Carrot Anyone??

I write. You know that. My daughter does too. In fact she has started her own book - with chapters...just.like.me.

It's nice to see her absorbing the motivation to create, but I never push. I nod. I applaud. I exlaim. I never correct or suggest. She's 6 - her creations are perfect...

Oh yes...she askes me for help, being the hard-wired perfectionist that she is. And, with her newfound reading and writing skills about a year ahead of the norm, she knows when something doesn't look right, or sound right - and needs - it - to - be - RIGHT!!!

But still - I smile. I encourage. I say things like, "If is sounds right to you", "If it looks right to you", and "What effort you have put into that fairy book."

And so, a few evenings ago as she was adding a few last lines to her most recently illustrated page she problem solved her own word: fod became food. I wasn't surprised - really - that she somehow understood this odd permeation of 'double-O' as all the rules of written English, even the ones that break their own rules (ie - find, um...a long-i, really?) come easily to her.

But what DID give me pause, and caused my jaw to click down a few notches was when she added this under that little word: ^ (fod became fo^od)

Yeah - a carrot, as in English highschool teachers use it to add something to the sentence or word. And here, my six year old Kindergartener marked it on her page like a backwards 's', or a smiley face, or the first letter of her name - without hestitation.

"Wow - what is that?" I asked

"I missed a letter" she responded, "It's a carrot. That's how I put letters in that I missed."

Yup - that's right. Not only does she employ the tool, but she can explain her reasoning!

"Jeez - that's pretty fancy. Where did you learn about that?"

"Oh - my teacher taught me when she makes my words right."

*

*

*

*

*

***silence while I thought this over. And recalled with great detail the post where I raged against spelling tests in Kindergarten, and the recent parent teacher conference when I told the teacher as much, then was presented with 'representative examples' of her work. (copying...judged work - notice the requirements on the top right?)

Oh - if only we were independantly weathly and could send our girls to an alternative school, like a Waldorf or a Montessori where their creativity and innate desire to explore was celebrated and encouraged...but no - not yet, anyway. And, let me be clear - it's not the global requirements being put on the teacher I'm railing against - necessarily - but the archaic methods being used to accomplish them.

Hence the conversation spawned by a red circle around 'is' on her test because 's' was backwards:

Me: "Do you actually count this as wrong?

Her: "No. I make a note if it, but it will be wrong in first grade."

WHAT????

So here I present a clear demonstration of her creativity in action...the finished scrapbook she made for her father's birthday.

Rock it out girl...create, be inspired without rules and limitations - you deserve that.