All Geared Up for Back to School, Box Lacrosse and Soccer!

Summer has ended and therefore school must begin.  The kids are in 2nd and 4th this year at Potowmack Elementary School and although they aren't very excited about school, they do like their teachers and are glad to be reunited with their friends.

Reagan has Ms. Stanford this year and went into Open House not knowing any other friends in her class.  Luckily she found a few she knows and has even made some new friends. Fourth grade is proving to be MUCH harder than third grade.  She continues to have daily word study (spelling) and math work sheets.  They are reviewing addition, subtraction, rounding and multiplication.  The big difference is the complexity of the social studies tests and level of content detail and testing strategies.  She has been having weekly tests and we're studying nightly for those.

Reagan also decided to join a group at school called Battle of the Books!  I was excited she was willing to try it.  This is a group of 4th graders and a group of 5th graders who read books throughout the year and then have a "battle" to see who knows the most about the books they read.  It's a great way to get her more interested in reading and so far it's working!  She finished her first book, Shelby Holmes and just started on her second which is due by the end of the month.

Cole is really enjoying second grade.  He's finding the work and schedule to be very similar.  One big difference is that he has stayed on the green behavior chart or gone up to blue or purple every day for the first month of school!  This behavior report is great news that shows he is maturing and ready to learn.  We did start him on a long acting medication to help with his focus and attention.  It's amazing how much it is helping him to complete tasks and even focus on homework after school. He now has daily word study and math worksheets.  I feel blessed there are medications that are able to help him.  We also hope they will help with some of the issues on the bus related to overstimulation.

Outside of school Reagan decided to try Fall box lacrosse this year in addition to a weekly lacrosse clinic.  She has really become more focused on the game and having a lot of fun with the girls on the team.  Her dad is also helping to coach the Fall box league and she loves having him right there on the sidelines.  Fall box is a little different because there are literally no out of bounds.  They "box" in the field which keeps the play going much longer. It's also on turf which is a very different game than the grass clumps she's used to.  The ball definitely travels faster!  She's having fun and despite having to play several games in the pouring rain she really looks forward to the games!  That's a good sign if you ask me.

Cole asked if he could do soccer this Fall and started at Dulles Sportsplex two weeks ago.  He hasn't tried soccer since he was four years old but thought he wanted to try it again.  Although it's not in his nature to be aggressive and go after the ball, he's having fun and keep up with the class pretty well.  Although it is very challenging to track with the ball and where the game is moving, it is great exercise and he says he's having fun!