The Conferences

12-11-13

An hour and a half.

Dax’s parent/teacher conference went well. As expected, my kid kicks some ass. He is advanced in reading and when he came into the class he was already ahead of the game in writing. He needs some work on his math, but that is just some practice and both Mrs. Senechal and us agreed he has already improved over the past couple months. Mrs. Senechal said he is a great kid and she does seem to really enjoy having him in the class. I was very happy to be able to see some of his writing and how much she really loved how detailed he gets. I was a proud mama.

Mr. Chin came to the house at 3:30. Bobby gave him the grand tour, which Mr. Chin seems to thoroughly enjoy. Apparently in the two years he has been doing in home visits, this is the first kid who showed him around. Bobby was very detailed, too. He pointed out where they put their clothing. LOL!

I assumed that it would be a standard conference after that. I don’t know why I would think that being that it had already been atypical. It was awesome! Bobby was actually encouraged to sit with us. We went over his report card along with multiple items he has done since he started this year. Mr. Chin is so incredibly sweet and kind, even in his pointing out flaws. It never felt like he was criticizing Bobby. It was all a huge teaching moment, which was fantastic for both Bobby and us. I We discussed every subject and went over ways to improve and ways he did great. Ultimately, the biggest thing Bobby needs to improve on is to put his chatty nature to use in his writing. He needs to expand out his written to compliment what is going on in his head. He is very creative and Mr. Chin seemed quite tickled at the two stories that Bobby had written. Now the stories just need to be longer. Here is where clearly I can come in. LOL!

The meeting was 90 minutes long, but it was really pleasant and I was especially thrilled to have the space to be able to have this meeting. I of course was nervous, as I am prone to be, worrying that he would think us bad parents for some reason. I feel pretty confident, though, that after the meeting he was pleased with us and didn’t seem overly concerned about anything that was to hinder his progress.

Ken kicked some serious ass and cleaned the shit out of the house all day yesterday. It looks fantastic and it is ready for party time. I need to clean up my desk a bit, but other than that, we are looking good for our open house. What is nice is that I don’t have to work on anything specific today, so I can really help the boys get through all of their homework this afternoon so that they have time to play on their computers a bit this evening.

We have several Christmas presents in route today from Amazon, which does mean a visit to Eydie is in order for the day. Much of it is Santa based presents, so we have to be sneaky. I also need to re-hide the backpacks I got the boys from Santa. They are in a closet that is way too easy for them to stumble across.

Bobby Fulton sent us some homemade jams as a housewarming present. It was so incredibly thoughtful! I feel so fortunate to have been able to keep in touch with so many people from Madison.