I thought it might be fun for those of us with little ones to have our own thread for the upcoming school year. A place to update and keep track of each other. I know I love reading about everyone's kids.
My DD (just turned 4 this month) has been going to a Spanish Immersion school since last year but only MWFs. We planned to keep with this same routine this year but when we went to the parent orientation this past week we decided it would be in DD's best interest to enroll her full time. Mommy is a little sad but I'm sure I'll adjust. Reason why we had a change of heart: DD's school is working on IB certification and in January they will be moving the part time students into separate classrooms, plus the schedule was handed out at the meeting and I was not happy that the French and Mandarin will only be taught on Tuesday and Thursday. My DH calmed me down, suggesting that it was out of the school's hands and perhaps the teachers that come in to teach are only available on those days. We plan to keep DD in the school until 5th grade (so long as it remains a good fit for her) which means we want her to stay in the class that is structured for the IB which will make it an easier transition when she does move up to Kindergarten.
My DS started in a Spanish immersion preschool this fall. He's only part-time but loving it. He's actually been in a much better mood lately and I think I have school to thank for it. I think the extra stimulation was needed.
Katelyn'sMom: Lucky you to have both French and Mandarin available too!
Did your son know Spanish before starting the program? Our DD didn't and we found her instantly challenged when she stepped into the classroom. This really set the stage. Before moving her into this program we tried a social preschool but found out quickly that it wasn't a good fit. DD was just not herself and everything was for older kids: writing, drawing, reading, math, etc. We learned we have to keep her challenged and when we do her mood and attitude is great.
The school starts French with the 4 year old class but it is really more of an introduction since they get 1 hour a week. The Mandarin was added this year and I'm super excited about it because I planned to start her in Mandarin in another few years as an extra activity. My DH works with the Asian market within his job and I see more and more companies doing so. I just think it is an important language to acquire. I have a few friends who have adopted children from China and I know there is a Chinese center in town that offers Saturday classes. It might be worth looking into in your area if you think your son would be interested.
Hi, my little one will be 2 next month. She will be staying home with me and attending various activities such as storytime at the Zoo. Because her big sister goes to school, she wakes up every morning and wants to go to school..... I like this idea of a second language pre-school when we get there. I agree with the idea of learning Mandarin. I think it maybe essential for these kids.
My guy will turn 3 in October. �I stay at home. �We live in a small rural town. �There's livestock in peoples yards in town, including a longhorn bull in one persons yard and horses grazing loose around town. � I'm a housewife so my son won't start preschool until he starts pre-k at the public school. �But we homeschool preschool. �Last year he worked through the kumon letter tracing books the pre-k and kindergarten hooked on phonics. �This year we're continuing with phonics and Singapore math. �He uses some Spanish due to where we live, but he's only fluent in English. �He's recently started being able to letter words legibly free-handed on the big kindergarten tablet. �He's recently started reading full sentences (like just last week. �Yay! :D) using phonics, not just memorizing or using sight words, although he has sight words from the computer and the tv. �He has a kid-safe web browser from firefox kidzui. �He's taking rock n' roll drumming lessons from a DVD. �He pays attention and tries to follow the lessons. Someday I'll add www.activechinese.com. �He'll start twice a week karate classes shortly after his 3rd birthday. �I've started keeping a little online journal. �It's linked under my icon. �It includes some of his photography. � Sorry if this post doesn't go here. �I hope it does. �Since it's not traditional pre-school we don't fit in the pre-school threads. �(with the social scenes and teacher's comments). �Since he's too young we don't fit in the homeschooling threads.
I'm jealous of all the language programs available to you. I posted last year about my DS7 who was in a French program from age 2 through K, at which point it started to become a bad fit academically. I would put DS-going-on-two into the same or similar program if there were one nearby which we liked, but I don't want to drive as far now with two kids in different schools. So DS1 will start MWF at a neighborhood preschool in the same class he attended last spring, with swim lessons on Tu and mommy-&-me music on Th. His preschool offers Spanish once a week, so at least that's something, and next year there is the possibility of a Spanish immersion preschool close to home. Meanwhile we made the decision to drop French tutoring for DS7 due to lack of interest on his part, but at least he now has Spanish every day in school.
I fear we will run into the bad fit academically ourselves. DD's school is academic in that they are two years ahead of public school. IE. last year in the 3 yr old class they were doing work equivalent to Kindergarten, but if the curriculum was taught in English it wouldn't be enough of an advancement for DD. We have the cushion of learning it in a foreign language but that gap isn't much of a gap anymore. She comprehends everything but is still hesitate to speak Spanish. This summer she was moved over to the 4 yr old class and her new teacher challenges her with her Spanish so we definitely see that she is talking in Spanish now. She still has her moments of trying to get out of it, such as getting her friends to translate for her. haha But she is definitely talking in sentences and holding conversations now. I'm really hoping that with the added languages she will stay challenged and we also signed her up for piano lessons through the school. They have a pianist that comes in and teaches in Spanish. I really hope she enjoys it because that is one less activity that I would have to drive her to.
She also does swim lessons and will continue doing so until our free months are used up.
If she doesn't remain challenged I hope the school keeps their word. They told us from the beginning that they have no problems accelerating her when she does master the curriculum in Spanish. They promised that they would test her and place her accordingly. This at least gives me hope!
Katelyn'sM om I've been thinking of you since you responded to my very first desperate post over a year ago. It sounds like your DD is absolutely thriving and that you are involved enough to keep on top of issues as they might arise.
We were also assured when we learned that the school accelerated kids as needed, but when the time came there were several factors that made us decide against it. We did end up enrolling him just this fall at the HG school. I'd be happy to chat more with you about this but I don't want to hijack this thread.
As far as DS-almost-2, we actually did have him enrolled in a Spanish program this fall. It is much closer to my house than the school DS7 attended, but the program is new and the teacher wasn't good with the younger kids, so we pulled him out after the first week. I will reconsider putting him in that program next year when he would be with a teacher I know is awesome and after they have gone through some growing pains. For now he'll have to settle for Bob el Constructor and Muzzy el Grande.
Reporting on DS 3s first week at preschool: I posted last year about whether or not to send him at 2 and after going back and forth decided against it -- we just have one option for preschool and the particular teachers for the twos were unenergetic and kids all ran around taking eachother's toys, there were only peg puzzles and they were not open to adding anything to the room, etc. When observing the twos though I noticed the threes looked a lot more engaged and happy.
