Parent-teacher conferences

Yes, it's that time of year. For some reason, I always got nervous when conferences came around. I'm really not sure why. I was a good student. Maybe I was nervous for those kids who weren't so good.

Anyways, I met with Mrs. Wilson (Isaac) and Mrs. Kujawa (Eli) last Tuesday night. It went very well and I was a bit choked up when I left. My first conference was with Mrs. Wilson, Isaac's teacher. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about Isaac. She congratulated me on teaching Isaac and said I had done a great job. Isaac is at or above where he should be in every subject. She was amazed at the things he knew and said some times. I attribute that to all the interesting books he reads. Apparently he offers "facts" to the class from time to time and they are all amazed. Kind of funny. His classmates enjoy him very much. She said he is somewhat quiet but everyone encourages him to join in. She watches him at recess and he's always laughing and having a good time. They don't receive report cards until the end of November, but as far as where he is now, he's a straight A student. She thanked me for sending Isaac there. And it only took the fourth time of her saying I did a good job at homeschooling him for me to finally say "thank you." :) She also brought up the student council election process. She knew how excited Isaac was for this and said he was very surprised when he was elected. When she announced his name, he stood up and said, ME?!?!?!? She said, "I wish you could have seen him the day he gave his speech. It was so neat. He was up here giving his speech and the kids all loved it and were cheering him on." How wonderful.

We also discussed his speech and decided he should be evaluated also. We don't know if he actually could benefit from speech or just slow down when he talks. I can't help but think both of our oldest kids need speech because of something I did or didn't do. I know that's not necessarily true but just the feelings I have. Hopefully Logan and Camden won't need speech because then I'll really get a complex. :)

Then I moved on to Mrs. Kujawa. This was the one I was really looking forward to. Eli has expressed to me that he feels "behind" and not where he should be. I didn't know if this was actually true or just Eli being hard on himself. Turns out Eli is just where he should be in all subjects. He struggles in language arts but it's largely because of his speech problem. He has trouble writing because what he hears and says is different than what's actually right. He has been "screened" for speech and will start taking it once all the paperwork is completed. Mrs. Kujawa said he is a quiet boy but is starting to come out of his shell and talk more. He is always respectful of others and kind. She was very sad that he felt he was behind and not doing well. We both realize we need to encourage Eli and let him know it's okay to make mistakes. I don't like that Eli feels this way. He hasn't had any "meltdowns" for her (like he did daily for me last year). But she does see the frustration when she corrects him on something. She also thanked me for sending him. Oh, and she said he really likes hunting. He told her, "I'm going hunting with my dad to kill a deer to feed our family." ha, ha! She got a kick out of that!