Braggin' it Up!!

If you don't like braggy posts, don't read this. I'm totally about to brag about my genius kid.

Last Tuesday, Russell and I got the first Harry Potter book from the library for Eric. We gave it to him that evening after dinner. He read until Lights Out, Books Out time. The next morning we could barely get him to get dressed and eat breakfast, he was so mesmerized by reading the book. He asked if he could read it on the way to school, so Ok. I was going to take it from him when we got there, but he was so sincere and sweet that I let him take it to school with him. I always warn him not to get in trouble for reading when he should be doing something else, which has happened to him in the past. He got home from school saying he'd had "extra reading time" that day, and I was all..."I'd better not get a call from Teacher about this alleged 'extra reading time'." Then that night I went with the Young Women to the temple for like 4 hours. When I got back that night after bedtime, there was the book sitting there on the rocking chair. He had FINISHED IT in ONE DAY. He's 8.

So, ok, he's a fast reader. Seth was suspicious, asking me if Eric really got what he was reading and so on. Apparently he does. He's a pretty good quick reader. His whole thing, though, has been reading, reading, reading, and not doing anything with it, academically. There's this program at school, A.R., where books are rated by level. Last year teacher set a goal with Eric that he advance in the A.R. program by a whole level by the end of the semester. All you have to do is read books and then take a test. That's where he fell short. I would send him off to school with the admonition that he take a test today in order to meet his goal. He almost made the goal, with all my badgering.

When school started this year, I specifically asked Teacher if we could work together to motivate Eric to at least earn the 25 points you need (at a rate of several points per test) to get on the Wall of Fame. He had maybe 18 points built up over 1st and 2nd grades. So last week when he finished the book so fast, I told him if he could take a couple tests and get on the A.R. Wall of Fame, I would check him out the second Harry Potter book. Monday he took a test and got enough points to get on the Wall of Fame, and then out of the blue on Tuesday he came home saying he'd taken the AR test for Harry Potter and almost passed. Awww, so close, buddy. But he got the second book, for reaching the 25 point level with the other test. So I checked the book out on Tuesday night and gave it to him when I got home from Young Womens. I know he's a fast reader and all, but I was astonished when he came up last night after reading time to say he'd just finished the second book. Again, in ONE DAY. And you know they get longer with each book.

So this morning I get a call from Teacher. I was expecting it to be either a)Eric isn't doing his work, just reading, or b)Why are you sending him in with these fat old books that are 20 AR levels above where he is? But instead, Teacher said she was calling to check whether Eric had read the book by himself. Uh, yeah. At bedtime, I'm up reading Little House with Jules. I sort of stopped reading bedtime books with Eric 18 months ago. So, yeah, he read the whole thing by himself. She says, "Oh! Because he told me he was reading it by himself. I knew he was a good reader. But I just called to tell you he took the AR test on the second Harry Potter this morning and got 100%. And this one is 12 AR levels higher than the first one!" She was going to send home a list of other AR books around that level for Eric to read.

So it totally made my day. He's not only a super good, super fast reader, but he's also only a few points away from the next AR Wall of Fame level, and needless to say, the most advanced reader in his class. WAHOOO!!! Sometimes he's a bit of a bonehead about remembering to put his stuff away or looking in a certain place for something even if I describe it in detail to him. But he's a fabulous reading genius, dang it!!

PS: I love you all, but I'm going to go ahead and request that no one reply with how much of a genius THEIR kids are, because it's my brag about my boy. Feel free to leave admiring replies saying how great he is or how his head must be so big because he has such a huge intelligent brain, though.