So we started this first week in the 3 year old program (they are inflexible on age groupings) with a little optimism. At the meet/greet I was pleasantly surprised to hear the classroom is used alternate days for the 4 year olds. Which is wonderful as it meant that in addition to peg puzzles there was one 24 piece puzzle, and some books with a reasonable number of words. Still not challenging at all but better than if the room was geared solely towards 3s. On the minus side during the same hour a older child pushed him repeatedly on the preschool's playground, until finally he went sprawling. So he came away saying there were "too many kids" and was not looking forward to today.
Another plus, none of the other kids in his class has attended preschool before, so it is nice everyone starts socially on the same plane. DS is socially very much 3.
The room is tiny, there's no windows, generally speaking the stuff to play with is really dull. They have a lot of rules. So I don't know how long he'll last. So far he has come out dry eyed but saying he didn't like it. He's agreed to continue trying to get used to it. He likes the teacher. And there are a couple kids of professional parents in there (unusual for our area). Lastly but not leastly -- I heard a rumor that problem kids are always put in the other teacher's class As DS is a sensitive and careful type that is much appreciated.
All kind of moot as we will have him in a different (much nicer I believe) preschool next term as we have a temporary move to a real city coming up. So this is just a trial run and in a couple weeks we'll just quit it if he's still saying he doesn't like it.
Hi I am not exactly sure how to classify DS 4's preschool. It's considered quite academically advanced compared to the others in our area. However last year I was getting concerned that he was bored. And then he made one of those awe-inspiring leaps of growth in reading, we are now doing up to 6th grade content. But we have no intention of a skip (not even sure we could). I have always focused on preschool as a social thing, as an only i feel he needs it. He has always preferred adults, and they like him, so it's been a transition getting him to focus on the kids. He is doing better, but of course part of the issue is the difference in thoughts and imaginary play between him and his peers. He gets Spanish once a week and music and a gym program. And his teachers this year are awesome. So i guess i am hopeful. He has always liked school and I am hoping that his big leap forward doesn't change that.
Although I have also realized that I am homeschooling him to an extent, which I guess we all sort of do. We're doing the magic school bus science kits - I have chicken bones soaking in vinegar on my counter and petrie dishes of mouth bacteria and toothpaste on my window sill - and DS has a "lab" book complete with hypotheses - sometimes I wonder if he thinks he learns at home and plays at school!!!!
My DD4 will be returning to her play based pre-school that moves at a snail's pace academically because she likes some of the children there. It isn't a perfect fit, far from it, but I hope it works for her.
DeHe, what Magic School Bus kits do you recommend? My DD4 loves science esp. space, the human body, anything to do with nature, immunology,etc.
We bought all of them thinking we would get to them eventually, LOL!!!! We have completed Space and Germs and are on the Human Body right now. We did space and germs together because germs had experiments that took 7 days!!!! So I found that DS was good setting the long ones up provided you did one with immediate pay off. So we watched bread mold for a week but did red light in the closet, and painted a solar system. On amazon, people said the rainbow one was boring and other comments but no complaints so far, and DS loves the stuff, we got eye droppers, test tubes, etc. And he loved the MSB books so that set him up because it was presented the same way. So short version loved the first 3 and expect the next 4 will be cool just for the sheer act of doing it rather than the amazing science of it. He has read so much but this was hands on and that really appealed. Everytime we did it he would create his own experiment after, I have great video of yeast and water in the sink after watching yeast blow up a balloon!
That sounds great DeHe. I've got ds taking photos to start journaling and observation. I just bought a couple erector sets and we've worked with tiny legos to get the fine dexterity warmed up. I was considering the board game operation to start using tweezers. Those science kits sound great if I could have him document the experiments with a camera. That would be cool.
I love reading about everyone's preschool experiences. It is very helpful to me. Katelyn'sM_om, I was wondering how your DD was enjoying her language immersion school. I remember you signing her up a year ago.
DD3.5 has been in an advanced kindercare preschool since she was not yet 2.5. It's been good in many ways, but our adventure lover is ready to move on.
She just got off the wait list to get into the university-based preschool where DH works, starting this month. DD has been on the wait list since birth, so we are thrilled. When we left our orientation DD screamed and cried. She loved it! She asks about it every day now.
There are several indoor and outdoor classrooms, a vegetable garden, computers, turtles, a chicken and a snake (she also cried that she didn't get to hold the snake). She'll start two 8 hour days and commute with DH. Parents are expected to participate and join them for lunch if they are on campus. We'll up the hours as she is ready and we can afford.
Best of all, DD can progress at her own pace up through K - important because she's a December baby. That has been my biggest concern by far.
My reply was so long and detailed I ended up just PM-ing you. The bottom line is that we loved the language experience and also hoped that it would work out until 5th grade. But we've been dealing with issues of asynchrony from late K until now, 2nd grade, and have utilized a variety of educational options over the last year consisting of primarily English instruction supplemented with French tutoring. The language and cultural experience is invaluable, but in my experience it doesn't really slow anything down except the development of each language, and only for a little while. When we had DS tested in K his language scores were too low to qualify for his current program, which could have been the dual-language lag or it could simply have been the 5-year-old wiggles. Regardless, a year later his scores were closer to where we expected and he is loving his new HG school.
oh boy I met my DD4's new teacher last night and she seems very nice but when she talked about how the big thing this year is learning upper and lowercase letters and that they will still be focusing on things like colors and shapes--things both my girls had figured out when they were 1.5--I felt a sweep of dread pass over me. I didn't mention a thing about my daughter and she said she had asked the other teachers and directors NOT to tell her about her students so they would enter with a clean slate so to speak. Now I am wondering if I should say anything at all today when we go for a visitation day. Do I just let her figure it out or do I give her a little information on my DD's background? My DD can act very silly and immature esp. if she doesn't have children or adults who can speak with her on a sophiticated level throughout the day. Do I trust that this lady will be able to see giftedness through the flurry of silly impulsive activity? My DD4's language is very sophisticated and clear, her reading is very advanced, and she is like a mini encyclopedia for so many things, so those things may "out" her some if she speaks in her normal way and chooses to read aloud and share the things she knows, but last year she pretended she couldn't read when around those children and changed her speech to be more like the kids in her class. She is in a class with many five year olds, but still, the end of year kindergarten class we visited there last year was still working on things she mastered by the beginning of her entry into three year old pre-K. The good thing is they will be doing a lot of crafts and singing and dancing and playing which means less time sitting for academics that are far too easy for her. I think it will be harder next year when they will be plodding through things she mastered years ago.
