Nice pic of Beth from Spellmasters Oct 2011

Beth - Musical and Academic Achievements 2011

PIANO/KEYBOARD ACHIEVEMENTS

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Beth is on a roll.

This afternoon, she went for her last Kumon Math class of the year, and came out beaming.

She received a cert and a medal that says she is now an Advanced Student and that she is studying at a level 6 months ahead of Kumon International Standard. Not sure how that corresponds to Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

Have challenged her to raise the bar next year.

The last few weeks have been challenging for her and she has actually fallen behind in her schedule. Got her to write out a daily schedule to get back on track with one-workbook-a-day.

It's 16 Dec 2011 and what a huge year it's been for Beth.

• She's been in a 2/3 composite class, the first of its kind at Heathdale in years (and possibly the last). She's been mentored by one of the best teachers in the school, been stretched academically and socially, has made and lost friends, and discovered aspects of herself she probably wasn't aware of (such as her sense of justice and fairness).
• At Monday's final Junior School assembly, she received the Principal's Award for Academic Excellence in All Areas of the Curriculum as well as a Certificate of Excellence for Latin (her favourite subject, alongside Art).
• Tonight, we received a call from her piano teacher informing us that Beth received an A for her AMEB Grade 2 piano exam. It's been a rollercoaster year for her musically and I hadn't expected more than a B+ considering her lack of consistency and lack of discipline.
• She has successfully transited from emotional meltdown-resentment-denial to acceptance to enthusiastic embracing of her move to a new school in 2012.
• She has taken up a new instrument: DRUMS. Who woulda thunk??
• She has made the decision to discontinue Yamaha group keyboard after four years and to continue with private piano lessons, and to switch from AMEB to Piano for Leisure. (There go my dreams of a music scholarship in Grade 7...)
• She participated in Spellmasters Aus for the first time and won the Juniors and Seniors rounds respectively in Sep and Oct. At the finals, she got soundly thrashed. What a great reality check when everything else has come so easily.
• She stuck with Kumon Math for a whole year and we've definitely seen a quantum leap in her ability.
• She achieved Maxi Green in swimming at Paul Sadler and is looking forward tothe next level (Pumpkin). Love taking her to lessons and watching her do her thing. Another side of her (confidence, drive, persistence) comes through when she's in the water. She even signed up for the Grade 3 swim carnival earlier in the year. I was so proud of her for rocking up to practices at 7 am every week at Werribee Outdoor Pool even though she was nowhere close to competition level compared to some of her peers.
• She's been in the school choir and ensemble this year and has discovered her love of singing (something my husband and I enjoy). The choir recently went carolling at a retirement home and the Werribee Plaza. We got to see them in action on Presentation Night last month and it never fails to touch me how much effort is put in by the teacher (Mrs Alice Cheong) and the students.

I'm going to take a leaf from my Aussie friends and say how proud I am of Beth's journey thus far. It's more than about grades and awards. It's about who she's becoming as a person and how our relationship is evolving as she matures.

Someone has described the parent-child relationship as a DANCE. And that is the perfect metaphor for it. Sometimes I lead, sometimes she leads.

I believe God uses the parenting process to shape and refine me as a person. It takes humility, openness, empathy, persistence and consistency to be the kind of parent my child needs me to be, the kind my parent wasn't for me.

At the NLP training I attended recently, I was reminded by my mentor that I can let go of the negative experience of parenting I received from my mother. It is time to forge a new future for my children by being the parent that I want them to have.