I had a meeting with my daughter's teacher yesterday. She's had some low grades (not kinda low, failing low) and I wasn't sure if she was still missing some work from when she was sick. Her teacher, who is very sweet and well-loved by her second grade charges, told me my daughter is doing fine, but there is one problem: she is constantly drawing during class. Not in the open, on top of her desk, but sneakily in a notebook hidden on her lap. This was not surprising, she loves to draw.
I do not want to discourage her love of drawing but I would like her to pay more attention in class. My plan is to focus on her school work a little more than I have been; pay more attention to her homework. I'm hoping that with a little focused energy on my part, I can get her a little more engaged. It's not that I think grades are terribly important, but she really is so capable and it comes easy when she tries and pays attention. We will see what happens.
My son was always drawing when he was younger. One day when he was in grade 2 I yelled at him because instead of practicing his spelling words, he had turned each word into a lovely little drawing. I told him to stop drawing and learn the words and he asked me Why? And I couldn't think of one reason why it was more important for a seven year old to learn to spell a list of words than to create some lovely drawings. I ended up putting him in a school that taught the Alberta curriculum through the arts, which worked out good. I was lucky to have such an option though.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great drawing too! Love the crabs.
ReplyDeleteI kind of dread the day when she asks me why, and I know it's only a matter of time. An arts-centric school would be great for her, but of course that does not exist here. At least she is clever--she learns things quickly when she bothers to pay attention.
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