Ella's Schooling!

This cute girl is going to Kindergarten again!!!!! I'm so excited for her! I'm calling it Kindergarten 2.0!

Time is what she needs and time is what she is getting. More time to learn and process. More time to let the information she's learning fully set in. Time to grow physically and time to grow emotionally. Ella is a good 2 to 3 inches shorter than the other Kindergarteners and she's also a bit more emotional as well. I think this extra time with help with both those things and also it's just going to give her that firm foundation that she needs before moving on to 1st grade.

I was a little worried in regards to telling her the news. I didn't want her to feel less in any way, shape or form. She is not less! She is learning and she will continue to learn at her own pace. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that and there is nothing wrong with how fast she learns or how she learns. She is perfect just the way she is. I had been praying about how to tell her so I would make her feel good and not bad. She had already told me a few times before that she didn't want to leave Ms. Asselin's class, but she's also talked about how she's going to be a 1st grader soon. I knew it was time to tell her once she started talking about that. So one night while she was saying her prayers she thanked God for Ms. Asselin and I knew it was the right time. I just felt God leading me to tell her. I actually interrupted her prayer and said, "Ella what would you say if I said you could stay with Ms. Asselin?" Oh my word her mouth opened to be so wide. She was so shocked and happy! Then I said, "You get to....you get to stay with Ms. Asselin!" That's when she hugged and kissed me! We talked a little about it and then she said something about being a first grader and I said, "Actually that's the thing you get to be a Kindergartener again" She was completely fine with that! 

I know more questions will come, but I want her to come to me with them. I didn't want to get all technical and overwhelm her with details. Afterwards I felt like this huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.....it was so freeing! She is truly so happy. In fact later that week when I was volunteering I was eating lunch with her and she leaned over and whispered...."Mom...you need to tell Ms. Asselin that I'm staying with her!" She's so cute! I told her that she already knew! It was so funny that she whispered....not because she was ashamed, but because she didn't want the other kids to hear because she see this as a special privilege that only she is getting and she doesn't want the other kids to be jealous!!!  

It sure is a special privilege!!! I'm so happy for my girl. I know that some people see this as such a bad thing and I honestly think that is just the stigma that being "held back" has gotten. It is not bad and we need to stop thinking about it like that. Each child learns at a different pace...even kids that don't have a traumatic brain injury! That's normal and we need to stop pushing kids to learn at the schools pace and let them succeed at their own pace! I have told a few people about Ella and her situation and the look that immediately comes over their face is pity! This is NOT...I repeat NOT a bad thing! There is no reason to pity my little girl! All she is being given is time....the necessary time to learn and grow so she is truly ready for the next step. That is so exciting! Maybe we can all start to think of retention in a different light. It's not a child being held back because they've failed....it's a child being given the time they need to truly succeed!!!!