Grandparent Update on Matthew

Last week was Abby's parent-teacher interview and today was Matthew's. The setup is very different for each because Matt, being in Senior School, gets a more detailed report card. After the report is distributed to the parent (who has to pick it up personally) he or she goes into one of two huge rooms, where each senior school teacher is sitting at a desk. Parents line up to speak to the teacher of their choice. Funny, but the overall pattern is that Math teachers and Science teachers are always busy, and the PE and language teachers are not as busy. That's what I was told and that's what I experienced today!

Matthew did very well on his report...better that we'd expected, actually. That was a pleasant surprise (well, maybe surprise isn't the right word...he's very capable and we know he has the potential to do excellent in all subjects). Our friends have a son in the same grade, and all of us were wondering just how our children would fair the first term. It's difficult to assess how the teachers are going to grade the kids just from what we see at home. For those who know Matthew, you will not be surprised by the adjectives used to describe Matthew: friendly, outgoing, a great contributor to class discussions, very knowledgable, respectful to peers and staff, a little too talkative at times but a treat to have in the class, etc. He is definately a presenter, when he has his information organized he does an excellent job. We are very proud of Matthew's efforts and how well he works at home. He definately loves to "hang" and we have to work that around his academic responsibilities, but there's always time for friends when the school work is done! What is different here is that it is always dark by 6:30 so the kids can't just go outside and play once they're done. We try to get their homework started after school, give them some play time, and then back to homework once it's dark. The expectations at this school (and Indonesia in general it seems) are very high, and so we like how it causes Matthew to put his nose to the grind.

Matthew's missing Canada right now. This is the first really big 'wave' of homesickness for him. Mine has been a little more rhythmic it seems, where I go in stages. Abby seems to be settling a bit more than she was last month, which is great. Tris just loves his job and is excited about the new vehicle. He leaves for Tokyo next week for 5 days...longest we've been apart since Ghana! Looks like we'll probably have a girls' sleepover next week as a friend's husband is also away at the same time AND Matthew will be on his Spiritual Retreat. Popcorn for dinner!

Thanks for reading.