Sweet Payoffs

I received the best compliment I have ever received the other day. It came from both Talmage and his current teacher. Let me start by saying I have viewed parent teacher conferences in the past as equaling humility. Let's just say I have had a few doosies in the past, (although they have been much better recently). So, I usually go to parent-teacher conference with some apprehension. I went to visit Talmage's teacher, Mr. Dominguez, and he told me that he asked Talmage where he learned to do math so well, and Talmage told him, his mom had taught him. He then said, I was a great math teacher because Talmage has such a strong foundation in his Math skills. In fact, they just bumped him up to the advanced math class.

Let me give a little background to share, why this has been such a great compliment to me. Talmage's teacher wasn't so amazing last year. He fell behind in math. I spent hours doing multiplication and division with him in the fourth grade. I also wanted to tutor him all summer in math to help him catch up, but I got busy and only put an hour in a day for the last two weeks before school started. I was concerned for him. We continued to do some tutoring after school started, but we cut way back. Now you see why I was so tickled pink to hear. Also, it is always a boost to hear your child appreciate all the efforts you have put in despite the gnashing of teeth, whining, and complaining about what a beast I am. So, after 10 years of hard work in preparing him, and my other kids, to be prepared to enter the real world, it was nice to hear the effort isn't in vain.