Wednesday Rambling

*Update* I got a voice mail from Daniel's teacher wanting to have a conference on Monday. Crap.


Jacob came home from school on Monday and was all upset because he had to miss recess to finish some work for the librarian. Tuesday, he came home and told me that he missed 10 minutes of recess but that it wasn't his teacher's fault...he still couldn't find one word in the dictionary and that's what is keeping him from finishing his work. I asked him what word he couldn't find and he told me it was the word, "wagon." I told him that we'd look it up when we got home and he said that he needs the page number in the dictionary in the library. I told him that at least he'd know what words are around it. He liked that idea.

About 15 minutes after we came home from school, the phone rings. It's Ms. P, Jacob's teacher. She explains to me that Jacob had a total meltdown and she couldn't figure out how to help him. Has he exhibited this behavior before? Oh, yes. We chatted for a while and she told me that she'd help him look for the word, "wagon," in the dictionary today. I tell her that he told me nothing of the meltdown but she must have handled it well because he was completely understanding of why he had to miss recess. Unfortunately, we're still working on just how to deal with frustration and how to ask for help when he needs it. Her words, "having an over-achiever is nice most of the time, as they are typically the leaders of the class, but they are notorious for being too hard on themselves." Huh.

Daniel brought a letter home from the principal saying that he'll be getting math intervention. What? Umm...okay. Math is Daniel's strongest subject but if you think he needs help...more power to ya. So, he's now in reading and math intervention. Reading I can see...math, not so much. Personally, I think Daniel just likes all of the extra attention and that's fine with me. If they want to give him personalized tutoring, go for it.

Last night, we had a conference with Master Johnson, the boys' TKD instructor. We weren't surprised about what he said about Jacob (good memory, good strength, need to build his confidence level) but we were shocked about what he said about Daniel: good attitude, good focus...but we need to work on speed, balance and flexibility (the last part wasn't much of a shock). He wants both boys to do their form for the TKD championships in three weeks. He sees it as a good confidence builder for Jacob and good practice for Daniel. Since the boys are competing, Mike decided to compete in the sparring competition (we're not putting the boys in sparring). It should be an interesting day. Probably a lot like testing...only with trophies.

Monarchs have officially arrived. I saw (no kidding) 20 on the way to and from dropping the boys off at school and there have been 3-4 in the garden at any given point in time. It's pretty cool.