Sometimes I think you and I are in opposing universes and reading your posts, especially about the preschool, makes me ponder if I over reacted to DD's time with her social preschool. I used the exact same argument about why it might be better for her since DD loves arts and crafts plus singing and dancing, etc. We also watched DD shorten her words to 3 word sentences max when the child has been able to speak in complicated sentences 15+ words before age 2. She could also write and draw but followed the kids' lead and just scribbled. I think you get the picture.
But to answer your question about the teacher. I thought the same thing ... don't tell them a thing. They will surely figure it out. DD wouldn't reveal that part of herself so they never saw it and when I told them later about her abilities the teacher was in shock, but by this time I had already decided the school was not a good fit and was looking to move her into another school. I know I really didn't give them a chance to try once they learned the information but the school we wanted to move her into had one spot open up and we had to take it by that week or we would lose it. A few months later DD and I ran into her old teacher while at a store and I was quite amused by the interaction. No longer was DD quiet and shy and holding back. She was talking in complex sentences and asking her questions. I guess it was enough for the teacher's mouth to drop. So I definitely don't regret my decision. Immediately upon moving her to the new school DD returned to the DD we knew ... because while at the other school her attitude at home had changed.
But if I were in your shoes I would definitely inform the teacher.
oh boy I met my DD4's new teacher last night and she seems very nice but when she talked about how the big thing this year is learning upper and lowercase letters and that they will still be focusing on things like colors and shapes--things both my girls had figured out when they were 1.5--I felt a sweep of dread pass over me.
The good thing is they will be doing a lot of crafts and singing and dancing and playing which means less time sitting for academics that are far too easy for her. I think it will be harder next year when they will be plodding through things she mastered years ago.
Is it a play based school? If it is, and the letter/color recognition is a short and simple part of the day. You should be fine. In my DD's 4yo class there were a range of skills from not even recognizing all the letters and not hearing beginning sounds to reading fluently. It wasn't a problem for any of them. Phonics were limited to an exercise at circle time where they'd all think of words starting with the letter of the day and the teacher would write them down. Then they'd decorate a cutout of the letter of the day during craft time. Mostly their time was spent playing, singing, having stories read to them. They all loved it. Sure, some went home and did first grade math or read a fifth grade book, but preschool was for playing with their friends.
I'm usually writing about DS6, so thought I'd briefly introduce my DS-28months here. Like most of the other "2s" here, he could pass the general benchmarks for kindergarten readiness, even though he doesn't even qualify for 3 year old preschool for another year. As a second child, he doesn't get nearly enough 1-1 time, so his ability to pick things up on his own is obvious.
This semester, he is starting a 2 1/2 hour once/week early preschool class at our homeschool co-op. The class has 13 children who are 2 1/2 and 3 (he should be the youngest), and I'm co-teaching the first hour to make sure the bar is raised. (I'm teaching Story Stretchers, with theme based books, songs, and crafts/fine motor.) I think it's a good mix for him since I'll be there for 1 hour, and then he'll spend the rest of the time w/ the other teachers (where they focus on snack and gross motor/group games).
I am also trying something new with a few friends and starting a once/week 1-hour "unstructured school playdate." We're going to follow the "Letter of the Week" curriculum, and engage the kids in circle time, fine motor activities, etc. We've all spent thousands over the past two years with music/art/gym classes where we spend $15/20 hour, and we can do better on our own for free!
DS's third morning of the week is in our unstructured playgroup. I think this is the greatest thing a 2 year old could have. We have 9 kids, and they've developed so much in terms of social skills/the meaning of friendship/etc etc.
His 4th morning will be 2 hours at an hourly drop-in daycare that runs a low-level "preschool program." I think it's incredibly weak as a regular preschool and nearly all play-based, but perfect for him while my DS6 is at Spanish class.
Our 5th morning is at home, but DS is also crazy about the playcenter at our sports club, where they have a fabulous collection of toys and great ad-hoc art/gym activities for his age. He spends a few hours there every week, too.
During our "housetime," we don't do very much in terms of "academics" w/ DS2 because we homeschool DS6 and that is time consuming. DS2 doesn't get "exposed" to very much in terms of schoolwork because DS6 is studying 2-4 years above his level, but he does get to go to a lot of homeschool field trips and co-ops, which is always great, and usually sits in on our science labs and art projects. We do try to do a fine motor activity every day together, and he is starting to write letters and "play school." Otherwise, most of his day at home is simply normal play (Thomas, puzzles, and books, books, books. He's starting to read, and heads to books non-stop.) He does love ABCReading Eggs and usually begs to do that a few times a week, and likes Rightstart A and the easy activities in FamilyMath, but we don't do that too often.
I wish I could decide what to do next year. I really don't want him going off to school 5 days a week, but I haven't found a preschool that seems ideal. It's the same issue that we had with DS6: do we even bother to do preschool, or do we just continue to fill our days w/ enrichment activities.....
Everyone else's plan sounds great! I'm looking forward to hearing how it all goes!
gratefulmom, thanks for telling us about your little guy. He sounds amazing! What also sounds amazing is what you've set up for this year. It sounds to me like the best of all worlds where your DS just gets to have fun. Clearly he's picking up all kinds of social and academic skills while he's getting to play. If I were able to homeschool, this is exactly how I'd try to do it. So, congrats to you for setting up such a great, varied, fun, yet structured schedule! I look forward to hearing more about both your DSs!
we had visitation day at my DD5's preschool and I actually felt a little worried since a five year old in her class couldn't count to 12, another boy couldn't say how old he was, and most of the kids don't speak clearly. I know if I said this anywhere else, I'd be flamed, but I was really shocked. This is a well respected school in a upper middle class town. Is this really normal development? My DD4 not only reads at an advanced level, but is way ahead in all other academic areas, even spelling and coloring / drawing, but because she has emotional issues and acting out issues, and I am assuming because she is small and even on the young side in her class, they won't move her to K and we can't find anywhere else to send her and I need her to go somewhere for her to have a social life and me to catch my breath since my husband is gone all the time.
Do you mind me asking where you live? Is it a rural area? Do you not have any other schools in your area such as Montessori or is it that you don't think a Montessori school would be a good fit for your daughter? And the only reason I picked Montessori is because they seem to be the other choice in most towns.
I know I'm asking a lot of questions but I have to believe you have some other choices. Perhaps you could find someone to come to your house such as a college student (if you live near a college) or even an older grandmother type because I really sense that more than anything you need some time to yourself. I understand the frustration of DH working all the time. I have one of those too.
