Commendations

A nice little start to the year for the kids.  

Buster got a merit card at school for Excellence in Problem Solving in Maths.

Milly got two commendations.  See below.

 And Henry also got two commendations.

Short sighted

The first week into the new school year and Boo came home from school in tears.  He said he couldn't see the whiteboard used by the teacher, despite him sitting at the front of the class.  So it was off to the optometrist for an eye check.

After identifying and not identifying letters from the alphabet in various sizes, it was concluded he is short sighted (-2.5 in both eyes for those familiar with optic prescriptions) and needs to wear glasses permanently.  For a self conscious child, this was a death sentence and there were more tears.  He didn't want to pick out a set of frames and in the kids range there wasn't much that appealed to our boy.  In the end he settled on a pair of Oakley frames and opted to have transition lenses that block out UV light and darken to sunglasses when outside.  We also needed to get a special sports strap so he could wear them when he played tennis.

When at last his glasses were ready for pick up and he popped them on, it was like he was walking in a whole new world.  He hadn't realised how clear the world looked with 20/20 vision.  He had thought his blurry world was normal.  Bless him... and it was this realisation that turned his frown upside down and he now happily wears his glasses.

Meanwhile, we as parents are trying to figure out how he has coped for so long in his blurry world, how we didn't notice he needed his eyes checked, how his teachers hadn't picked up on it, and how his tennis coach hadn't noticed either. 

In breaking news, he has now had his glasses for two weeks and his tennis coach has commented on the improvement in his play since wearing them.

Back to school

Year 5, Year 7, Year 9

Things to note:

Buster is still wearing the same size 4 shorts he wore when he started kindergarten.  He is determined to wear them until he finishes primary school next year.  They are his favourite and he cannot be convinced to wear any other.  His shirt size is size 8.  This is the shirt Henry wore and outgrew in Year 1.  Buster wonders if he will ever be the tallest or will he always be little.  This year he is in an extension class for literacy.  

Milly has embraced high school and is loving it.  She has got lost a few times looking for class rooms.  She is in a special CAPA class for kids who are talented in creative and performing arts.  She says the teachers are surprised by how quiet her class is compared to other years.  Turns out there are only three drama kids in the class, the rest are art and music students.  

Henry has started the year with better study habits than previous years.  Fingers crossed he sustains it.  His electives this year are Marine and Aquatic Technology, and Multimedia.