Tuesday

There is this one little boy, Caeb, who is going into the first grade but he is really behind. He came into kindergarten when the school year was almost over so he should not be going into the first grade but his mom does not want him to stay back. I feel really bad for him because he needs to be able to have a full year in kindergarten and get a foundation before heading off to first grade. I can already see that he is intimidated being the slowest one in class and it can be hard for kids to want to learn or be motivated when they just want to shut out everything and not be embarrassed in front of everyone else in the class. Ultimately he is going to be the one suffering and all because his mother “wants” him to be in first grade. I spent a lot of one on one time with him today just practicing going over the alphabet in English and then trying to spell his name, and then say it out loud in English as well. He is smart and I know he will get it, I just wish he did not have to feel so pressured and could take time just really learning the basics. He is so cute though and I kept trying to encourage him because it makes it so hard when you don’t understand something and have to try to catch up to the rest of the class when you don´t know how. He needs to feel like he can do it and I know he will. I told him to keep practicing at home and I will be spending more one on one time with him to try and get him up to speed.

On a different note, it has been raining a lot tonight, and it was the first time that I was actually really startled and little scared by the thunder. At first I did not even realize it was thunder and I thought there was a plane like two feet above the house making it’s way to crash land in my bedroom!! I know I say it all the time but the thunder here is so powerful it is unbelievable. Last week the rain would start around 4pm but the last few nights it has started around 8 or 9pm. It hasn’t really rained during the day yet, it seems to be around the perfect time, you can get your stuff done during the day and stay dry, well that is if you do not get wet from your own sweat, and then the rain comes when you are already in your house for the night and can fall asleep to it’s soothing sound (that is, however, when the thunder does not sound like a crashing plane…).