Bragging Rights

I read a post just now by Val where she was justifiably proud of her son for achieving a perfect score in his ACT.

Now I have to confess that I didn't actually know what an ACT was so I googled it.

ACT (American College Testing) is very similar to the UK's SAT's (Scholastic Assessment Test) in that they test a students ability at particular stages in their education.

The national average for an ACT score is between 20 and 21 and a perfect ACT score is 36 which is what The Pony achieved so no wonder Val is proud!

I don't have ANY problem at all bragging about my children's achievements.  I don't necessarily take any personal credit for them although I like to think that I'm supportive and provide a healthy and encouraging environment  which helps them fulfil their potential.

The bottom line is that anything they DO achieve is down to their own hard work and effort and I'm happy to say how proud I am of them.

I mentioned before that tomorrow night is the presentation of Miss Mac's GCSE certificates and it's our opportunity to see for the first time all of her course work and it's something I'm very much looking forward to.

Miss Mac got great results in her GCSE's and I've no doubt that it's something I'll be blogging about after the event too.

The thing is, although I AM obviously really happy that she did so well the thing that I'm most proud of is the way she worked really hard to get those results.

She's always liked to do well.  She's very bright but it's not effortless.  To some the A grades seem to come easily with relatively little effort.  This doesn't in any way detract from their achievement it just means that they are very fortunate.

Miss Mac could have happily coasted at school and still got decent results, still been accepted at college and still been able to follow any path she chose.

She chose to put in many, many extra hours of study before and after school.  Often starting at 8am which meant leaving home before 7:30 and sometimes not getting home again until after 5pm.

Sometimes it was torturous for us all.  We poured over Maths revision guides, stumbled through French assessments and laboured over English essays.

Much of the time I wasn't much help and we fell out on a regular basis because of my lack of understanding or because the way I'd been taught was different and neither of us could understand the others way.

Mostly she worked on her own or in groups with her peers.

I really admire her drive and her determination to be the very best she can be and I'm sure it's something she will carry with her through college and university and beyond.

Whilst I'm on the subject of pride ...

Artistic ability isn't really something you can be taught.  It IS something that can be honed and developed but intrinsically it's something you either have or you don't.

I have it to a degree and I've been told my Father was a good artist.  This is something that I think Miss Mac has inherited and, although despite her Art teachers best efforts to encourage her into fine art, she has chosen not to pursue it at the moment deciding that photography was the area she wanted to concentrate on.

I'm perfectly happy with that, I love photography too so it's something we can enjoy together and I can show a genuine enjoyment and understanding of her work.

But she still loves to draw ...

I think she has a particular talent for portraits (something I never really got to grips with) and I love this latest drawing she's been working on: