Inspirations

I think I mentioned long ago back in December sometime that I was going to post about the kids' school Inspirations contest (this is the charter school version of the Reflections contest).

SO here it is.

The topic was "The Power of One."

Abigail won an honorable mention in Visual Arts for this drawing she did of The Nativity.

And she won first place in Literature for this little story she wrote. (sorry that you can't really read it. I didn't want to type it in, so I just scanned it)

She was so excited to win first place for the first time!!

Isaac submitted this little poem he wrote, but he didn't place. I don't think he could feel too bad, though, because he only did it because it was required as an in-class assignment and I really don't think he put his best effort into it (and he did win before when Abigail didn't). And I'm not quite sure how to feel about the morbid way this toy died by frying in the sun. But I think he was just trying hard to make it rhyme. :)

It was also tough for Isaac because his age group was 3-5th grade, so he was being judged against Abigail's grade as well. It's always harder to be the youngest in the age group.

Anyway - I have some personal issues with these contests (mostly because the rules clearly state that the kids are not supposed to have ANY help AT ALL and it is obvious that some of the kids are getting help, some getting so much help that it is much more the parent's work than the child's. I helped judge some of the other age groups this year and it was so difficult to try to be "fair" for this reason. Do you let the ones win who are clearly "better" even though it is also clear that they didn't do it themselves?!? Or do you reward the ones who clearly show independent work, even though it is sometimes inferior quality? Such a quandry). But I try to put this aside and encourage my kids to participate as much or as little as they would like. I don't push it too much - esp. with my bitterness for feeling like one of the only ones who follows the rules (don't you hate that feeling??).

But. Anyway.

I am proud of both of them for their creativity. And I hope they know that winning - or not winning - this contest is not a measure of either how proud we are, nor how talented they are. :)