Matthew Monday: It’s Complicated

A couple of weeks ago after I had come home from work and I was changing into more casual clothes, Matthew was with me as is typical.  He waits for me to come home from work and then is tied to my hip.  So I’m changing and I asked him how his day at school was. 

“It’s complicated,” he says.  That in itself had me laughing.  His face was so serious when he said it, as if the weight of the world had been on him.  How’d he come up with that word? I’d thought.  Well it occurred to me that I’ve used that expression several times in answering him when he’d ask a tough question and I didn’t have a simple answer.  Perhaps my wife has used it with him too.  I wondered if he really understood what it meant, but perhaps he did.

So after I stopped laughing, I bit and asked, “So what was so complicated?”  I imagined a fire drill interrupting class and then had to get back to where they had left off, or some such interruption.  “What made it complicated?”

I could see him thinking.  “We had to count to twenty.”  Hahahahaha!

It's so hard to get him to be serious for a picture.

Matthew Monday: Report Card

Matthew had his first report card last week.  He didn’t do too bad.  His penmanship is really improving, and as far as they teach Math in Kindergarten, he seems to have grasped everything they taught.  Even though it’s this new Common Core math, which neither my wife nor I completely get.  The one thing he didn’t do too well on his report card is follow directions.  Hmm, what a surprise.  Not.  He’s a stubborn little boy when he gets a thing into his head.  Well here’s a picture of Matthew doing his homework one night. 

Matthew Monday: Moving Up Day

Matthew pre-pre-school had a completion of the school year day (even though he'll still be going to the same class until September), a sort of promotion day.  They called it a "Moving Up Day."  The teacher put together a little class show, mostly class singing.  I took the day from work to attend.  Not only did I enjoy it and be there for Matthew, I got to see Matthew in a class atmosphere.  Here are a few observations and some pictures.

Observations:

Matthew is more well behaved in school than at home.  At school he pretty much listens and is not overly boisterous.  At home he's running all over the place and constantly tugging me to do something or other.  At home he's such a chatterbox, never having a minute of silence.  At school he was more reserved.  What am I doing wrong at home?

Matthew loves his class.  If you remember this blog, we had to pull him from his first class.  He had grown to not like his classmates (they made fun of him) and lost confidence in the teacher.  He adored his new teacher, Miss Vickie, and listened to everything she said.  The switch was the perfect move.

Matthew remembered all the lyrics to all the songs.  The other kids seemed to stumble here and there, but Matthew knew the melody and words.  I've mentioned he seems to have an aptitude for music, and he displayed it again.

Matthew is on the smaller side of kids his age.  I think he was the smallest except possibly for one girl. 

Matthew is very friendly with the other children, and seems to make friends easily. 


Here are some pictures.  Here he is singing and clapping to a song.

Here's a close up.

Here he is after receiving his diploma and bucket full of gifts. 

The bucket full of toys was important...lol.

And finally one with Mommy and Daddy. 

Yikes.  I need to do something about my grey hair.  I was the oldest father there!

Matthew Monday: Class Switch

This needs a little preface.  Matthew had been in a class (pre-pre-school) of three year olds that was mostly boys.  I think it was four or five other boys and one girl.  I don’t know if that fact is very significant.  Perhaps the fact that the teacher did not seem to control the class that well is much more significant.  I visited the class once and was totally not impressed of her presence or command of the class.  As far as I could tell from that one hour there was not much structure.  The kids raced about and played with whatever they took, possession being the rule as to who got to play with what.  I could sense that could lead to problems, but it didn’t while I was there, and I don’t think that is the root of the current problem either.   It was a sign, though.

Don’t get me wrong.  It wasn’t a bad class.  The teacher, Miss Melissa, is young, dressed rather common that day, probably isn’t paid that much for this level, but the kids were happy.  Matthew has been in the class since August (I think) and the kids are all friends.  They are rambunctious and Matthew picked up some bad manners at first.  But the kids all hug each other.  I’m not sure how much he’s learned, but I’m not sure how much he’s supposed to have learned at this level.  He knew his ABC’s and numbers already, and I’d have to say now he’s infallible with them.  Other than improving on what he already knew, I don’t know what exactly he’s learned.

A few weeks ago Miss Melissa said that she thought Matthew was going to be a perfectionist, not so much as a compliment, but just because he insists on doing things himself.  He’ll start doing it and then, when it doesn’t turn out as quite it should, he wants to move on to something else.  He gets frustrated.  Then we were told his writing of the alphabet (calligraphy) was behind the other kids, and he didn’t want to do it anymore.  He was refusing.  Now the other kids are all I think in class five days a week, full days.  This amounts to day care for them while the parents work.  Matthew is only there three days a week for half days.  Obviously he’s not going to be at the other kid’s level. 

And then last week we were told that Matthew doesn’t want to do the school projects.  The school projects amount to gluing things together as a little craft.  When he gets frustrated and stops he starts to cry.  He told my wife last week that the other kids call him “cry baby.”  My wife verified this with the teacher, and she said they do.  Something was going on because it reached a point where Matthew on Tuesday was refusing to go to school altogether.  Wednesday he was crying when my wife dropped him off.  She spoke to the administrator and asked he go into another class. 

I was reluctant to make the switch.  After all Matthew has to learn how to deal with different types, and he’s got to toughen up.  He can’t quit just because he’s called names.  Thursday he was put into another class with fewer boys.    The following are email exchanges I had with my wife.

From: Mrs. Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 9:35 AM
To: Manny
Subject: Matthew

Matthew actually looked forward to going to school this morning. Brought him to his new classroom and right away you can tell how mellow it is compared to his other class. He gave me no problem at all, not even a whine. Gave me a kiss and off he went to play. His new teacher Miss Vicki is the total opposite of Miss Melissa. Even Vicki told me that the boys in Melissa's class are a rough bunch.

I'll know more when I pick him up later.

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From: Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 10:57 AM
To: Mrs. Manny
Subject: RE: Matthew (UNCLASSIFIED)

Thanks.

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From: Mrs. Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 1:29 PM
To: Manny
Subject: Matthew

Today went very well. Matthew likes his new class and teacher. When his new teacher asked him if he wanted to stay in her class Matthew responded with a yes and gave her a hug.

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From: Manny
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 01:31 PM
To: Mrs. Manny
Subject: RE: Matthew (UNCLASSIFIED)

Sounds like you made a good decision.

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Let’s hope it’s all resolved.