Parent/Teacher Conferences

We had a really busy day on Wednesday.  Part of it was parent/teacher conferences, which the school inexplicably calls SEP.  Ok.  Anyway, here's how it went down.

Jeremy took care of the babies while I took Michael and met the older boys at their school right after classes ended for the day.  We went to Benji's class first.  His teacher pointed out a few problems he's been having.  She says that he saunters in late every morning.  She's told him that if he's not finished with breakfast when the first bell rings he's welcome to bring it with him, but he doesn't.  And then he puts his feet up and eats cookies.  Where is he getting cookies?  And what makes him think he can saunter in late and put his feet up?  His teacher loves him, but he definitely needs to show more respect.  She read me some of his stories, and they were fun.  Then she read me what he wrote for St. Patrick's Day.  He was given a clover to write on and decorate.  At the top were the words, "I am lucky because."  He crossed out those words and wrote something like this: "I'm not lucky because I don't get to play games as much as I want and I can only watch movies that I don't like and..."  You get the picture.  He gives me this attitude all the time, and his teacher says she gets it too.  It makes me sad.  Benji does have a hard time as a middle child.  I'm not sure how I help with that.  I do wish he could see how much he has to be thankful for.  Maybe that's something I can do.  Still, he's doing well overall.  He's learning a lot and his grades are great.

Next was Michael's appointment.  I went into his classroom hoping to see that his teacher knows him like the other boys' teachers know them.  I didn't find that.  It's probably because these half-day teachers have twice as many kids as the other teachers.  And maybe it's a little bit because they only have them for a few hours.  Well, Michael is doing well, anyway.  His scores on the mid-year tests they did in January were really high.  He'll get to start bringing home books that he can read soon.  Honestly, he was ready for that a while ago, but oh, well.  He's just doing great, especially in math.  He really likes math.

Next we went to Joshua's teacher.  He's has our Relief Society President for a teacher.  I love her.  Anyway, his grades are good.  She worries that he isn't doing so well on timed tests.  One big reason for that is that we've been spending so much time just trying to get his homework done that we haven't had much time for practicing math facts.  It's not that he's really given a lot of homework.  He comes home with a math assignment, a bit of spelling, and maybe a page of language arts.  I try to help him with his math as much as I can because he has a really, really hard time staying on-task.  And if I don't help him heg gets a bunch wrong and then has to spend time correcting them instead of getting some done on the next lesson.  And then we take forever to get it done at home.  Anyway, Joshua's homework has been a huge burden on both of us, and when we have especially busy days we sometimes end up working on it late or waking up early or both.  Not good. 

One concern with Joshua is that we think he has Asperger Syndrome.  You can Wikipedia that if you don't know what I'm talking about.  I've wanted to get him tested for a few years, but I haven't been able to figure out how to go about it.  I mentioned this to his teacher a couple of months ago when he was having an especially hard time and she wondered why.  Well at our conference on Wednesday she asked if I'd like her to find out about how to get him tested.  He told me that if he can get diagnosed they can get him an aide who would sit by him in class and help him stay focused and stuff.  He's understanding most of the material.  He just needs to stay focused.  She also said she worries that if he doesn't have help he may fall through the cracks in middle school.  I don't like that idea at all.  So, of course, the answer to her question was, "Yes, please!"  She said she'd ask a few people and find out.  Hallelujah!

Another thing she said is that the kids in Joshua's class really like him, and they all kind of rally around him.  The other day when he won some sort of Bingo game (looks like something that takes them a few weeks to win), they all were so excited for him.  They all cheered, and Joshua come home with a gigantic pencil that he's really enjoyed using ever since.  I love that!  I know people like Joshua who have just been outcasts.  I can't begin to explain how thankful I am that he has friends like that in his whole class.

Then we went to Hyrum's class.  He's also doing well.  His problem is that he's been forgetting to bring things home to finish, so he's had late work, and, therefore, he's not getting as much credit on things as he could.  This is worrisome as he's headed to middle school next year.  He needs to be more accountable.  Hyrum was actually really worried about going in to his conference.  He knew he'd had a bunch of late assignments and was really worried about what his score might be.  He was actually crying at one point during the meeting.  He just felt so bad.  Poor guy.  I came away feeling, though, that he's doing well.  Everybody can improve somewhere, but overall, one quarter's grades are not going to be the end of the world, and he really has a good grade.  I'm going to try to be more vigilant about making sure he gets things done, but he needs to remember to bring things home!

Hyrum is looking forward to middle school next year.  He wants to get into orchestra and play the violin.  Also, his teacher gave us something about a "maturation program" where they'll talk about how the kids' bodies are going to change.  Goodness.  Can you believe he's that old?