Anna and Grace

Today I "aided" in our elementary co-op for the morning, which means I spent time doing the character lesson, taking prayer requests, helping the kids eat lunch, and helping them exchange their valentines. I aided for the K-4 and K-5 classes, so I got to spend time with Anna and Grace in the their TNT environments, which was so fun! I had Anna's class first, and one mom, who had recently taught those 2 classes was commenting on how sweet my girls were--especially one of them, but because there were kids coming in, I couldn't hear which name she was talking about. She was talking about how this girl was more quiet, so I automatically assumed she was talking about Grace. Wrong! It turned out she was talking about Anna! I was shocked!

Well, as the morning went on, Anna really hardly said 2 words! That's not totally true--they had some free time, and she played happily with some of the other girls (there are only about 10 kids in her class total), but she definitely didn't chatter away, even at lunch. And she's definitely a chatterer at home, LOL. But she LOVES the co-op, and she considers these kids GREAT friends of hers. it was just surprising to me to see how shy she did appear to be in that environment!

So then the classes switched, and Anna's class went off to learn about France. Right now the kids are al studying "Europe". Last week Anna and Grace's teacher taught them all about Poland, since she is a native of Poland. The girls came home spouting all sorts of random facts about Poland--they were both listening very attentively, I can assure you! I don't think they had ever really put together that Grandma B is Polish as well!

Anyhow, Grace's class came in, and I was VERY curious to see how they all interacted. Last week when I had picked the girls up (which I only did because Christine was over there aiding that week--normally I am teaching science, and the other Rivendell ladies pick everyone up), the aide told me that one little boy just loved Grace--he calls her "Beautiful Grace", and he always wants to sit next to her. Awwwww . . . so sweet! Well, the little boy actually sat on the other side of the table, across from Grace, today, but he is a little cutie, LOL. And I was shocked to see how confidant Grace was in there! She talked to the kids, and just in general acted like she was at home. Huh!

This is such a big switch from church, which is the girls' other big social weekly experience. There, Grace hardly says a word in class, and she acts PAINFULLY shy, as if the act of cutting paper is too much for her. Although, maybe I should ask her teachers specifically on Sunday. Those reports were from a few months ago, and maybe she's had this blossoming transformation, LOL. Whereas Anna has always seemed perfectly comfortable there even when she is the only girl with a bunch of boys.

It just goes to show that you can't pigeon-hole your kids' personalities!