And Zen What

HOORAY!!!!!! My kid is average!!!


Now, I just want to say up front that we don't live in Lake Wobegon, "Where all the women are strong, the men are good-lookin', and the children are above average." We all have our strengths and our weaknesses in this family (one of mine is having no idea how Garrison Keillor spells "Wobegon," so I took a shot).

Two years ago this month, Three came home from Haiti, where she'd been living in a crowded orphanage for a couple of years, placed there by a mother who was struggling with poverty I can't even begin to comprehend. Two years ago, this month, Three was stunned to find out that her cleverness with English verb conjugations was not the same as being able to understand or speak or read in English.

Her first year here in school, she sometimes resorted to hiding under furniture--in the classroom. I can only begin to imagine the pressure, the shame, the despair this incredibly well-behaved child endured, even with the dedicated help and compassion her teachers and school gave her.

One year ago, this month, I was out of my mind with pride that Three's national standardized test scores actually registered on the graph ("falls far below" on Reading and Mathematics, and "approaches" on Writing).

Yesterday, this very month, I opened an envelope from her school containing a bar graph and felt like Ed McMahon had just showed up on my doorstep with a big ol' oversized check. All three bars are right smack in the middle of "Meets Standards" on the state scores, and average and above average (hello Lake Wobegon!) in Language and Mathematics on the national scores.

What I found in the Work Habits section of her final report card is the best of all, though. (They are not cards anymore, by the way--they are more like spreadsheets.)

The scale is:
N = Needs Improvement
S = Satisfactory
E = Excellent.

The category is:
Displays Confidence

The grade is:

E+

That's my girl!