And BTW ... I'm shocked by the description of the other children. By 4 their speech should be clear.
Twinkle, And BTW ... I'm shocked by the description of the other children. By 4 their speech should be clear.
I just wanted to note that I have three kids, one HG+ and one HG, and all three of them have had varying degrees of articulation issues. My DS6, who is grade skipped and subject advanced, in particular, has some unclear articulation with several letters and letter combinations, but he is a very smart kid and says some spectacular things, even if he doesn't say them clearly. Also, most speech articulation issues aren't really "problems" until first grade or so say the speech pathologists. So, I'd be careful in trying to equate clear speaking with appropriateness of peers.
OTOH, all the other issues with the kids seeming to be on an entirely different academic plane could be problematic . . . . When does she start school?
Yay! I bought Monopoly today. Ds loves Clue, so I thought the Monopoly has similar pieces. He's gonna love it. He love Yahtzee and Go Fish. It's just been me and him all day for the last three years. Now with the new baby comming I thought we could play long, lazy days of board games. This way I can sit quietly and nurse the baby and ds will still feel like he's getting my undivided attention.
I'm shocked by the description of the other children. By 4 their speech should be clear.
Heh. My niece, who was the tiny-child-reading-Harry-Potter and the entering-kindergartner-doing-multiplication, was completely incomprehensible to everyone but immediate family at 4, and took quite a bit of close listening before your ears adjusted to the way she talked, but after that you could mostly get the gist of what she was saying, at 6.
we had visitation day at my DD5's preschool and I actually felt a little worried since a five year old in her class couldn't count to 12, another boy couldn't say how old he was, and most of the kids don't speak clearly.
If you are comparing these children to your own they won't sound nearly as clear and understandable as yours, ever. That's even included in assessments of speech problems, they expect the parent to understand much more than a stranger. My two year old is 100% understandable, but strangers often don't catch what he says. And half of what the other toddlers I know say I don't understand.
Don't discount shyness either. My five year old can multiply, but if a stranger asked her how old she was she probably wouldn't answer.
If a child's rue abilities were always shiningly obvious no teacher would ever need a hint from the parents.
that's a good point. Our children always make more sense to us, but stranges often comment on how clear her articulation is and complex her sentences are so it is all I know. I don't mean to offend anyone with this. My two year old is also very bright but I don't think her speech is as clear as my four year old's was at that age, yet people are often commenting on how clear and advanced her speech is so when I hear four years talking in very simple ways with very simple language and very unclear, I worry my DD4 won't have kids to really have conversations with, but I could be wrong and I really hope I am! She can always talk with her teachers. She has three so she can chat with them. My DD4 can regress at times too and talk in a babyish way for attention and someone catching that might think that is the only way she communicates and underestimate her. I think I was just feeling a moment of panic when the curriculm includes learning one letter at a time and the shape of a circle and the number one: things my DDs did well before their second birthday. I hope they spend very little time on those sorts of things and just play, do crafts, and sing so that my DD4 won't be scratching her head wondering why kids older than she is are doing things she did as a baby.
My DS 4.5 was exceptionally clear at 2 but now he gets more what did he say then he did then because he is using such complicated words. Other people don't expect him to use such big words so it takes a while for them to realize yes he just sad that. We've even had that issue with him occasional when he tries out something new, it's hysterical, he slows down his speech and gives you a look, like c'mon people stay with me here. We had been talking about him growing inside my stomach and he of course wanted the appropriate words like uterus and womb, a couple of days later he said something about when I was eating in the "gobbledygook" couldn't figure it out, finally I said to a 4 year old could you use it in a sentence, and he yelled when I was in your tummy, oh you ,meant uterus!!! LOL
So were the other kids talking unclearly or simplistically? My kids, despite unclear articulation, talked in a complex way with a very large vocabulary and long sentences. I would be more concerned if the other kids were not able to have a converstaion with my child because they were just talking on a much more simplistic level.
I hear four years talking in very simple ways with very simple language and very unclear, I worry my DD4 won't have kids to really have conversations with, but I could be wrong and I really hope I am!
I wish you were wrong. But you are not wrong. And your DD will pay the price. If you are lucky you will be able to tell by her behavior. If you are unlucky you won't find out until later. Would you send her to a preschool room to be the only 4 year old among 2 year olds to learn social skills? No - no one would. Why would you send her to a preschool room with agemates who are verbally 2-4 years behind her to learn social skills? Do you think that they are having fabulous thoughts on the inside and just not able to express themselves? I think this is possible but unlikely. Normal Human Development is a beautiful thing - it just doesn't help your DD.
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She can always talk with her teachers. She has three so she can chat with them.
Now I'm thinking that you are really grasping at straws. If you want her to talk to adults, use the preschool money to hire one. My son used this strategy because I didn't know any better. I was SO clueless at this age. Teachers thought he was immature, clingy, and an attention-hog. I was told that I had to teach him to be less needy by ignoring him more at home so that he'll be less demanding at school. (((teeth grinding - yup I'm still frustrated on that one.)))
But worst of all is the impression he formed of his classmates, and by reflection, of himself. He thought that there was something terribly wrong with him because he was in the classroom for kids who were terribly flawed. He has always played very well with agemates and thought that Adults were 'kinda dumb.' Do you really want a 9 year old who thinks that adults are doing a poor job of running things and that 'from now on I follow my own rules'? Ug!
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My DD4 can regress at times too and talk in a babyish way for attention and someone catching that might think that is the only way she communicates and underestimate her.
Yes, this is the way most Adults think. If they didn't think that before they became teachers then they were likely brainwashed during their educations when they were taught about 'normal developmental milestones.' You will wonder why the teachers look at you as though you have 2 heads when you try to communicate to them a fact which they have already been taught couldn't possibly be true. There are exceptions of course, but unless you see chapterbooks among the picture books in the classroom, you probably didn't find one of them.
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I think I was just feeling a moment of panic when the curriculm includes learning one letter at a time and the shape of a circle and the number one: things my DDs did well before their second birthday.
Good. That feeling is coming from your mommy gut. Listen to it.
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I hope they spend very little time on those sorts of things and just play, do crafts, and sing
It is true that if the percentages are like that she could have a great experience. Especially if it's only a few hours a day or a few days a week.
Spend a day in the classroom and observe. This week. Ask if they plan to ramp up the academics as they go through the year. Ask how much time is devoted to academics, and what she might be able to do instead. Ask the teacher if she has ever taught any kids who did learn their letters at age 2. Bring in your 2 year old and let her talk to the teacher - watch the teacher's body language.
