Very Outside The Box: Achievements

My kid is a mathlete.

Chloe does Kumon, which is a enrichment program that focuses on repetition and speed. One big benchmark for Kumon is the goal of "G by 5" - to be working on Level G by the end of your 5th grade year. This is Kumon's benchmark for successful progress because years of experience demonstrates that students who attain it remain proficient at all higher grade levels as well. Kumon recognizes this accomplishment with a national award. Today was the end of year party at Kumon, and she was awarded her Kumon star, for achieving G by 5. We are so proud, and she is so proud. This week, she reached the goal of Level G in Reading also (I'm not sure what the Reading star will say, somehow Readinglete just doesn't flow as well). She has really been working hard to achieve these levels, and earned an e-reader as a reward for her hard work.

Now that the weather is a bit more seasonal, I took the girls in the back yard for an impromptu shoot. We used these pictures for a father's day gift, which I'm not going to elaborate on until after it arrives (sometime after Father's Day, since I couldn't get my act together). It was a little difficult getting pictures of Addy; she didn't quite understand why we would be in the back yard if we weren't on the slide or the swings. She kept doing her scooter-crawl (on hands and left knee, right foot) gangster-limp on over to sit at the bottom of the slide. We had a "she's walking!" false alarm; on Monday, she took 6 steps, and I sent a gloating text to Pete. Of course since then, she has refused to take a single step. She's so close, it's so exciting!

I had the first of my marathon Mom's group photo shoots yesterday. It was a little bit hot, but we were at a park with great big shady trees, so we utilized those. It was a lot of fun - 30 minute sessions all day, so it was rapid-fire picture taking. It was nice to be able to see what works and what doesn't, and luckily most of the things we tried worked. It was also an opportunity to work with the preschool aged crowd - a little more challenging than babies! Here are a few of my favorites from yesterday - so many smiles!