Mini-Marli finished 3rd grade with As and Bs, and got a snazzy medal for meeting her reading goals for the year (reading at a 5th grade level now, woohoo!). She also got a certificate for academic achievement, and certificates for participating in Student Council and the drama club (the drama club’s presentation of “Who Pushed Humpty?” was inspired).
We hit the library book sale to celebrate (I scored copies of Joseph Campbell’s Masks of God, volumes I and II, for a buck apiece), and I bought her a new Littlest Pet Shop pet for her collection. She’s worked hard this year, and I’m proud of her.
Come share your kids’s achievements!
My daughter is in Chicago with her school academic team, competing in the National Academic Competition. It’s her first time on a plane and her first time in Chicago. She’s been fretting over the weather in Chicago for weeks now, “Mom! It’s snowing in Chicago! Will my flight be delayed?” “No, dear, your flight isn’t for another three weeks, I’m sure the weather will be clear by then.”
Either she was pulling my leg, or her academic team performance is highly overrated. 
My son is home from college due to medical reasons. He has been busting his ass working, saving up money for a car/car insurance/tuition at the local community college. He won’t even eat the discounted employee food at the restaurant where he works. He doesn’t want to spend the money.
Congratulations on Mini Marli! And good on you for rewarding her with books. Suck those kids in early with a love of reading…it’s one of the best things you can ever do for kidlets.
Kiddo #1 graduated. It was touch and go for a while there. A case of “well I ace the tests, why do I have to do homework?” He did get As in Drama and Stagecraft, those pesky Chemistry and History classes were bringing him down. He’s deciding among his options: go to college; go to college partime and work at Long John’s; not go to college but get into management at Long John’s; join the Navy. Shutting my mouth has never been so hard.
Kiddo #2 (3rd grade) got straight As and special recognition for getting 100% Math and 97% Reading on the standardized tests. We’ll start rudimentary Algebra over the summer, not by my choice mind you. He’s insisting. He also cried because there’s no more school. He’s a little weird that way. His summer reading will be the remainder of the Artemis Fowl series (I think 2) so he can grab the new one in July (why yes, we are marking the days on the calendar, why do you ask?)
Kiddo #3 (Kinder) received no real grades, but he’s reading like crazy, if only sports mags. So I consider that an accomplishment. He was recognized for his leadership abilities. Of course it was leading a boycott of “girly” food (ie pink cupcakes) and what he feels are draconian rules when it comes to library etiquette (he actually staged a sing and dance in, I fear with Bro #1’s egging on). The library thought it got the last laugh because he had to pay for that Clifford book he lost, but he says it’s his favorite book, so it’s okay that birthday money went to the library.
They’ll all get 6 Flags sometime later in the summer.
I hvae no kids, but my youngest niece just finished her Junior year of HS. She’s a straight A student taking 3 AP classes and one college class. Of course, she says her school is lousy and it’s not that big a deal because they don’t teach them anything. I think she’s got the highest grade going in her Physics class, and the teacher didn’t want her in there because she wasn’t a senior and hadn’t had Calculus yet. My sister is lucky, but sometimes wishes her daughter would raise just a little hell.
StG
I got an A in my post-graduate College Anatomy Class. I was really proud- I thought I’d get a B+ or an A-, but not an A. I must’ve done really well on the final!
I’m posting it here because my parents’ don’t really care about those things any more.
You graduate college and then tell them you got an A in a class that you took AFTER college, because the subject matter interested you and you wanted to learn more… and you get nothing- no reaction. Nope, nothing. You already got your degree- what’dya wanna keep learning for?
:Le Sigh: Parents- encourage your kids to learn at any age- it’s a good habit!
We’re finishing up 2nd grade, and mainly what I’m going to brag about is math. I am so happy about the way my daughter grasps math concepts! I think she gets it mostly from her dad, but who knows–by that age I already knew that girls don’t do well in math, and she hasn’t learned that, yay! So I am just thrilled to bits that she gets the concepts and enjoys math.
My little one just turned 5 and will be starting K next year–she’s well on the way to reading, so I’m happy about that.
My oldest finishes her Junior year in HS next week. She’s got a 4.3something GPA, 3.9+ unweighted. She’s first chair violin in orchestra, National Honor Society, and a three year letterwinner in soccer. Her soccer team went 15-2 this year, by far the best in school history, and made it to the final 8 in the state championship, losing 1-0.
Sometimes I really wonder what I did to deserve a kid like this.
My youngest, scarily, is the smart one. She’s in sixth grade but lacks the perfectionism of her older sister. She’s a lot more like me, which bodes poorly for the next six years. She’ll do just fine, but will probably make my life interesting until college.
