"Kat is perfect."

Yesterday we had our first official parent/teacher conference and I was really worried about it knowing how our last one had crashed and burned. This conference was completely different. The teacher was receptive to our thoughts, she was full of praise for Kat, the entire atmosphere of the room was positive.

Ms. M said that "Kat is perfect." She is the student that Ms. M can always count on to do the right thing. She is the student that Ms. M will call on when the principal enters the room because she can be sure that Kat will answer correctly and make her look good. (Sheesh but kind of funny.) She again recommended that we send Kat to the area GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) school for testing. We spoke about Kat's report card that came home earlier this week and how it couldn't have been better. It literally could not have been better, there was not one place for improvement.

She also asked us some bizarre questions. "Where does Kat do her homework?" At the kitchen table. "Does Kat sleep well at night?" No, but she goes to bed at 7:30 each and every night.
We requested that Kat be paired up with an upper elementary student for one on one reading sessions a few times each week. Surprisingly, Ms. M was very receptive to this idea.

Ms. M also commented on Kat's appearance, saying she is too cute with her red hair and that most of the teachers at the school joke about wanting to take her home with them. (Odd but sweet.)

I kind of wonder if at the first conference Ms. M was unprepared and that she really hadn't gotten to know Kat yet and just thought we were typical adoring parents who thought their child was the most wonderful/smartest creature on earth when actually their child was a typically developing kindergartner who would be best served in a mainstream class. At this second conference Ms. M couldn't say enough nice things about Kat. She commented that our daughter is gifted and agreed that she does need differentiated instruction.

I vacillate between thinking Kat needs to be taught at her level in school most of the time even thought that means that Ms. M would have to do a lot more work to make that happen and between thinking that as long as Kat is happy and not complaining that we should just go with the flow. I worry that she will learn bad habits if her schoolwork is consistently too easy. Hopefully the GATE testing will give us some real answers on what the best course of action is.

I am glad the conference went well and I am glad it is over.