Academically Pleasing

Theo has continued to get 100 on every single spelling test, and a 90 on his second math test! He's incredibly enthusiastic about reading, wanting to read wherever we go--signs on the street, labels in stores--everything! He's looking for words within words, identifying sounds...he's doing a lovely job. His writing has come a long way, too.

I thought he had a breakthrough this weekend when we were writing a story for school. His first two pages were about "Where the Wild Things Are" and on the third page, I asked him "Then what happened?" He smiled, "I don't know, let's see what the pencil does." And he began to write:

Theo and Mommy Reina are going to the fair see Melody. (he needed help spelling only the word "fair." I was amazed! Sure, it had nothing to do with the first two pages of the story, and sure the letters were way too big and not within the lines, but who cares? Here he was with a thought in his head, and he got it on paper!

When he drew the picture to go with it, he narrated that he was drawing people upside down and people scared. Looking at it, you'd never know that's what he drew, but I love knowing he does everything for a reason. The other day his scribbles were "the star ceiling show" (we recently visited the planetarium).

We had parent-teacher conferences last night, and Theo's behavior is often getting in the way of his schoolwork. His work is much stronger at home, even though a large percentage of his learning comes from school. He has had the same pattern since preschool--observe and absorb at school, apply at home. First that applied to using words, now it applies to academics. I'm very encouraged knowing he gets it. A year ago my biggest concern was his speech, and now we converse every day. His speech therapist agreed he has a lot of potential, if they can just keep him from getting so distracted. He has to constantly be reminded to keep his hands to himself or keep his eyes on the teacher. They take him on walks or computer breaks to calm him down. Theo seems to really like school, for which I'm grateful. It was nice to walk out of a conference yesterday and NOT break into tears. Take it slow, take it slow. Little by little, this amazing boy is growing every day.