First Grade Writing

For those of you who have yet to have kids enter into school, let me just tell you that Kindergarten is fun and exciting, but First Grade is AMAZING. I mean, they walk into first grade generally not knowing how to read or write much at all, and before Christmas they are reading and writing sentences you will be astounded at.

It is just so much fun. Really. Really. Fun.

Here are a few examples of Davis' writing. Mrs. Baker encourages the kids to write about real things, and his little stories are the making of an elementary school blog:

9/10/2008
I playd socr. We wun 3to8.

10/30/2008
I korvd my pumpkin. It wus sceree. It was mad (made) wot uv triagles. Frst we brot in the pumpkin and thean we wosht theam. We got sum newspaper and poot it on a table. We poot the pumpkin on the table. Dad cut the top off and we rethe into the pumpkin.

SO much happens in just six weeks!!

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Davis came home today with a Guatemalan Worry Doll. Have you heard of them? They are very small dolls originally made in Guatamala. A person (usually a child) who cannot sleep due to worrying can express their worries to a doll and place it under their pillow before going to sleep.
According to folklore, the doll is thought to worry in the person's place, thereby permitting the person to sleep peacefully. The person will wake up without their worries, which have been taken away by the dolls during the night.

With the doll came a little piece of paper with typed text explaining all this. "Where did you get this?" I ask with as much non-chalantness as I could muster up. Mrs. Otto, apparently. (Who is that? A mom? A school employee? I am not sure.)

So here is where the rubber meets the road. One significant reason for allowing our kids to go to public school is to expose them to the world and walk with them as they synthesize what they are seeing. The theory is that we process with them the beliefs of our broken world in tiny chunks as they grow up. In the process - again, so the theory goes - we help them understand better why we believe what we believe, and show them just how much the world needs a savior.

I sort of wanted to get angry that the "pagen public school" distributed some crazy idea, but instead I grabbed up the opportunity and we chatted about the whole notion. Here is what he had to tell me:

"It is pretend, mom, but I think that it does help kids if they THINK it will help them. The dolls don't really take worries away." Yeah, you are right Davis. I know only One who can do THAT. "Yeah, yeah, I do too, Mom." (Too preachy, Davis? Dare I insult your intelligence and faith?)

It was clear pretty quickly that he knew what the Truth was (he has a solid head of faith on his shoulders), but I imagine that there will be other opportunities to discuss to Whom we can bring our worries.

(Matthew 6:34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

(Psalm 54:4 & 7) Behold, God is my helper ; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. ...For He has delivered me from all trouble...

This is the kind of stuff I knew would be coming. I just pray the Lord would give me wisdom to know how to answer, and the discernment to know if or when too much exposure is too much.