I don't mean to be such a downer, but you are a wonderful mom, of 2 wonderful girls who have some needs that you can't learn about for regular parenting books. or regular conversations with the neighbors. So I feel like I have to be the one to tell you.
I'm sorry your DS had such a horrible experience Grinity! Let me just put in that my DS's experience was quite different. He was in nursery (daycare) from 10 months until he went to school, usually 10am-4pm 5 days per week. He had a wonderful time, and learned a lot, although what he learned was not academic subjects. Social skills are not just about conversation, far from it! A huge amount depends on the individual place, and as you suggest, the less time they spend on academics the better.
Thanks ColinsMum - I know that there are wonderful daycares and preschool. And I had to work so I did. Kristen's Mom's setup sounds wonderful too. But what scares me the most was that to anyone's eye back then everything was fine. DS seemed generally happy. The complaints about him was had no context for me - so they were easy to ignore. I was later that I started really feeling the pressure to 'do something about him.'
The best news of all is that every time we got a wake up call, we were able to try things to put DS on a better course. Last year DS was totally able to keep his head down at school and didn't get into a speck of trouble. Right now DS is very successful with authority at his new school. I heard him talking about almost having to break a rule by accident and could hear the gravity of the situation in his voice. The teachers say he is polite and respectful. It was just so much more work than it had to be. Of course- there maybe hidden benefits that we'll only find out about later.
Would you send her to a preschool room to be the only 4 year old among 2 year olds to learn social skills? No - no one would. Why would you send her to a preschool room with agemates who are verbally 2-4 years behind her to learn social skills? Do you think that they are having fabulous thoughts on the inside and just not able to express themselves? I think this is possible but unlikely. Normal Human Development is a beautiful thing - it just doesn't help your DD.
My children have been years ahead of their agemates linguistically, but emotionally and developmentally they are right on track. In my experience it doesn't matter if one child uses complex sentence structures and the other one uses very little language at all, when they're wrestling over a toy, struggling with the concept of taking turns, co-ordinating their hole digging or princess dress wearing activities. They enjoy each other's company and learn how to negotiate socially. I've seen kids play happily together even when they don't speak the same language.
What breaks my heart is when a two or three year old does a typical two or three year old thing and a four or five year old scorns or belittles them for being socially unaware or making a mistake. It doesn't make so much of an impact when it's infrequent, but a two year old with four and five year olds every day might have a very difficult time of it.
Though my DD's school is divided by age per class they do play with each other on the playground. What I've noticed with this setup is DD choosing to play with the older kids. Not shocking since she gravitates towards older kids in general. A common characteristic of HG+ kids. DD has a high empathy and is very mature for age. I believe this sets the groundwork for her acceptance of kids her age and getting along with them but also her ability to fit in with the older kids. She has no problem playing with kids in 3rd grade as well as kids that are age 3 but I definitely see the difference in how she interacts in each group.
My children have been years ahead of their agemates linguistically, but emotionally and developmentally they are right on track.
I'm glad for you children - that's a wonderful circumstance. I don't think that is the case for most gifted kids. What I see more of are children who have a wider range of behavior than most - sometimes they are acting their age, sometimes younger than their age, sometimes years older. If we judge them by their most immature behavior, then sure, they can look 'right on track' but that oversimplifies their internal reality.
I've seen children playing happily with stuffed animals, and they may even be increasing their social skills through practice, but I wouldn't be comfortable if that was the full picture of my child's social interactions. And, perhaps more importantly, no authority figure acts like that is supposed to be the full picture of a child's social interactions.
Grinity I understand that you are trying to help and that you have learned from experience with your son. I do take everyone's suggestions to heart and am looking for ways to expand her experience. She is eager to go to preschool this morning, meanwhile, I am looking for other options. A majority of the programs are filled up at this point in the year. Her preschool is large and I just found out there is another boy in another class who is reading at the second grade level so I asked the director if they could be put in the same class so they could work together and my hoping he is also very advanced and she she said it was too late in the year--ah, they have had ONE CLASS. I am exhausted, so I am looking for somewhere she can go during the day a couple times a week for a few hours. Having someone come here, just won't work knowing me and knowing her. The local public preschool is an option, but 50% of their population is learning delayed so I wasn't sure if that was a great idea, but the teachers are more highly trained and they said they would be able to ramp things up for her, but I guess I was worried that classroom energy would go to children with real challenges rather than an advanced student. Some days I think I am making too big a deal of things since she says she wants to go to her class today, it is only a few hours three days a week, and well, I never even went to pre-K, had parents who had no interest in academics, and I went to very good schools including Harvard for my masters, but yes, I had many, many problems in school and was considered a "behavior problem" and even dropped out before getting back on the horse and kicking academic butt and top schools with little effort. I want to do the right things for her, but on the other hand, I don't want to be obsessed and worry too much either.
Oh TT! I think not getting obsessed is a good idea, and it's true that the short hours are on your side. ((My son was in daycare all day by age 4, every day))
Do you have any idea, in retrospect, if your so called behavior problems were due to a 2e or just being 'too gifted' for the classroom? On one hand you don't want to assume that the DDs are 'just like you' but on the other hand lots of times the apples fall sort of near the tree.
Too bad about that reader boy, and all the stress of filled up classrooms.
It seems like a good idea to visit the local public preschool and observe. The population may or may not be an issue - it really depends on how the teachers administer the program.
I'm glad to hear that she wants to go - that's got to be a good sign. Keep combing for that special college student or homeschool kid/mom combo or grandma-type to get you some respite!
Today we went to introduce my son to his future karate senseis, a father and a son. �My boy sat quietly watching the younger sensei give a private lesson to one of his students. �The sensei mentioned that he noticed him paying attention. �Afterwards he visited my husband, and old student of his fathers. �Then he spoke a little with my son. �He said he could tell by talking to him that he was mature. �We told him the other day he did what my husband calls a snap kick, he jumped a couple inches off the ground and kicked my husband in the leg and landed without losing balance twice. �He demonstrated some plain kicks for the young sensei. � Ooh, the sr. Sensei showed up at the same time as the whole crowd of the youngest class. �He ran out the door all excited and saying hi to all the energetic little kids coming into class. I called him to come back and he took off running and laughing, acting for all the world like his age as I waddled after him. �Good times. �The only kids he's ever really around is when we go to the playground at the mall, with all the chaotic running and screaming. �I guess he's been training for this particular kodak moment.
