Another Report Card

We received Abbie's 2nd trimester report card in the mail today. She is graded in a number of categories on a 4-point system. 1=needs support, 2=approaching expectations, 3=meets expectations, and 4=exceeds expectations. At the end of the last trimester, she scored 2's and 3's. At the end of this trimester, she scored 3's and 4's and had either improved or stayed the same in every category. So, apparently they are happy with her progress. Awhile back they had tested the kids (covertly, of course) and Abbie scored really well, so they moved her up to a more advanced group within the class and it seems to have had a positive effect on her learning. As for the qualitative comments, they are all positive and her teacher starts out by writing, "Abbie's strengths are her large vocabulary and her reasoning skills." Um, yup, this sounds about right. She has always run circles around us with her logic, and with her quick retorts. The other day Chad was reading to her and she asked what one of the words was. He responded, "Well, if you knew how to read then you would know that word." Without missing a beat, she responded, "Well, if you were doing a better job teaching me, then I would know how to read." Ouch!

What will she do with all this tremendous potential? Well, personally, I see a lawyer in the making. However, Abbie has actually been giving a lot of thought lately to what she would like to do when she grows up, and lawyer doesn't seem to be one of the possibilities that she is considering. So what is on the top of her list? First, she proposed magician. Then she proposed gardener. Then she proposed a magician-gardener. After this, she decided to change focus a little bit and proposed mail lady. I am just thankful that this decision doesn't need to be made any time soon.