Heather Camlot

 

What a strange feeling it is to see your child’s academic life broken down into a series of As, Bs and Cs.

Obviously, with Alexandre in Grade 1, Marc and I knew were going to eventually receive an actual report card – rather than the kind that summed up his strengths and weaknesses with “satisfactory,” “very good” and “excellent.” But it still makes your heart skip a beat when you receive that first one.

I opened it with trepidation. I know Alexandre is a bright kid – he’s constantly asking me to quiz him on additions, he has a super vocabulary, which I attribute to lots of time watching Word Girl on PBS, and he’s extremely focused when it comes to art projects. But I also know he has trouble getting work done at school and has a tendency to get sidetracked by whatever he can get sidetracked by.

I have to say I was really taken aback. The report card was better than I expected. Way better. He’s not an A+ student, but he’s not a C+ student either. Most of his marks fell between B+ and B-, with a single C+ in writing and an A- in – surprise, surprise – visual arts.

When I explained to him how well he did, I could see that proud little smile that he always tries so hard to hide come across his face. Then I told him he was his mother’s son, getting an A in art class. This made him laugh and asked if I got an A in that too. I did. I also did well in math and spelling (I couldn’t define anything if my life depended on it, but I could spell it).

He really is my kid. And I am incredibly proud of him. We have things we need to work on, but overall he’s on the right track. That said, I should probably accept his invitations to watch Word Girl more often – before I don’t understand a word he says. Smarty pants.