Thanks for your thoughtul response. I don't have any 2E issues that I know of, but at the bare minumum, had /have some major OEs and sensory sensitivities. I remember getting so excited with a topic I would feel as though I was going to burst and then would blurt out answers too soon. My difficult behaviors weren't really that bad, just enough to annoy some teachers and have other teachers adore me. Once I got into independent learning situations and college and grad school, I liked school, but would get over-exited by certain topics and bubble up and over. I challenged teacher's authority esp. when it came to ideas. I was a published poet and creative writer and sometimes I would also feel that way with creative ideas. Now in late adulthood, I realize I am someowhat sensory sensitive to noises, light, smells, etc. My DD4 is getting OT for sensory issues, but so far, no one is coming up with anything else for her restlessness and talkativeness and intensity besides her personality. Time will tell. I think we both sound a little ADHD at times. Although she said she had fun at school, she told me last night that she said things during circle time about the "baby things" they were doing. They are slowly teaching the letter A and counting to ten--really? I can't imagine that is normal four year old curriculum. I arrived early and they were doing a group activity (there are 19 of them in the class) where they had to take turns and go up and circle the letter A in text) and I was really amazed that my DD4 sat there, was quiet, and just waited her turn. Some people may see this as squashing her individuality and stunting her intellect, but I am not worried about those things with her as much as worrying about her ability to control her impulses and get along with others since those are her greater challenges.
We are visiting a gifted preschool this week. I think that it helps that they are playing or doing crafts / singing most of the day. They are also working on their writing which is great.
Yippee!! I dropped DS off at preschool today and the teacher said, "Why didn't you tell me your DS can read?" It only took her about 3 times to figure it out, she said she was suspicious about it the first week because he read a book title and she thought, "hmm maybe he has that at home" and then he read some other titles too and she thought, "hmmm, that's quite a variety of books to happen to have at home". She said she wanted to wait to be sure before she said anything to me... so she tested him... she pointed to a random T shirt and had him read it and he read just the first line which was easy words, and she said "what's the rest" and he read the more complex words right off. And then she said she was disappointed a babysitter took him and picked him up last week as she was itching to talk to me.
It was awesome because in answer to her question about why I didn't tell her I just said, "oh I didn't want to seem pushy or antyhing like that" and she brushed that aside like, "oh no I wouldn't have thought that". I'm sure I could have told her ahead and she would have not thought that of me -- but the way it's worked out she is proud of herself for making that discovery. I'm hoping maybe that gives her extra incentive to differentiate for him, if she feels some ownership for the discovery perhaps that makes her more likely to think of his reading as her own little thing, something to nurture rather than just be aware of.
She seemed genuinely excited about it, said she had told the school director because she had to tell someone. And then it was a natural progression of that conversation for me to ask about the books on the rack and ask if there, "happened to be any more somewhere for after DS has gotten through those?" (they have like three words on each page so that was my attempt to be polite about that), and she went into a story about how DS had asked where one book was that had gone missing and how she found it for him. She spontaneously said she'd be sure to change out the books weekly and include some just for him.
And so our relationship with the teacher is off on a great footing. After reading some depressing stories here about teachers not noticing for a whole year I was just gleaming all the way home.
As I left I saw DS had spelled MOON with plastic letters and was having plastic animals jump over it like in the nursery rhyme -- so I don't know how anyone could not notice, but whatever, I'm just SO thrilled she did.
Great post Polly! Definitely put a smile on my face. Love the jumping over the "MOON". I hope the teacher keeps her excitement and really provides some challenging books.
I think that it helps that they are playing or doing crafts / singing most of the day. They are also working on their writing which is great.
Since the days are short, and they are mostly doing crafts/singing it sounds ok.
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They are slowly teaching the letter A and counting to ten--really? I can't imagine that is normal four year old curriculum.
Twinkly - I wish I could help you open your eyes. Yes, Yes, 1000x Yes. This is normal. This is ok. This is even beautiful. I know you have other things to do with your brief 'free time' but I really think you need to visit Kindy classrooms and even 1st grade classrooms and other 4 year old rooms in Preschools. When you go to the 'gifted' school, be sure to spend time with the kindys and 1st graders.
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Some people may see this as squashing her individuality and stunting her intellect, but I am not worried about those things with her as much as worrying about her ability to control her impulses and get along with others since those are her greater challenges.
I'm really glad you were able to verbalize this. I am totally not worried about squashing her individuality or stunting her intellect. Like you, I want her to be able to control her impulses and get along with others. I think it's great that she showed such control during:
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I arrived early and they were doing a group activity (there are 19 of them in the class) where they had to take turns and go up and circle the letter A in text) and I was really amazed that my DD4 sat there, was quiet, and just waited her turn.
And I would energize her like crazy for her ability to do this. But she has already noticed that something is very strange:
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Although she said she had fun at school, she told me last night that she said things during circle time about the "baby things" they were doing.
What exactly is could we hope that she could conclude from this experience? Particularly next year when it's every day and more hours? Isn't asking her to practice self control and getting along skills in this context sort of like asking a child to learn to swim in the deep end?
Again, as long as the day is mostly songs and crafts, and it's only a few days a week, and a few hours a day - it'll probably be fine. I hope what you see at the gifted school looks great. Take a good long look at having a babysitter come to your house even if you have to go out and sleep in your car in a parking lot somewhere. Keep your eyes open for a home daycare center that has older children in the afternoon after school that she would be able to interact with. Try and contact the mom of the reading boy and see if she has been able to track down any local resources, or would be willing to do 'babysitting trades' with you. I know it looks hopeless, but there is always so much more resource than a person can be aware of.
I guess putting DD in school full time is paying off. DD has been able to comprehend Spanish forever but she is always been hesitant to speak it. She has come a long way with this issue over summer but only in school. She still divides her worlds: school is school and home is home. But over the past week I have noticed a difference. First she is drawn to French which she has for an hour every week. She runs around singing French songs in the evening. But the big yay was last night when we were in a restaurant where she talked to and order her food from the waiter all in Spanish. I really hope her confidence is building and she will become more willing to communicate outside of school.
Wow Kateln'sM_om that's great news! Your DD is young for speaking her 2nd language when she doesn't have to. It will pay off in spades if she continues. It should be relatively easy to provide at least Spanish through the years regardless of her educational environment. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks MAE... I really do hope it wasn't a fluke. Talked to the director of her school today and she mentioned how impressed she has been with DD's progression since starting full time which has only been 2 weeks.
