Meet the Creature Night

Met Justin's homeroom and French teachers, and as I told Justin afterwards, I'm not surprised, but I am very pleased.

"That's like the nicest compliment you can give someone!" he said.

So apparently he's doing very well. As his teacher said, it's too early to tell academically, and his spelling "is... a weak spot" (hey, that's generous; I call his spelling atrocious) but "he's really very mature for his age, very easy to get along with." He was a little "loud and rambunctious" the first couple of days, which was why his desk was near the back of the room, and is not surrounded by other desks. But he settled down very quickly. ("Yeah, the teacher moved me back here, I don't remember why," said Justin while he was showing me around the room as we waited to talk to the teacher. "I don't mind it, though.")

"He's very responsible, very polite. And he works really hard - it's a pleasure to have him in my class. He's off to a terrific start."

Ditto the French teacher. For a kid who just could not learn French with me no matter how hard we both tried, apparently he's doing a great job learning French at school. Again, it's too early to tell academically; for all we know, his actual grades may suck. But in terms of attitude and effort, he's doing great.

I'm so incredibly proud of him. He didn't want to go to school at all. And he still wishes he was home schooled. But he's doing great, and says he's actually really enjoying it, too.

And Daniel's doing well too - working hard, stressing out at home sometimes, but keeping it together at school and getting what he can out of the experience. He's practicing his music, getting his homework done, dealing with bullies more maturely than either of us suspected he could...

As Chris put it, times like this you can totally get the expression "bursting with pride." How did we get such cool kids?