The long-awaited back-to-school update
Now that we're a month in...
The boy child is doing great. He loves fifth grade so far, especially since they do math and science every single day. So far he's doing a pretty good job of remembering to bring home his homework and folder and all that, and this year I'm actually keeping track of the days he forgets it so I'll have that info when we meet with the admin folks about his 504 plan (more on that later).
My cautious optimism about his teacher seems to be paying off. It turns out she's good friends with his teacher from last year and the two of them have been trading information back and forth, which is really good. There have been a few minor incidents but his teacher and I have communicated and we seem to be on the same page as far as getting the boy what he needs to succeed. I've been told by the vice principal that the 504 meeting will be sometime in early October, which I guess is okay, but I'm going to become a squeaky wheel if I don't get an actual date pretty soon.
In other news, the boy is doing a robotics class after school once a week and he LOVES it! We tried to get him into this class last year but the signup procedures were wacky so we missed out. Another boy from his class is in it, too, and they've been partnered up so we're hoping he'll make a new friend. Speaking of friends, the boy child was invited to a birthday party this week! A boy in his class whom he's known for a couple of years invited him to a small party at his house with just a few other boys. The boy child was thrilled and he had a great time at the party. I was so happy for him. If you read this blog regularly or know us in real life, you know that the boy hardly EVER gets invited to parties or playdates, so this was a BIG deal. Yay!
Also, the really big news is that he has graduated from occupational therapy! Once it was obvious he had the bike riding thing down, there just wasn't much else for the therapist to work on with him. He has mastered so many things in the past few years that he's beyond where he would really need to be to receive therapy. Of course, we can always start it up again if new issues arise, but for now he's going it alone. We still see Dr. H every 4-6 weeks just to check in, but honestly, I'm not sure how much longer we'll need to continue that either. The boy has just matured so much and is doing so well! (Gosh, I hope I didn't just jinx it!)
The girl child is also having a good year in school. It took her all of one day to get over her fear of the car-rider line -- when she came home on the first day of school, she told me that she loved it and wanted to keep doing it. I guess most of her friends go home that way, too, so she always has someone to sit with while she's waiting for me. Academically she's bringing home really good grades -- even her spelling has improved! Third grade is the first year they get actual number grades at our school, so I'll be very interested to see her first report card.
She was having a conflict with another student at the beginning of the year, but that seems to have been taken care of. I guess this other little girl is a bit of a bad seed and was really targeting her. Unfortunately the girl child's teacher from last year was worse than useless when it came to stuff like this -- she considered any reports of bullying to be tattling and would not get involved at all. So the girl wasn't telling her teacher about it, figuring nothing would come of it. Fortunately, as I said, this year the girl child has the same teacher that the boy had for third grade and we KNOW she does not stand for anything like that. So I sent her an email and that seemed to take care of things. Whew! This is otherwise a good year for the girl socially because her best friend is in her class, along with several kids she's had in class previously (all really nice kids, too -- none of the ones who have picked on her in the past).
The girl is also doing some extra-curricular stuff this year. She's taking an art class after school once a week. She's only had one class so far but she LOVES it. Yay! She is so creative that it just blows me away. I did not get that gene at all; I think it skipped from my mom over me to land on the girl.
Unfortunately with school starting up again she is back to rapid-cycling with her moods. I don't think it's quite as bad as it was last year, for the most part, but that could be because we know what it is now and have learned to handle it a little better. DH is so much more patient with her than I am, though. I may end up in therapy myself before this is all over! She just pushes every single button I have and it makes me crazy, and then I feel bad that it makes me crazy. Ugh.
Both kids are still doing taekwondo. The boy child should have his first-degree black belt in November, and the girl will have hers a few months after that if all goes well (she started later than the boy did). The class schedule has changed such that they only have it twice a week now, and together with the boy stopping OT that means we have a little bit more free time after school now, which is REALLY nice. We're still busy, but since their robot and art classes take place at the school, immediately after school lets out (no coming home, then going back), it has really cut down the amount of time we have to spend in the car. Woo!
Well, that's about all I have the energy for now. We have teacher conferences next week so I'll know more then about how things are really going for them academically. Overall, though, they're doing great!