KatelynsM_om, that's really incredible news! I didn't realize your DD was enrolled full time. I think DD3.5 could be ready for full time this year...
She starts the new school tomorrow and I can't sleep. I'm wondering how much we do now matters in the long run of our children's development. Are we choosing the right school? Full time better or part time? More work at home to challenge her?
When we had our parent-teacher introductory conference two weeks ago, I left feeling a little crest fallen. All the excitement we had melted into us realizing the school's cutting edge ways were *exactly* what we are already doing at home. I didn't realize DH and I had such a cutting edge / best practices gig going Of course we do not have the group experience, the $1 million dollar facility, and several teachers. So that will be different.
So, on the eve of the next big step for our DD3.5, I find myself questioning if we are doing the right thing or enough. She's 3.5... what are the critical issues at this age? Our home focus is on A. exploration and B. expression.
I have heard the argument for both sides when it comes to early education but I personally think it really depends on the personality of the individual child. Take my DD. She is a shy empathetic child but also appears to be a pleaser while at school. When we had her in the other school we also saw all of the above but with a twist: dummy down. These early years set the stage for DD and she will either learn that it is not only okay but necessary for her to be herself and to also be challenged along the way.
If I look at the school strictly on academics than I would be panicked since DD was able to do their curriculum for her class by age 2 and this school is 2 years advanced compared to public schools in our area. But she is challenged through other ways: languages but again she is closing that gap quickly so crossing my fingers. I will say this: the past year of placing her in a social preschool only to pull her 2 months later and enroll her in this school, I noticed her lack of interest in much of anything academic while at home. She was very much about imagination. She still advanced in her thought processes and her questions became more intense and complex but she could have cared less about reading or math during that time. She did focus some on writing and lots of time on drawing. Over the summer this changed drastically. She started asking to read and now is focused on reading and math. Thinking about it I think perhaps she was adjusting to the environment and the foreign language. Now that she feels comfortable with her own abilities within Spanish she is able to focus her attention on other things.
But to look at your concerns: is it bad that the school's curriculum aligns with what you do at home? I would see it as reinforcing. There is a comfort in fluidity.
And as for full time vs. part time ... JMHO but I think part time at this age is the best choice. They get the best of both worlds and we planned to put DD in part time this year but with the new changes in the school and our plan to keep her there through elementary, we felt it important to enroll her full time so she would have less of an adjustment when she did move on to kindergarten. Was a hard decision and I still watch the clock on some days ... tick tock tick tock ... but I know she is enjoying it and loves school.
Thanks for your response. So much of your concerns mirror our experiences - dummying down (although I call it social adaptation) and being engrossed with imaginative play - but I know our DD's are different from each other. My DD is not shy and does not sit still. She's supremely active - gives most boys a run for their money. Also, I think your DD is PG and I don't know that my DD is.
I've shied away from an academic setting, mostly because DD needs full body, experiential learning and I worried she'd get in trouble and have her wings clipped by an environment that didn't have a large dose of exercise in the mix. (Although books are her favorite thing, sitting and listening at the library story hour never was her thing... she'd rather climb the stacks and read at home.)
DD cried (for the first 5 minutes) when I left her at her preschool until just 3 months ago. Yesterday she said bye in the morning, hopped in the car with dad, came home 9 hours later, said Hi and sat down to dinner. She didn't miss me at all! I was so excited! So she's in this new school of 3 year olds for two 8 hour days. I'd consider full time if we could afford it and there was space available... we'll see how the first two months go, then I could ask grandma for some subsidy I guess.
The reason I was underwhelmed by their plan was that they read the 3 year olds chapter books "because we don't limit what they are able to understand," let them get super dirty, promote exploration, take them on field trips, have them exercise, let them play outdoors at least half the time, and they give them adult food to eat. I do all that. They don't focus on reading or academic skills. We don't push that, but I thought they might.
Last night I tried to interview DD about her experience. She didn't make new friends, she talked to the teachers. "The other kids don't talk much," she said. My heart sank. I know she's rather quiet around other 3 year olds, but this concerned me. A the parent teacher conference I had tried to warn the teacher that DD has a very advanced vocabulary and hangs out with 10 year olds, but she pointed out that there are other good reasons to be wih other 3 year olds. I see some wisdom in that, but... (feedback needed on this)
The good news is, DD can advance through the other classrooms at her own pace. They might move her in with the 4 year olds or kindergarteners if she is ready. I think they have testing, too, but I'm not ready to ask.
The other thing is, DH is waiting to hear about a job 3000 miles away. If he takes it we will move in 1-2 months. So if nothing else, we'll test this out for that period of time. The new job would be in a major metropolitan area with many more school options than our little California town in the middle of nowhere.
My oldest DD now 12 never learned to socialize with her age group until I moved her into a gifted class. She went from a quiet withdrawn read a book in the corner of the playground to a leader in less than a week, no meds, no therapy. It was an awesome transformation. She is full of energy....she gives the boys a run for their money. I have yet to meet a girl with as much energy as she has besides maybe myself at her age...smile... What I wouldn't do for a bit more of it now.....
I find myself uncomfortable in certain circumstances where an older child and parent are interacting with me and my almost 2 dd. For example at the library the other day my DD was playing with a numbers puzzle that a abt four old wanted. my DD can be incredibly contrary. She was trying to make the five fit the two upside down. She knew the numbers. The four yr old tried to teach DD the numbers and the mom chimed in.. This will only make my DD more contrary....I thought for a moment and then decided to let them know that DD knew her numbers. I felt so uncomfortable. DD then took the zero and said zero and put it easily in the right place. I was glad that she did something to back me up so I did not appear this crazed mom. There was another interaction and then DD promptly put all the numbers in the right place easily stating if they were upside down or right side up....Then she interacted with the four yr old better. The other mom seemed fine with it. I was pretty uncomfortable. With my first one I had no idea she was advanced. I knew nothing abt gifted and just assumed people were being nice when they made comments. I told them it was because I taught her sign language which is what I believed..I was oblivious to their wonder and my guess is discomfort...ahhh ignorance is bliss for sure..so curious what others think and do in similar circumstances.
Yes, sometimes I have that problem, but how i respond depends on the situation. If people are being rude, I vent to hubby or a gifted friend. If they are rude to DS, I will stand up for my son, as diplomatically as possible. But I am *slowly* starting to realize (thanks in part to this board and part to some recent experiences) people figure it out, whether I say something or not, and even if they don't say much until later.
