I met with Ms. Sue to talk about Maddux. I don't remember having a conference for Eli at this age, but it was a good chance to check in on Maddie's interaction with the kids in her class. Her teacher assures me that Maddux is a sweetheart and plays very well with all of the kids. She knows all of her colors, shapes and lots of letters. There is no concern with anything, socially or academically, at this point. The only *possible* issue is her energetic nature during times when she needs to not be so crazy. I told Ms. Sue that we do time outs at home to stop her momentum when she gets this way; she said she didn't feel that was necessary at this time, but she'll keep it in her back pocket. (She also agreed that Maddux is two years old, and her behavior is totally normal for this age. Next year is when it may be an issue.)Ms. Sue also told me that Maddux is now playing with children other than Sam (her buddy from church) each day. One new girl in particular; she started a few weeks ago and had a tearful first day. Since then, Maddie and this girl have been best buds. This came as no surprise to us: Mad Dog has a very soft spot in her heart for tears.
Eli's conference was next and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit anxious before it started. As of late there have been some behavior issues, and while I wanted to discuss them, I worried that they may be an indicator that Eli was not/is not ready for Kindergarten. With his August birthday he will either be the youngest or oldest in his class, most likely creating a gap somewhere. With Eli, we've always found it best to 'play up'...he tends to do better around older kids, rising to the challenge. But we know he has been giving in to the tendency to be a follower as of late; this is not the maturity level we'd hoped he would begin his elementary career with. Eli's teacher and I discussed it and she agreed that he is struggling in that area, but he is one of the younger ones in the class. Some of it is to be expected, but (in my opinion), he's going to have to rise above his age if he's going to start school next year because he'll always be the youngest kid, so that really can't be an excuse.
We looked over some one-on-one testing he took recently, and he fared very well. He recognizes all letters and numbers, many sight words, and answered almost all questions right. The ones he missed were silly ones, which told me he was just not focusing at that moment. (How many toes do you have? He answered 'two'.) We discussed social interactions and some of the behavior things came up again. The good news is, Eli's teacher has yet to see him do anything out of anger or mean-spiritedness. She has said several times, "He doesn't have a mean bone in his body." That is good to hear. I will hold on to that for as long as possible. Also, she said when he is the first one to class in the morning, he works very very well, independently until the other kids arrive. So in an empty room, with no real distractions, my boy can focus :)
Something his teacher finished with was the recommendation to start him in school next year, despite the maturity issues, because he we would be bored academically otherwise. I don't think Eli is the most gifted child, but he is on-track with 'school smarts' to begin in the fall. The way I see it, if we hold him back, we are just looking for more behavior problems. And she also mentioned that he is responding VERY well to the new behavior correction system they are using in the class. It holds each student accountable for their own actions, and she knows (through Eli) that we have rewards/consequences at home based on his behavior at school. She said that helps a lot.
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