Never thought I'd have to say this...

....but since summer has started, I've had to tell Reed "You need to READ!"

You read that right. It's crazy, I am totally shocked that it's come to this.

And I blame podcasts. He's strung out on them.

I have to admit that I gave him his first podcast...

"The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd" is a podcast in the style of old-time radio, each segment 5 minutes long, telling the "wacky tales of the World’s Most Brilliant Scientist, Dr. Floyd, as he races through history, hot on the heels of his arch nemesis, Dr. Steve." And he was instantly hooked. He very quickly burned through all 800+ episodes of the show.

Tod and I both listen to podcasts - I tend toward comedy and news, he tends toward tech-related and sometimes news. I think we both listen to podcasts pretty much every day during our commutes. So we can't argue their entertainment value - there are so many and they are so specific, you can really find something that perfectly suits your interests.

So Tod introduced Reed to the "It's Super Effective" Pokemon podcast. And now we find ourselves in this position of having to tell Reed to read.

The big difference between Dr. Floyd and this podcast is time. Some of these Pokemon podcasts are apparently hours (with an 's'!) long. Reed is enjoying them so much that he's listening to them almost to the exclusion of everything else in his free time.

Yes, he does go outside, yes, he sleeps, yes, he eats...and then he pretty much listens to this podcast. He's been getting up early (we're talking 5:15 a.m., as opposed to his usual early hour of 6 a.m.) to listen to it, he falls asleep listening to it (except when he can't fall asleep because "it's too exciting!").

So I've resorted to this. Having to tell Reed to read. It's like we have to tell him to breathe. It's very foreign and hard to understand.

I'm just hoping the obsession will pass before too long. It feels like a piece of his personality is missing if he's not reading a ton every single day. I guess maybe it's a part of growing up, but this is not something I wanted to change about him.

Gotta think of ways to distract him...

Where did the school year go?

Start of the school year on the left, end on the right.
The perspective is not quite the same, but you can definitely see how much Reed has grown this year!

Well another school year has come and gone. Why did it fly by so quickly?!

Reed has his best school year yet - he got A's all year with the exception of one single B a the start of the year. His overall grades for the year were straight A's. Way to go, Reed! Of course he still has those pesky N's (as in Not meeting standards) in handwriting and needs to work on his organization, but what are you gonna do.

Reed has matured a bit as a student, but I think much of this year's success was due to the fact that he hit the teacher lottery this year. Ms. Coughlin and Ms. Sgroi were both FANTASTIC and they really 'got' Reed. When he would write something goofy on the back of his paper, they'd make a joke right back to him. How cool is that? He really connected with both of them, and it was wonderful. When he turned in a paper without putting his name at the top, they knew it was his by the messiness. Okay so maybe that's not the greatest example. It was terrific to know that his teachers really engaged with and enjoyed him. Tod says they say that about all their students but I disagree. This was genuine. Unfortunately both teachers are leaving the school so my hopes for Amy to get them when she gets to fourth grade are dashed. Sigh. Fourth grade means Virginia studies, which Ms. Sgroi taught. She was very impressed with how engaged Reed was on this subject, and we were glad to be able to connect that history with real life by visiting Jamestown and Williamsburg over spring break. Overall, I'd love to have an exact repeat of fourth grade next year. It was a good one.

And about Amy...she is such a terrific student. She really cares about her school work and makes a big effort with everything she does. Though from time to time I think she also suffers from the same ailment that Reed does: "Let-me-get-this-work-done-so-I-can-get-back-to-reading"-itis. Amy's grades were excellent all year long. She seemed to enjoy her second grade teacher Mrs. Maynard, and I think picked up a lot of good habits this year. For instance, Mrs. Maynard read a chapter book to the kids every day during their morning snack time, and she used different voices for different characters and really focuses on intonation. Amy has picked that up and when she's reading out loud to us, she clearly enunciates and gives life to her words. It's very cool to see. Okay now that I'm thinking about it, this probably also comes from the frequency with which Amy listens to audiobooks (i.e. ALL.THE.TIME). But back to school, this year Amy learned how to write in cursive, which she was so thrilled about. Her handwriting is stellar in print and in cursive. There were a few grades during the year that Amy was disappointed with, but I think that comes from the fact that Mrs. Maynard is a pretty tough teacher, and Amy is pretty tough on herself too. Amy's work was fantastic and we're so proud of her.

Now that summer is in full swing, I'm already anxious about their next school year. Everyone talks about how important fifth grade is as a transition to middle school (okay they say EVERY grade is incredibly important for one reason or another). But mostly I just want them to have teachers that are a good fit for them, who understand them, challenge them, and reward them when they earn it.