I was "in the zone" working on a manuscript and missed a conference call with C's teachers.
I felt so, so bad.
I did not go to her "back-to-school" night. I did not attend the parent/teacher conference in the fall. I did not meet her teachers!
A lot of it just feels so repetitive: I'already had 2 kids go through the middle school, so I am lacking the motivation for yet another meeting, or yet another middle school presentation.
C is not impressed and I feel like I'm letting her down, like I'm not treating her middle-school years as important.
Frankly - well, there's nothing particularly critical or important going on. She is doing all the things she is supposed to be doing in school. She is on top of her work. She participates in clubs. She is doing well, academically. I am kind of over asking the teachers about more challenging work - this has not worked well for the 2 older kids. Sadly, C is bored in math and does not seem to be learning much in her English class. She would absolutely benefit from additional challange. Perhaps I will try again, reaching out to the teachers and asking if there is anything we can work out.
And speaking of doing things again... C's Bat Mitzvah is in less than a year. Do you know what my feelings are? "But I've already done this twice... Do we really need to do this again?" (yes, we do... and I will adjust my attitude).
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I sent a very apologetic email to C's teacher, after missing that virtual conference. The teacher was amazing - she called me back a few minutes later and we had a brief chat about C's progress.
Alright - parenting fail and partial save...
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Dear Reader - care to share any recent fails and associated guilt?
Hi this is dasha from momofchildren.
ReplyDeleteWe are kind of in the same boat with more advanced learners.
I have articulated in parent-teacher conferences that I want both of my kids to be challenged. Differentiating learning is a lot of bloody work and I know it so it is quite possible that teachers simply do not have the bandwidth to scaffold UP. Ask if there is a more accelerated math in her school; in my prior middle school (now I’m in high school) we had an acceymath especially for those kids who were bored in regular math.
Also; this is more work for you, but- find out what topics/themes she is learning and extend it yourself. In other words, say she is learning about rivers and valleys, have her research it more and do more on her own. Maybe even do a project. We use IXL learning to extend beyond current learning and maybe learn other interesting things.
Hi Dasha,
DeleteYeah, I don't think the teachers have the bandwidth - other than maybe giving kids extra worksheets/online practice. Sadly, our school district has gotten rid of accelerated math in elementary and middle school. It's like challenging kids - giving them something that is actually hard - is no longer allowed. Our older 2 kids did go through accelerated math program before it got cut - it was better, but only marginally. I feel like all their classes were designed to be as frustration-free as possible, and it wasn't until advanced classes in high school that, all of a sudden, they were thrown into the real world where the classes they take require hard work, and... it's been a shock (both of my older kids, after sailing through math with almost no effort, are taking pre-calculus now, and finding they have to do some extra work - and sometimes get extra help - to stay on top of it.)
I absolutely need to suplement math (and language arts... and science) for my youngest - I just have been lazy and busy. One of the problems is - I can't teach. The ideal thing would be do find games or math books that we could do together for fun. I will look into IXL learning. Also, Khan academy.