He Is Very Smart, But...

On Friday Cruz did not have school because it was parent/ teacher conference day.  We each had a scheduled 10 minute time slot to meet with the teacher.  Yes, only 10 minutes.  Our time was 9:00- 9:10.  The reason for the conference was to go over his grades from the first 9 weeks and see areas where he needs to work on.  She started off by showing us his report card.  Yes, my preschooler has a report card!  I laughed too, haha.  The students receive one of three grades- excellent, good, or bad.  As far as educational stuff (knowing his colors, shapes, English, pre-math, etc.) he had "excellent" marks on everything.  The only thing he had "good" on was computer.  She said he was not able to tell all the parts of the computer so his grade was not as good.  Bless his heart, haha. 

She told us  "he is very smart, but..."  We then turn the page and there is a list of about 25 behavioral things.  You either get a check mark or an "X" on those.  Thankfully about 60% of those things showed a check mark.  But, there were a few things he needs to work on.  We knew when we put him in school that he would do okay academically but would have behavioral problems.  Some of his "needs improvement" areas are: showing respect to his teacher and fellow students, raising his hand to talk, following the established routine, finishing his classwork, respecting the established limits, and understanding and following instructions.  We laughed (a little) because most of these are issues we are working on with him ourselves at home. 

We are not going to get too bothered over any of this.  We understand that he is young, and in time he will (hopefully) learn these things.  We'll do our best to help guide him to be a good student and especially be respectful to other people. 

There was also a section on appearance (having neat clothes, groomed hair, etc.).  He received good marks on all of those except wearing his complete uniform.  That puzzled us because we thought we had purchased all of his uniform pieces.  When we asked her about it she informed us that he got a bad mark because he does not wear "school" shoes or a black belt.  We didn't even know that was necessary!  If they had told us we would have gladly made sure he had them.  I have been sending him in his tennis shoes because I want him to be comfortable when he runs and plays.  The "school" shoes she is referring to are black dress shoes.  Most are hard soled and just seem stiff and uncomfortable to me.  He didn't wear a belt because his  pants fit fine to me and I didn't think it was necessary.  But if it is going to mean that it affects his grades then we want him to have it. 

On our weekly family night out to eat on Friday we went to town a little early to the mall to look for him some shoes.  There are about 8 shoe stores in the mall in Chiquimula.  We learned that not all of them carry school shoes for boys and if they did most of them did not have them small enough for Cruz.  Our last store to visit had one pair that would fit him.  They were soft leather and had a soft sole.  I was pleased.

trying on his new shoes

He likes them too, thankfully, and could not wait to wear them to school on Monday morning.  (I guess I could have cleaned him up a little better before I took him to town.  I didn't realize how dirty he was until I saw this picture, ha).

After purchasing his shoes we let the boys play a few minutes on the rides at the mall.  Cruz has always loved that! 

We then went to eat supper at McDonald's.  We were joined by our friends the Byrd's.  It was a fun night.

We had our Bible study in the village of Lagunetas on Saturday morning and then in the village of Nearar on Sunday morning.  Both went very well!  The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging out and relaxing at home.  The kids spent a lot of time cooling off in their kiddie pool.  It's been hot, as usual.

Sunday afternoon we visited the market in Jocotan to buy Cruz a black belt.  Thankfully the first booth we went to had one, and it was much cheaper than we were expecting to pay. 

Here he is on Monday morning dressed and ready for school.  He woke up early wanting to wear his new belt and shoes.  The only thing he is missing is his vest because I don't usually put it on him until the last minute.  Maybe NOW he is dressed properly.

Adding the new shoes and belt brings the total cost for his complete uniform to around $90.00.  That might not seem too expensive for us, but we do not know how the locals can afford it.  No wonder so many kids do not get to go to school.  The families just simply cannot afford to pay that for all their children.  It's sad.