Lightening Online

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Last night we had our parent-teacher interviews with our children’s teachers. Our school is very accommodating in attempting to line up all interviews on the same night. As it turned out, that was going to be no mean feat given the various nights our children’s teachers were and weren’t available and with us shearing this week. Of the 2 weeks of interviews, last night was the only night we were ALL available. Anyway, they managed to fit us all in last night which was great.

I often wonder what goes through a teacher’s mind in the lead up to parent-teacher interviews. Do they get nervous? How do they view parents? What will their opinion be of me? A couple of times I’ve noticed a rather alarmed expression come across different teachers faces at comments I’ve made. I have a rather dry sense of humour and can tend to look serious when I’m actually joking. I didn’t even realise this until Farmboy and I started dating and he NEVER laughed at my jokes. Turns out he was too scared to laugh because he couldn’t tell if I was serious or not. I thought perhaps I wasn’t as funny as I thought. He laughs a LOT now that he knows my sense of humour a little better.

So, I have to be a little bit careful.

Anyway, back to last night.

We began with Trailer Boys teachers. He has 2. One of them has taught all of my children so it was a lot of fun talking about how VERY different our 3 children are. We click really well and have similar ideas when it comes to learning so I’m very pleased Trailer Boy has her (even if it’s only 2 days a week). I love it when you really click with a teacher - it makes the whole parent-school relationship SO much easier.

They were surprised to hear that we have tears most mornings from Trailer Boy because he doesn’t want to go to school. It’s funny really because I think he enjoys it when he gets there and he comes home happy.

His progress seems so SLOW compared to our older 2 children and while this is something I expected based on his personality and learning style, there’s always the fear there of “is he going alright?” Apparently he’s going fine.

Singstar Princesses teacher seems really lovely. She’s in her first year out of uni which is always a challenging year. She’s having some issues in the class but getting some good support from the school. We actually had trouble filling in the whole interview time which is a first for me (usually I talk too much and go over time). The thing is, she’s our “easy” child. She fits really well into the school system. She’s bright enough to learn quickly regardless of what teacher she has but not so bright that she gets bored. She’s social and enjoys school.

What did actually surprise me was the testing results her teacher shared with us. This is the first time we’ve been given a decent indication of where she is up to in comparison to her age. Apparently she’s almost 2 years ahead in spelling and well over a year ahead in reading. That’s the problem when you come after a gifted brother I guess - good achievements can seem weak in comparison.

I did take pity on Lleyton’s teacher. She’s also a “first year out” teacher and is very lovely. When she told me he was achieving 6 months ahead of his level in maths I was tempted to let my jaw drop in horror at where the other 4 years went. Technically, based on a standardised test the Deputy Principal gave him at the beginning of year 3, he was able to pass year 7 levels quite comfortably.

On talking a little with his teacher, she is going to extend him a little.

I have to admit that to an extent, I’m weary of fighting for him to be extended. In the early years I tried because I was concerned that he wasn’t learning the important life skill of “learning” and persevering. Eventually, we realised the school system just couldn’t seem to cope with this and we worked on it outside of school. We haven’t given up on HIM. Just on the system. He goes to school and as long as he’s reasonably happy, socially adaptable and not getting into too much trouble (he’s just starting to unfortunately), we’ve let things be.

Does that make me a bad parent? I’m not sure.

The thing that has really kept me going in the last year or so is this trip on the horizon. Knowing that we have a whole term in which we can extend him and that most of that extension will be horizontal (broadening his range of experience) rather than vertical (simply getting further and further ahead in the subjects he’s good in) has been what’s keeping me going.

Our biggest agenda with all of our kids teachers was to make sure they were aware of our plans to take Term 3 off for travelling. Last week I put in the paperwork to the school principal to apply for an exemption. That has to go to the Department for approval so I guess we’ll hear back next term some time. At this stage, we have the full support of the Principal and Deputy Principal and they seem to think exemption will be granted.

Interestingly, one of the common responses from the teachers was the appreciation for the heads up this early. Apparently some parents give them like a week’s notice. I don’t really understand this as it’s not every day you plan to take your children out of school for an extended period of time and surely the parents knew further in advance that that.

Anyway, this trip is bringing out the “wannabe” teacher in me so I’m having lots of fun with the planning stages. We have asked if each teacher will provide us with some basic literacy and numeracy work which will help our children cover the same basics while we are away as their classmates are learning in class. Everything else will be covered by the journal writing, photography and blogging as well as the many learning opportunities they’ll gain as we travel around.

All of the teachers seems supportive of the trip and happy to accommodate us in this way which is another box ticked in the planning and preparation for our trip.

It’s always a relief to get to the end of parent-teacher interviews with an overall sense that your children are thriving well in the school environment. Not that we don’t have issues as parents to deal with but for the most part, the news was all good.