Welcome to Parenting 101

Do any of you remember 1st grade? What did you learn? What did you do? Well I don't remember everything, but I do remember some things. Like I remember a little boy named Clay and I used to play Star Wars during recess. I, of course was Princess Lea (buns and all) and he was Luke Skywalker and we did a fantabulous rendition of our version of the movie. I also got my ears pierced in 1st grade. I was beginning to read simple books and learning the correct way to form my letters and even spell simple words. We were learning basic addition, but nothing too much into double digit solutions. Why this subject matter you ask? Let me enlighten you all as to what 1st graders do in the year 2007. Chloe is now reading books that have a few paragraphs on each page, she is writing multi-syllable words and forming her writing into sentences and even pages. She is doing adding and subtracting into the double digits, greater than and less than sums, WORD problems and the real kicker came tonight........FRACTIONS!!!! What the hell is up with that?!?! I knew when she was going into 1st grade that things were tougher and a bit more 'survival of the fittest' than when I was her age, but come on! FRACTIONS! Maybe I am just living in the dark and this is a common thing with 6 and 7 year olds now, but I was a little surprised when that came out of her homework folder tonight. On the subject of homework, the poor kid(on a nightly basis) has a word page that she has to write different words that are listed, math homework handouts, a book to read, plus questions to answer about the book, and now poetry homework. EVERY NIGHT!! I don't think I did that much homework in High School. College maybe. Man, she better get into a top rated college! For all of you who's kiddos are just young toddlers or preschoolers, this is what you have to look forward to. I am assuming by the time Nolan is in 1st grade he will be bringing home the Periodic table and Macbeth. I better start brushing up on my Shakespeare now. Now where did I last store those Cliff notes?
On a happier note, today was a BEAUT!!!!!! I think it got up to almost 80 today. It was so nice. I love that first sunbeam of spring on my face. In all it's warm and golden goodness. It warms me through to my soul. And after a cold and frigid winter, it is long overdue. I know, I know, it is going to get cold again, but today was enough to carry me through a few more days of cold and drab. I hope you all had some sunshine in your day and you were able to go and run through its rays!