I’ve decided I want to raise a geek. Seriously. Other parents can have their popularity and cheerleading contests because I don’t want my kid to get caught up in that rat race. The nicest teenagers I know are the geeks–they’re smart, respectful, have a great group of supportive friends and go on to have successful careers.
Bode is turning into a little geek and I couldn’t be more proud. He loves learning. I bought him an interactive Intelliglobe for Christmas and that boy is constantly drilling me on my continents, populations and ecology with his globe’s 18 touch and explore features, trivia and multiple choice challenges. He’s also borderline obsessed with getting to the very end of Raz Kids with its interactive ebooks, downloadable books, and reading quizzes. And math. Don’t even get me started with math. Everything begins and ends with numbers.
I don’t remember a lot about first grade. I was still pretty cute (that quickly changed a couple years later) and I was madly in love with Phillip Cutler who later moved to Texas (oh, the heartbreak). And that I got a lot of nosebleeds. Beyond that, first grade was pretty much a wash.
Last week, Bode had his parent-teacher conference and he led us around his classroom showing us his various projects, playing a math game and reading. It’s amazing to see how much his writing has improved since the beginning of the year–from one-sentence paragraphs to multi-page essays. He’s thriving in all areas and only missed one answer on the state-wide standardized BEAR test.
Jamie, of course, had to give him a hard time about that.
For reading, he’s currently testing out at the same level as a second grader at the end of the year.
Jamie joked he could take next year off. That husband of mine thought he was the parent-teacher stand-up comedian. Bode’s teacher wasn’t that amused.
We were blown away by it all but the kicker was at the end. Bode has been working on a research project on an animal of his choice: sloths. He sat us down to show us the PowerPoint presentation he had prepared on the subject.
Things have changed a wee bit since I was in first grade.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 