Our First Parent Conferences

We had the boys' parent conferences on Thursday. I walked away loving their teacher even more than I did before.

Ja.son is proficient in all areas. She said he would be advanced, but the testing the are using at this stage of the game only measures minimum expectations. The next trimester's testing will include more advanced skills. The plan is to show mastery on the kinder sight words before winter break. She'll give me the first grade words/skills expectations then and we'll go from there. She fully expects Ja.son to even exceed the first grade skills at this rate. Whoa.

Sh.awn is basic (progressing toward proficiency) in about half the areas and proficient in the other half. For Sh.awn, it isn't exactly that he isn't "proficient" in all areas, but she's having a hard time formally evaluating him. He bores of the testing rather quickly, so that has made things a bit more challenging to assess. We agree that Sh.awn's academic skills are more along the average range, so I'm not at all worried about the "basic" results at this point. Our focus with Sh.awn will be to continue to acclimate him to the school setting so he'll be ready for the demands of first grade (he tires out about 30 minutes before the end of the half day at school and he still has some minimal behavior quirks we're working on), We both agree he is well on his way toward mastering the kinder skills he'll need to learn this year. Plus, I'll be working on the first grade skills with him when she sends the info home for Ja.son. But most importantly, she believes in Sh.awn and knows he is smart. I am happy with the plan for him, too.

It is obvious that she cares for my boys and wants to help them.

Just before the end of the conference, we got to talking about non conference things. She shared that she had difficult pregnancies herself. After losing her first pregnancy at 18 weeks, she went into preterm labor with her second pregnancy at 23 weeks. She came close to delivering several other times and went on 17 weeks of bed rest. Although she did ultimately deliver at term, she knows what it is like to have the neos come in to tell her the grim statistics for her baby if he were to be born early. For her third pregnancy, she had appointment after appointment with Dr. Doom, also. She had a cerclage at 18 weeks, more pre-term labor, and more bed rest. She delivered that boy at 39 weeks only to have him still end in up respiratory distress and need NICU time.

She gets it.

She's fighting so hard for my boys because she sees in my boys what life could have very well have been for her own boys.

I am so very grateful the universe put this woman in our path. It was just on the off chance that someone mentioned we could move schools to be closer to the therapy unit the boys attend. We found out by accident when it was time to complete the paperwork to move. Then the boys were first put into first grade classes, which meant the straight kinder classes were full and they only had space in this teacher's class. There was so much drama just trying to get them into kinder, and yet, it was like everything aligned for her to be the boys' teacher.

This woman who continues to send me updates like this:

Good Morning,
Before I forget...

1. We went to explore the computer lab yesterday. BOTH boys put on headphones to practice using the computer. We will be going regularly after break so I'm optimistic this will be an exciting time.

2. Layla and Ja.son have made plans to meet for Christmas caroling. At the end of the day yesterday, they had quite the conversation about missing each other and things of that nature. He then thanked her for the invitation to her house. Too cute!

3. Sh.awn helped me pass out Friday work! He called the kids' names for me. It ranks high on the list for times he has connected so completely with us. The kids enjoyed having him call their names and waited patiently for their turn. Again, too cute!

has been a godsend. I know not many teachers will commit and follow through with this kind of communication to a parent. For weeks, she sent me daily emails about the boys. While she doesn't need to email daily anymore, she still sends me updates about successes (or trials on those occasions) at least once a week.

So thank you, universe, for giving us this lucky break. Thank you for knowing we needed it even though we didn't know we needed it. I know our reality right now would be so different than what it is had she not been their teacher.

Now, what do I do for her for Christmas?!