Z is a pretty active kid, but beyond any sport that he may play…education still rules the house. It’s been a transition this year, full of multiple tests per day, homework each night and now a book report.

Z is doing fairly well, but needs work on a certain subject, reading comprehension.  The boy reads close to a 4th grade level so this came as a surprise to us..but we continue to grind away with it.

This school year has got mommy thinking too.  How do you raise a kid that loves to learn and excels in school.  Curiously, as I was looking through my Facebook post, there was a post from Bill Gates on his top recommended books.  One of which stood out to me, How Children Succeed.  I’m about half way through the book, but it’s an interesting read.  It tests how kids from different social economic levels succeed in education.  Two main themes that I’ve taken away, parent involvement matters and there is a thing called grit and motivation.

We’ve been all over the parent involvement aspect.  The grit and motivation is harder to define. And we’re not alone, top researchers, including Angela Duckworth, all struggle with defining and bottling it.  But oh if you could,the potential could be limitless.  We continue to preach be an informational seeker and hopefully we’ll cruise right into that perfect match of grit and motivation.  For now, Z will continue to practice his reading comp by reading to Bella, a passive (if not sleeping) listener.