Nothing++

[This is a re-blog (how sad is that) from my second (and possibly last, depending on how this goes) blog entry on MySpace. (originally posted 10/25/2008). Since there were things I just didn't like about the MySpace blogging system, I decided to try out Blogger to see how it goes.]

So, in keeping with the theme of nothing...

First, in case there's anyone who reads this who's unaware (yeah, I mean you, Vin. Lots goes on that doesn't seem to make it into email -- we really need to hook up, sometime after Halloween), Conner spent the first year of his life with chronic ear infections. This set him back a bit with his language skills. By two, he only had about a 3-5 word vocabulary. His inability to communicate also led to some behavioral issues, like banging his head against anything hard he could find (floors, walls, concrete, etc.) when he became frustrated that we didn't understand him. Thanks to a phenomenal resource called Arizona Early Intervention, we were able to start getting help for him when he was about 2 and a half years old. When he turned three, he aged out of AzEIP, and transitioned into the special education department of the public school system. At the beginning of this school year, we met with his teacher, and they said that he had met all his current goals, and the new goals were...

Nothing

She said that they could "be creative" and find some new goals, but their suggestion was that he move into a Young Learners Kindergarten progarm, which takes him out of Special Education and into "mainstream" education.

So, since early in the school year, he's been in the YLK program, and has been doing great. We just had his parent/teacher conference a few weeks ago, and his teacher said that there really wasn't any indication that he'd had any delays, and that he was a joy to have in the classroom.

One P/T Conference, one glowing report with nothing that needs fixing.

So, then we had Brianna's parent/teacher conference yesterday. Brianna goes to a charter school, which is a bit of a drive (about 15 miles each way, morning and afternoon) but well worth it based on the quality of education she's receiving. Found out a few things:

• They've changed the grading system at her school. It now looks like this:
  
  
  • A: 96% - 100%
  • B: 90% - 95%
  • C: 80% - 90%
  • D: 70% - 80%
  • F: 69% or less
  
  [This used to be in a nice HTML Table, but MySpace's blog page forced it to the bottom for some reason.  One of these days, if I continue to blog (an unknown) and want to branch into technology blogging (which I'll probably try to do if I do continue to ramble online), I'm going to have to get my own site.]
  
  This is actually more generous than the old scale. 80% used to be a D, but since 80% is the "Mastery" level for a skill, they wanted to at least have it in the "Parents don't freak out" range ("mastery", a D? That was harsh.)
  
  
• Her school no longer has a First Honor Roll / Second Honor Roll system -- it's just one list, and you have to have an B to be named to the Honor Roll. [Edit -- I'd originally said 'A' rather than 'B' -- that's what I get for going by memory rather than looking at the paper.]
  
  
• Brianna's weekly packet came back from her teacher last week with a note indicating that she's the top student in her class.
  
  
• Brianna made Honor Roll with an A.
  

The only thing her teacher said was that she still has challenges completing her work on time -- she's a bit on the meticulous side, so that's not surprising. Come to think of it, Brianna's never had anything except A's -- she's been on First Honor roll every quarter since she started going to her school, even with their tough grading standards.

Two P/T Conferences, two glowing reports with next-to-nothing (hence, the geeky programmer "Nothing++" reference) that needs fixing.

We couldn't be prouder of our kids. We're generally of the opinion that they're the sharpest tools in the shed (except for common sense, which no child has). Generally, I rack that up to parental huberis. We all think our kids are the best and the brightest.

Nothing wrong with that...