Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Parent Teacher Conferences

This afternoon I had parent teacher conferences with Z and S's teachers. I pretty much knew what to expect with Z's teacher. He is doing pretty good in most subjects and his biggest struggle right now is spelling. Z still struggles a lot with reading which ties into his past speech problems and I think this is also why he has a hard time with spelling. He studies spelling every night and last week he got 4 out of 16 words correct. I need to evaluate how he studies and see what we can do to help him more. His teacher also said he can get easily sidetracked in school so he needs to work on staying focused on what the teacher is teaching.

I knew S was struggling somewhat but I didn't know it was as bad it was. Her teacher first expressed that S seemed to lack confidence and was always unsure of herself. S is having a difficult time with her math facts and is way below in her reading. She hasn't been passing everything off that she needs to. She has a very organized, on the ball and dedicated teacher who teaches a little high and has high expectations of the students. S really likes her teacher and I also think she is wonderful at what she does. I was a little intimidated by her and I think S might be as well. By the time I left I was in tears at how much S is struggling. (I don't think I ever felt this bad when Z was struggling early on with his speech) I just felt like the worst parent and like I should be doing more to help her. Her teacher did suggest math flash cards so tonight we started on them and I am hoping this will help her. We work on reading everyday so I'm not sure what else to do other than continue to encourage and praise her. I have never felt like S lacked confidence but maybe I'm wrong. I'm going to watch this closely and see if I can find any parenting books on confidence to help me. Maybe I just overreacted because I am PMSing but I think that was only just a small part.

5 comments:

Tammy said...

I would never have said that S lacked confidence!! Never in a million years. That would sooo irritate me if my kids teacher said that! I am sorry. Iam sure you are doing what you feel is best for S and Z!! I look up to you in soo many ways Becky! You are such a great mom and have wonderful kids! :)

The Bingham's said...

I know that S is not lacking in confidence. I wonder if she is intimidated by her teacher. Go talk to my mom about it. She is so good at these things. I ask her for help all the time about school things. She loves it and is very knowledgable. I know that she would love to help you Becky. You are a great mom, don't think otherwise!!

Patty said...

I agree with the previous comments. Sarah is very confident. You have the whole year to work on things with Sarah. The important thing is that you are prosctive about it. Sarah will get it.

Marie said...

I am going to bring in an outside perspective on this only because I can think back on previous posts about S purposefully excluding herself from activities.

I think that as a mother you have a certain idea about who your child is because you see them in everyday situations with friends and family...WHERE THE CHILD IS COMFORTABLE. Whereas you are not present in other situations like school or dance where S may not be as comfortable, so she sits out or doesn't try to do what is asked of her.

That doesn't mean that you are a bad parent. I think that Sarah is an exceptional little girl. I remember the first time we met and I spent some time with your family, S was very very shy. But once she got to know me and became more comfortable around me by seeing me at church, she was always waving and being very playful.

Maybe she just doesn't feel like she has friends in her class. Maybe she is bored there. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I don't know if that was helpful, but it just reminded me of a post a few weeks back where you mentioned that she was sitting on the sidelines during her dance class that she wanted to go to, but never participated in. Same sceniro?

Becky said...

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your support, words of encouragement and observations.