Spring conferences

Spring conferences have come and gone, but before I lose all of the info I learned about my children to the sea of paperwork that should be filed a bit less haphazardly, I figured I would document it here. I love seeing how much the girls have changed each year and reading back on what their personalities were like as they have grown. Sometimes after reading past posts I feel like I am raising a totally different kid than I was raising the previous year. As much as I want to encourage them to evolve, I know that I also need to work on evolving how I parent them as well. Conferences were particularly emotional this time around as it is Grace's last one. Add that to the fact that the last time we were at conferences, Will attended with us and it made for an emotional trip. Lucky for us, grandma and grandpa were in town and wanted to join us for dinner, so they went with us to conferences which kept our minds occupied on fun things. 

Grace has had a great year. Her favorite subject is reading, and her scores back that up as they are off the charts. She finds math the biggest challenge but doesn't back down and has learned so much this year. She enjoys writing, is learning to write with more expression and detail and got 3rd place in the handwriting contest she entered. She has loved 5th grade and continues to put far more pressure on herself to succeed than anyone else could ever put on her. 

Emma had a great conference as well. She excels in reading, loves science and social studies, and finds math utterly boring. She struggles to get through her timed math tests, but when she's allowed to slow down she flies right through. Her favorite part of school is learning how to crochet before school with her friends. She is a kind friend to others and the most frequent request that her teacher has of her is to stop reading so that she can work on her other work.

Norah is our social butterfly. She rushes through her work so that she can talk to all of the other kids. She often is reminded to get back on task and to slow down in her work. She is reading at a first grade level and has reached all of her "graduation" goals, so we're not too worried about her academically. She may, however, give teachers a run for their money. 

Since we're talking about progress, we'll add Hazel in here as well. She graduated from her level 2 class and now we just have to wait for her to turn 1 so she can begin her therapy classes. She's still super crazy at home with the girls, but she has figured out when it is time to work and play, so she's usually a gem when we go out among people.