Parent-teacher conference

Jeff and I had to go to a parent-teacher conference last week. Yep. A parent-teacher for a 4-year-old.

It was actually a kindergarten readiness meeting ... which in Biscuit's case doesn't really matter because he has a late birthday and can't go to kindergarten in the fall anyway. 

And as a side note, I was really surprised by how many parents didn't sign up for conferences. I realize they're only 4 years old, but most of the kids will be going to kindergarten in the fall. Are these parents not even interested in whether their kids are ready or not? The scheduling wasn't the problem. They had appointments during morning drop-off, as well as lunchtime meetings. And the teacher said if parents couldn't make either of those, they would set something else up.

Anyway, as Jeff and I sat at the table, our personalities were clearly on display. I was sitting forward with my elbows on the table, and Jeff was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.

Anyone who knows Jeff and me knows that I'm the worrier, and he's the calm one. I'm impatient, Jeff could pass for Job on most days. I analyze everything, Jeff goes more on his gut.

And all these things were evident simply in the way we were sitting at the table talking to Biscuit's teacher.

She said that academically, Biscuit is doing really well. He needs to work on his writing (which we knew already). And she said he sometimes has a hard time focusing, especially when it's something he doesn't want to do (writing, cleaning up toys, doing art projects). She said that would come with age, and it's not something we should worry about. (Clearly, she wasn't talking to me!)

His teacher said Biscuit is always great during story time. 

"He listens to the story, and afterwards, he can repeat the story," she said. "And he can always answer the questions about the story. Oh, and he tells the other kids when they don't get the questions right."

(Yay for the reading comprehension. Boo for the obnoxious correction of the other kids.)

The teacher explained the curriculum she has to use for the 4-year-old class. She's not happy with the curriculum, but she can get in trouble if she doesn't teach it. She doesn't feel that the curriculum prepares the kids for kindergarten. And after looking through this month's lessons, I agree.

These kids need to be learning to write numbers and letters. And they need to be sounding out simple words. Instead, this curriculum has them dealing in critical thinking, often times on things that are too simple for them.

So as much as I hate to say it, we're thinking about finding a new place for Biscuit to go. He's been going to his current day care since he was 12 weeks old. And we've been very satisfied ... until now.

His teacher is really nice. She loves Biscuit. She was actually his teacher in the 1-year-old class, too, so she knows him very well. But as far as teaching him what we feel he needs to be learning, her hands are tied. And she so much as said so. She has a son in second grade, so she knows what the kindergarten teachers expect.

And since the 4-year-old class is the highest all-day class at Biscuit's day care, he'd end up repeating the same class until the 2014 school year started.

So Jeff and I are going to visit a Montessori school next week. And I found out that a day care just a mile from our house has a kindergarten prep class for kids like Biscuit who won't be quite old enough for kindergarten this fall.

I didn't think we'd have this much worry about school until college. Who knew it would start even before kindergarten?