Parent/Teacher Meeting

Objective:

Get TsukiMoon the best education.  This is defined by; joy learning, engagement in school, and progress in elements of school as defined by the school i.e. learn the things taught, stay with the class, get along with peers.

Theory:

Like everything we do we work to optimize TsukiMoon's experiences with the goals; that he gains trust in himself, eases anxiety, enjoys learning.  The idea is the positive experiences in his life will set wind under his wings and help him take flight.  His last school was not enabling him to feel confident so we switched to the neighborhood public school.

On The Ground:

Good news:  Our first teacher/parent meeting at the new school went well!  Wow, for a 30 minute meeting where we heard a whole lot of good things took a lot of work on everyones part.  30 minutes of glowing reports represented; 3, 4, 5 sessions a week this summer with Mrs. K the speech and language pathologist, lots of driving Boo around, feeding him the best foods, social classes, lots of engagement by us where we stayed in constant "parent as teacher" mode to help TsukiMoon understand how to act around others.

His school divides assessment into 4 categories; best: works independently, average: progressing, below average: needs instruction, and really low as: delayed.  In the approximately 15 categories graded, we were told of; a few works independently, most assessments fell in the area of progressing, and one needs instruction.  Those grades cover; math, writing, reading, science, getting along with others, following instructions.  The area that got tagged as "needs instruction" was in decoding what he reads.  

We have created a great team around TsukiMoon   Mrs. K the speech and language pathologist addresses the decoding.  The issue is really about understanding the motivations of the protagonist and supporting characters.  He doesn't have an issue decoding words.  

We help at home with decoding by having a steady stream of books coming into the house that center on his interests at the time.  We have a great used book store that we go to every other week to find new books, which if they are not too hard, he reads voraciously.  So interesting.  I don't know what he gets from reading if he has a hard time decoding but he loves to read.  Graphic novels certainly help him understand what he reads because pictures help explain the text.

Great, all great.  We were so relieved coming out of that meeting with the teacher.  Completely different experience from the last school.  For the last two years we have been told that TsukiMoon preformed sub-par to his peers.  In first grade we were told that if we didn't put him occupational therapy they would be forced to hold him back.  One contributing factor to the bad reports, and one reason why we pulled him from that school, was that he was never happy there and was bullied; kicked, punched, head shoved up against the wall, vilified, and that is just what I saw.

Academically we are shooting for average for TsukiMoon  we would be thrilled with the middle of the pack after the awful experience with the private school.  It was the common practice for the second graders to rank the other students.  TsukiMoon would come home and say, "well at least I'm not the worst."  Second grade was too young to feel like there was a lid on what one might achieve, especially when disabilities hinder the outcomes.  That is simply not fair.  

We are addressing the academics and TsukiMoon talks about going to an Ivy League.  We are just happy that he is happy and feeling successful.  At Thanksgiving when asked how third grade was going, he responded with, "third grade is soooo easy."

Other parents take reading,writing, or even "normal" thought processes for granted along with the grades that come with them.  In our area parents even try to gain the system with tutors.  Taking TsukiMoon out of his super academic private school and putting him in the neighborhood school was key to help TsukiMoon reach his own success.

Average was almost normal/easy at this parent/teacher meeting. We have true gratitude for what looks like ordinary to everyone else is.  Yeah!  Today confirmed that our hard work, TsukiMoon's work and The Team have all been having an impact.  We don't get the tuition back for third grade at the private school, we pulled out after signing a contract, but that is quickly fading into the distance.