Mine was eighteen months behind her year level when she left a montessori school. Fourteen months later she is one year ahead in Maths and English, thanks to Kumon and a happy school environment. That, and she gave me a note which says, “Mummy I love you more than anything else in the world”.
Awwwwwwww…
Congrats on great Doper kids. And yay RoOsh on the A!
GT
My baby now has a BS in Elementary Education from the University of Central Florida. Although she didn’t have a high enough GPA for any honors, she did make Dean’s List her last 4 or 5 semesters (that includes at least one summer session) and her final GPA was something over 3.5 - not bad considering a shaky start in her freshman year.
She also has a new husband, and the two of them are living with us till they can save for their own house. It’s nice having her around again, and not just because she scoops the cat boxes.
The young un’ says “I love you because you’re the best daddy in the world”. He’s wrong, but he makes me determined to be at least worthy of the nomination.
[Bold mine] Wow, you ARE excited! 
Queen Bruin is finishing up her last quarter of college. She’s been a research assistant for one of her professors, and will graduate with a BA in Classical Civilization, with honors. We’ve made plans to go to her graduation, but looks like we won’t be able to attend the big graduation, just the departmental one. The keynote speaker at the big graduation is former President Clinton; I think that’s why tickets are so scarce.
Yay Queen Bruin!
Well, gee, normally I try to refrain from bragging about my kid, as I think that most folk don’t find them as fascinating as I do, but since you asked:
Our honorary granddaughter just graduated from Pre-Kindergarten, attended the ceremony this Wednesday. Delightful young-un.
It hasn’t quite happened yet, but our daughter will be gradutaing grad school in August as a nurse practitioner. Thesis is done and approved, just a few clinicals to get out of the way, the light at the end of a very long tunnel is not, horray, a train. And, she had the compassion to ask deal old dad to help proof read her thesis and offer suggestions. (I strongly think that she’s throwing a crumb to the old man, but that just makes me love her more)
Anyway, I don’t have that much to brag about personally, really. What our daughter did, she did on her own and I can’t take much credit for it. Our honorary granddaughter, we’re just proud of…well, you know, just because! So the credit is to them and I am sometimes simply awestruck at what these 2 very different generations of ladies have done in their own self-motivated way. If I’d of had their drive and determination, you would all be addressing me now as Emperor of the World LiveOnAPlane.
My eleven year old daughter cleaned her room, by herself, without me asking her to! (This is a huge accomplishment for her, and I’m very proud.)
My seven year old son (first grade) stated his own anti-bullying club at school this year. He’s been bullied before, and we’ve been working with him to teach him how to react, but this year he has taken it a step farther. Halfway through the school year, a new girl came into his class who has leukemia. She takes chemo, and was totally bald, not to mention very thin and pale. The bullies had a heyday with her, and my son came home in tears the first week she was there. “Mom, they are so MEAN!! It’s not her fault if she’s sick!” We spent a lot of time talking about Cancer, as well as the fact that we can’t control what others do, but rather it is our own actions that we can make an effort to improve. The next day, he went up to her and told her that he’d stick up for her no matter what, and they formed a close friendship. Fast forward to now, with two weeks left of school. My son has a circle of about twelve kids who were previously being bullied in one way or another. They hang out at recess, and call each other on the phone. I’ve talked to his teachers, and none of them put him up to it; he did all on his own. They are all learning from each other strategies to deal with the “meanies” and also picking up on tolerance for differences in the proccess.
The Bubster (three year old son, for those who don’t know) is a language master. He’s starting towards the first steps of reading - knowing which letters make which sounds, and learning to sound out words - in English, our native language. He’s also picked up quite a bit of verbal Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, to the point where I’m having to learn both very quickly in order to stay ahead of him. (I did take four years of Spanish in high school.) ALSO, Bubster is learning American Sign Language, at a ate of about three words per day. He makes me feel really dumb on a regular basis.
The sprog is graduating kindergarten next Friday. He’s got excellent analytical skills in math and science and his teacher has praised him for outstanding social skills, neither of which he got from me.
He’s also a consummate wiseass, and I can take credit for that.
Robin
My oldest granddaughter just finished her junior year of high school. She wound up with a bunch of C’s and a smattering of B’s for the year. She called me from town and said her dad was going to be upset.
Now, this girl cares about horses, trucks, and boys, in that order. School isn’t a priority with her. She doesn’t get in trouble, has one job at a fast food place and also does enough farm work here to pay for the upkeep of her horse. I’m happy with her, considering all that could be these days.
I told her I’d meet her and we’d talk about grades. So I bought us each a chocolate milkshake and told her her report card was better than a lot of her dad’s used to be.
Then I gave her a bumper sticker for her truck:
“My horse can buck off your honor student” Her dad ain’t going to like that much either, but what the hell?