School and Health Updates

The first quarter of school ended in early November, followed by the usual requisite two days off of school. Report cards and conferences followed.

For Quinn, there were no conferences but there were also no surprises. I have to say, after the first quarter at Poe I am pretty pleased. We receive progress reports from most of Quinn’s teachers every two weeks. If things were going south, we would know pretty quickly. However, we had nothing to worry about. When you open up the math reports and see that your child has over a 100% average, you just know he’s going to be fine. He received all A’s and one A-, good enough to place him on the all-A Honor Roll. There was a ceremony at school to acknowledge the all-A and A/B Honor Rolls…but he forgot to tell us what time, or he never knew what time it would be. Turns out it was held during first period and we would love to attend in the future. Quinn seems to have adjusted well to middle school and he’s doing great.

We did have conferences for Keely. She is doing really well. Her teacher really enjoys having her in class. She seems to be behaving nicely, not getting too caught up with her friends and concentrating on getting her work done. I do think she strives to be a good student, but sometimes distractions get in the way of that. Thankfully, 4^th grade seems to be going well. Her report card was good too, mostly 3s and 4s. From her teacher’s remarks in the conference, I would have expected more 4s but I guess he wanted to give her room to improve. I’m not sure all the teachers are on board with the new grading system – it’s supposed to be rating children according to what they know at the end of the quarter and then rating them independently each quarter on what they are learning. In any event, her grades were still good and it’s not worth making a fuss over. A 4^th grade report card is not going to make any difference in her college applications.

The kids also had their well checks, which coincided with birthdays. They are both doing well, in fact we had not been at the doctor at all (save one visit for Keely’s acid reflux) since their well check last year. That’s a good sign that they are healthy and well. Our two main issues (and they are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things) are Keely’s acid reflux and Quinn’s nose bleeds. We monitor Keely’s acid and she takes Zantac each night to keep it under control. It seems every fall Quinn’s nose bleeds are at their worst and we talk to the doctor about them, then they die down. Sure enough, that’s what happened again. The doctor recommended Quinn get a set of blood work done now to see if he has any clotting issues, in addition to the regular blood panels (including cholesterol). It’s no rush, but we will get that done in the next month or so. He’s not anxious because he hates needles and blood (makes the bloody noses very fun…not!). As for weight and height, they are both around the 50% for their ages. Quinn is due for a very big growth spurt, and I even think he’s grown since the visit. I judge that pretty unscientifically though based on how he compares to my own height. Let’s just say he’s very close to looking me eye to eye, and I’ve never been anxious to reach that day. I have to accept it though, because it’s happening and very soon, he will be taller than me. Keely is not as petite as she was last year but still very normal for her age. She didn’t like being called petite anyways so that’s a good development. I have the numbers but I think the kiddos are past the age where I report their heights and weights so I will keep them for their memory books. Suffice it to say, they are doing well and very health and we are very grateful!