homework? We didn't really fully grasp what he was struggling in. He always made it seem that he was doing fine and while his teacher would say he needs to work on his math facts it was never made out to be something he was falling behind in, just something he could practice. So when we'd think about it or had time we'd run through some extra math games, we put a game on his DS to practice addition, etc. We went through 1st-3rd grade thinking that he was doing okay.

Now, here we are in a traditional public school with homework each night in math and spelling and he's behind. I feel like this is my fault and when I'm upset with myself I tend to take it out on other people. I try not to show him how frustrated I am because he's frustrated too...but o.m.g. I have a whole new appreciation for why my dad threw his hands up while trying to help me with geometry when I just didn't get it. It's painful to watch!! Every night it's a battle and I am just hoping that sometime soon that light will go on and all those little tricks that we learn while memorizing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division will just click.

Until then, send advil and wine. It's going to be a bumpy ride.