Let's See How Far We've Come

In August of last year Rob and I had some serious concerns about the path J.T.'s education would take as he began his second grade year at school. He was a reluctant reader who took lots of time and made lots of mistakes and was an entire grade level behind in reading. This academic weak area was threatening to impact him negatively in other subjects as well: Science, Social Studies, Math... We were also concerned about the erosion of his self-esteem and worried that we would see our bright, confident child buckle under the pressure to perform.

The first month was a little rocky as he and his teacher, Mrs. S., adjusted to each other and we worked together to create the best learning environment for him. The boy is distracted by his own thoughts (something he inherited from me) and can barely stay focused long enough to write his name, which will be an ongoing issue, unfortunately. He will have to learn strategies to keep himself on task, get himself back on task and put in extra effort to be mentally organized. Eight is too young to master those complicated skills, but we were quite proud to get these home from school last week!

We are very proud of his hard work and appreciative of all of the efforts his teacher put in to help him reach his potential and exceed all of our expectations for this year. She has gone above and beyond what we would have deemed her responsibilities to be sure that J.T.'s attention issues did not get in the way of his learning and mastering new skills. Thank you Mrs. S! Way to go J.T.!