Brennan
Brennan finished kindergarten on Thursday, May 25th. We took some pictures before school in the morning. During school, they performed a kindergarten celebration, and he read a part and sang a bunch of cute songs. Each kid also got to share what they want to be when they grow up: tech teacher. (Only one who said that too!)
He's had a great year. He has lots of kids that consider him their best friend, but he still says his best friend is Collin. (By some strange coincidence, 2nd grade and kindergarten overlapped morning recess.) I think full-day 1st grade will be a little bit of a hard transition for him in the fall (less tv and alone time), but he loves being with people and staying busy, so those parts will be nice. He is very smart, and his reading, writing and math are all above grade-level.
His teacher and classmates adore him. He is funny and loves to tell jokes. He loves to sing and dance and run and play. He also loves his scooter and two-wheeler bike. He attends a weekly art class at the rec center as well as karate. He seems happy with both.
Collin
Collin finished 2nd grade on Friday, May 26th. We took some pictures before he left in the morning. During school, they played games and fooled around before getting dismissed before lunch. Afterwards, the neighborhood had an ice cream block party.
He's had an ok year. There's been some bullying again, and about half of all his recesses he spends alone. He isn't athletic - I blame my genes! - and that is particularly hard with boys. He has two boys - plus Brennan - that he hangs out with sometimes. One has severe behavior problems and spends 90% of the school day in a solitary classroom, and the other is just different. He is a good, sweet kid, but he struggles socially. He also struggles to manage his time, so he rarely gets his work done at school. He seems to understand everything - tests above or at grade-level - but he never gets anything finished. It is hard for me to see. I push him so hard, but sometimes I wonder if that only makes it worse. I wouldn't call this the best or the worst year; it just was.
He loves his scooter and riding his bike. He is super fast and coordinated when he rides! He is a good helper around the house, and I'm looking forward to having him around more. We read Harry Potter #1 last month, and now he's working on #2 by himself. He's read a few Hardy Boys too, and he still really loves non-fiction. Ryan got him a Lego Mindstorm kit about a month ago (computer programming a lego robots), so they spend a lot of evenings together doing that. He loves piano, Cub Scouts and Karate.
And now we begin Summer 2017!
