Conferences

Every spring Mike and I have a conference with Jay and Nick's teachers. In our school district you only have a spring conference if the teacher feels the student needs it - We conference for both boys every spring! Anyway, tonight my heart is full of joy. We've had good conferences before and others that weren't so good. The conference today was different. Jay's teacher told me that Jay volunteers in class, he raises his hand and participates in class discussions. She commented this was something she's just recently noticed about Jay - in other words - in my mother's heart - it took him until the 3rd grade to finally feel confident enough to participate in class discussions. Jay is my quiet, introverted child and he's lacked confidence (as far as school is concerned) for several years so to hear he's actively participating in class discussions I was literally bursting with joy. All those times I saw Jay bent over the breakfast bar in tears because he couldn't figure out his homework and all those times he would say he felt dumb was all a distant memory today. Jay sat in the conference with us and he never said a word (big surprise, ha) but I consistently saw him grinning. I was so proud of him. His reading scores improved and he tested out in fourth grade math, Yes, that's right fourth grade math!!!!! Trust me people, this is a really big deal! His teacher also made it a point to tell us how hard Jay works. This is a compliment I have heard before about Jay and one I never get tired of hearing, it's one of his greatest attributes.
Nick's teacher also had glowing things to say about him. She said he's ready for Kindergarten and he's gotten leaps and bounds better at writing his name. She said academically she thinks he'll do fine but may struggle with some behavior issues, initially - just the basics, listening, focusing, etc..... I love Nick's PreK teacher and she didn't mean that negatively. In fact, this was nothing I didn't hear with Jay when he was in Prek. Nick's teacher will be teaching first grade next year and we joked with her that perhaps since she's had her fill of Nick since he's been with her for two years. But she laughed and said Nick is one of the students she would enjoy having again, that she loves his daily stories. We were all thankful that Nick no longer thinks his address is the pool where we swim at every summer!!! Ready or not, Kindergarten here we come.