Senecas First School Conferences

Yesterday, Paul and I had Senecas first Parent/Teacher Conference. The original scheduled time was last week Thurs. and Fri. but I was in Texas and didn't want to miss them so Mrs. Shaw was so kind to reschedule with us.

The conferences went absolutely wonderful!! Mrs. Shaw said she is doing great. Very advanced for her age. Mrs. Shaw is going to find some work to help cure "the boredom syndrome" that Seneca is experiencing. Something to keep her engaged and learning. The stuff they are working on now is the alphabet and counting to 25 and Seneca is well over both of those things. She is also going to work with Seneca at being "like a teacher" and helping the other kids who aren't as advanced as her. Due to this "advancement", we did inquire as to whether they let kids move up a grade due to their learning abilities and she said it was very rare. She said we will see how things are going once she works with her more with different work. She wants to get some stuff from the 1st grade teacher to help her out. In my mind, move her up to 1st grade if that is the case, but we have to trust that the teachers know what they are doing and just stay in communication with them.

Socially, Mrs. Shaw said that she doesn't have a "certain group" of friends. She plays with everyone. She distances herself from the "bad situations" (which is great; lets hope that follows into the teenage years) and the only "negative" (which she said really isn't negative due to her advancement) is that she needs to work on patience with those who aren't as advanced as she is.

After Paul and I talking last night, we sure wish Pierre had some sort of advanced courses. They go through "Kindergarden Screening" and are expected to know all these things (the alphabet, counting to 50, shapes, etc.) but then they allow those who don't know these things into Kindergarden and then those that are well over that, have to sit back and let the others play catch up. Sure wish there was something they could do for those who are advanced. Sometimes I think that their age limit of 5 before Sept. 1st is a crock. If they are socially and academically ready, let them go before age 5. Especially in the case of a later Sept., Nov. December birthday.

OK, I have vented and we know it won't change but we will be in close contact with her teacher and hope that we can come to a good solution for Seneca. For now, she loves going to school and doesn't complain too much about being bored so we will just keep an eye on her.