conferences

Parent teacher conferences today - interesting, very interesting. For years I have wondered where they stood. I thought I had a good handle on it - but could not wait to get legitimate feedback. It went something like this:

Both Principal and Teacher were outwardly shocked that my homeschooled son had absolutely no social issues and was even (wait for it) . . . popular. His only concern with Punk was that his work does not actually show how smart he is - which has been a battle with that child all along. The teacher's comments were something along the lines of "I expected to be talking to you about his advanced algebra equations, and the fact that he really needs to learn to make friends . . . " But that is not how it went down. According to Teacher, Punk is doing just fine and dandy in school, with the exception of hating timed tests - which again has been a battle all along.

However - there are issues that cannot be ignored. Each child was asked to write a self evaluation for conferences - rate their own behavior, explain what they are good at, and write out a goal for the year. Here is Punk's:

Dear Mom,
So far fourth grade has been OK. Art and music are going well. I can't write bad things on this paper, but I have made all those friends you wanted me to make, so now my goal for the year is trying to get you to home school me again.

love,
Punk

And that little nugget did not escape teacher's attention - it was a bit awkward. Punk likes his teacher a lot - he does not love the structure of school.

But his gifted and talented teacher says that she sees amazing things in Punk - and she can tell that he loves when he comes to that class - and she's right. Overall about what I was expecting.

As for Kooka - both teachers raved about her. Apparently she works very hard to use her Spanish every day and does not just shout out the English answer. I was glad to hear that - because we are counting on her to teach the rest of us. She also has (check this out) a "lot" of friends, and gets along well with everybody. Her artwork was fantastic, and her writing is coming along really well.

Kooka is also being put into a special gifted program. Technically that would not start until third grade, but there are some kids who really need this - so there will be some small group stuff with three kids in her class. She also asked for harder math - and her teacher was happy to oblige. Again - just about what I would expect from Kooka.