The boy child is doing great. He loves fifth grade so far, especially since they do math and science every single day. So far he's doing a pretty good job of remembering to bring home his homework and folder and all that, and this year I'm actually keeping track of the days he forgets it so I'll have that info when we meet with the admin folks about his 504 plan (more on that later).
My cautious optimism about his teacher seems to be paying off. It turns out she's good friends with his teacher from last year and the two of them have been trading information back and forth, which is really good. There have been a few minor incidents but his teacher and I have communicated and we seem to be on the same page as far as getting the boy what he needs to succeed. I've been told by the vice principal that the 504 meeting will be sometime in early October, which I guess is okay, but I'm going to become a squeaky wheel if I don't get an actual date pretty soon.
In other news, the boy is doing a robotics class after school once a week and he LOVES it! We tried to get him into this class last year but the signup procedures were wacky so we missed out. Another boy from his class is in it, too, and they've been partnered up so we're hoping he'll make a new friend. Speaking of friends, the boy child was invited to a birthday party this week! A boy in his class whom he's known for a couple of years invited him to a small party at his house with just a few other boys. The boy child was thrilled and he had a great time at the party. I was so happy for him. If you read this blog regularly or know us in real life, you know that the boy hardly EVER gets invited to parties or playdates, so this was a BIG deal. Yay!
Also, the really big news is that he has graduated from occupational therapy! Once it was obvious he had the bike riding thing down, there just wasn't much else for the therapist to work on with him. He has mastered so many things in the past few years that he's beyond where he would really need to be to receive therapy. Of course, we can always start it up again if new issues arise, but for now he's going it alone. We still see Dr. H every 4-6 weeks just to check in, but honestly, I'm not sure how much longer we'll need to continue that either. The boy has just matured so much and is doing so well! (Gosh, I hope I didn't just jinx it!)
The girl child is also having a good year in school. It took her all of one day to get over her fear of the car-rider line -- when she came home on the first day of school, she told me that she loved it and wanted to keep doing it. I guess most of her friends go home that way, too, so she always has someone to sit with while she's waiting for me. Academically she's bringing home really good grades -- even her spelling has improved! Third grade is the first year they get actual number grades at our school, so I'll be very interested to see her first report card.
She was having a conflict with another student at the beginning of the year, but that seems to have been taken care of. I guess this other little girl is a bit of a bad seed and was really targeting her. Unfortunately the girl child's teacher from last year was worse than useless when it came to stuff like this -- she considered any reports of bullying to be tattling and would not get involved at all. So the girl wasn't telling her teacher about it, figuring nothing would come of it. Fortunately, as I said, this year the girl child has the same teacher that the boy had for third grade and we KNOW she does not stand for anything like that. So I sent her an email and that seemed to take care of things. Whew! This is otherwise a good year for the girl socially because her best friend is in her class, along with several kids she's had in class previously (all really nice kids, too -- none of the ones who have picked on her in the past).
The girl is also doing some extra-curricular stuff this year. She's taking an art class after school once a week. She's only had one class so far but she LOVES it. Yay! She is so creative that it just blows me away. I did not get that gene at all; I think it skipped from my mom over me to land on the girl.
Unfortunately with school starting up again she is back to rapid-cycling with her moods. I don't think it's quite as bad as it was last year, for the most part, but that could be because we know what it is now and have learned to handle it a little better. DH is so much more patient with her than I am, though. I may end up in therapy myself before this is all over! She just pushes every single button I have and it makes me crazy, and then I feel bad that it makes me crazy. Ugh.
Both kids are still doing taekwondo. The boy child should have his first-degree black belt in November, and the girl will have hers a few months after that if all goes well (she started later than the boy did). The class schedule has changed such that they only have it twice a week now, and together with the boy stopping OT that means we have a little bit more free time after school now, which is REALLY nice. We're still busy, but since their robot and art classes take place at the school, immediately after school lets out (no coming home, then going back), it has really cut down the amount of time we have to spend in the car. Woo!
Well, that's about all I have the energy for now. We have teacher conferences next week so I'll know more then about how things are really going for them academically. Overall, though, they're doing great!
posted by Miss Anthrope at 7:53 PM
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