Flower, thanks for your post. It gives me so much to think about. Love the story of transformation. What confirmation for you as a parent! PS Wish I could get my DD with yours for a day.
Quick update: we decided to withdraw DD from her new, university-based preschool and keep her in her existing parks and rec school.
I think things are boiling down to me accepting responsibility for rounding out her education at home, and us not expecting a preschool to meet all of her educational needs. As my cousin said of his DD, who was reading the newspaper at 4.5, "we have her go to preschool to learn to stand in line." All the rest we can do - and are already doing - at home.
As for my wanting help with reading... about 6 months ago DD read a few words on her own. I freaked out a little, and went completely hands-off. Well, now I've calmed down and it doesn't scare me to help her if she wants help. Also, I was wrong about the class being all 3 year olds - there 25 kids aged 3.7 to 4.5 and DD is second to youngest. The teacher did note that, after two days, they were surprised to see how advanced she is, except for holding her fork at lunch. lol
Crossing my fingers! Yesterday we had a little incident at school where one of the boys was not minding and it resulted in DD getting a fat lip. They called me right away and I jumped in the car expecting to find a very distraught child when I got there. We have a previous experience with being bit on the nose by a baby. She was upset by this for weeks and weeks and still brings it up even now, so I expected to walk in to a child crying her eyes out.
She was perfectly calm when I got there and was holding ice up to her lip. Even seeing mommy didn't send her into tears. She told me that the little boy didn't intend to hit her. It was really just an accident. She showed such maturity in that moment.
The little boy was sent to the office and his parents were called. Though it was an accident it was due to him not following directions ... something he has a habit of doing. This year they put in place some new procedures and I have to say I like them so far.
So I'm hoping that this little incident doesn't set her back. She did mention that she was still upset with the boy and didn't know if she wanted to go to school but she got over that idea pretty quickly and was excited by the time Daddy was taking her to school. Crossing my fingers she stays happy and excited.
It sounds to me like it not only didn't set her back, but may have set her forward a bit. Enough of these gradual steps and you may have a PG ultimate fighter on your hands.
Hi I remember when my oldest got bitten by one of the kids in the play group. She was soooo upset about it. It was on her finger and her finger had to be treated like royalty forever. I think it was also her first understanding that I could not protect her from everything and that someone who she liked could cause her pain and seemingly on purpose.
Sounds like your little one was a trooper and like the other poster said, proud of herself for handling it well.
Its a long car ride to the school when your called because they are hurt!
Sounds like DD did very well with the incident. I found that DS was the same way when the injury was accidental. There had been a series of incidents with DS and others with one kid where they were obviously not accidental and DS and other kids really behaved differently about it and the kid. And it took the school a very lo time to recognize the seriousness of the situation. So glad to hear you were pleased with the response.
Had to post this - no one else besides DH will get it!!
Week summary comes home from DS teacher, they are reading nice books, learning about expressing feelings and being friends - fabulous - last line - we also focused this week on letter recognition and number identification.
DS read the informational sheet to us!!!!
I think my tongue was bit clear through as i struggled not to laugh!
Flower: so true! Every obstacle imaginable was in my way yesterday. It took an extra 5 minutes for me to get there.
DeHe: love your story about your son reading the summary. Does his teacher even know he reads? DD is now proud of her reading and clearly tells her teacher about it. But it is usually in line with candy is for reading. Yep, stupid mommy came up with this brilliant idea that she can have 1 piece of candy after she reads a book. She loves it and is excited not only to finish a book but to get her candy, but now she tells her teacher that is what candy is for. Oops!
O my! How great that she understands the situation.
Our DD does like the new school, but this is her last week. She's been going to both - old school MWF afternoons and new school TTh all day.
The old school just admitted a 5 year old who only speaks Spanish - he's going to learn English in school. The teacher said she'd help DD pick up Spanish. I may approach her to do a separate Spanish class for DD and some other kids Whose moms are also interested.
The other nice thing is that DD's close riend in her old school started K but comes back on M and F because the teacher is her aunt. She is almost 6 and DD loves her.
I tried to add some tools of the Mind stuff to our morning, but it wasn't at all challenging for DD. Too easy!
I love that we have stumbled upon a school that doesn't frown upon advanced abilities.
DD brought home a library book this past week: half of it was in English and the other half was in Spanish. While I worked on plugging the Spanish sentence in to my translator so we could hear it; DD would read the English sentence to me. Then we would both go over the Spanish one. This little exercise made it apparent to me that DD is real close to reading Spanish but it certainly is not something I could teach her. So I mentioned that DD reads English and might be close to reading Spanish. No raised eyebrows on their end. The teacher is going to do some one on one time with her to help her read!
Katelyn'sMom- Glad the school is working out for you! That is cool that she is going to read soon in Spanish.. You've influenced me to check out immersion pre-school when the time comes!
Time for a update... DS3 seems to basically like preschool and we have not heard of problems from the school. I am down on it today though -- tonight for example he mentioned he got a time out at school for not sitting down at circle time, he was wandering around. (I don't know the circumstances but our own discipline policy at home only does time outs for more serious infractions, so extremely rarely, thus it seems like a harsh measure.) There seem to be a lot of rules.
And then there is the monotone intonations he makes about letters, "D. D for Dog. D for Dinosaur" in a flat voice. I ask what books they read to them and it's all very simplistic letter oriented stuff, except for every couple weeks there is a day with more real stories, which he enjoys. He did mention he is not required to sing one of the songs -- apparently the other kids do but he doesn't want to and isn't made to. Possibly due to him knowing the subject of it already -- or maybe they just haven't figured out how to force him to participate, LOL.
I really deeply dislike the "artwork" he brings home, pre-fab things where the child has no part in it except to follow one or two instructions. Such as stickers stuck on a picture the teacher drew or cut out.
The last and unhappiest bit is his class has a new teacher, the new one is nice also and trying really hard to make the kids like her -- but of course it's an adjustment. He was much more bonded to the original teacher than to the other kids so in a way it's starting all over again.
He seems to not mind going, he would rather stay home in the morning but he runs inside once he's there and then usually is looking wound up and happy when he comes out. I just feel like the schema of it is designed to kill creativity and make him into a sheep. But then again I guess maybe that is the inevitable nature of school in general and one learns to manage within the boundaries of it?
We are moving and looking forward to him going to a play-only mixed age coop type preschool after Thanksgiving, my dilemma for the moment is whether to pull him out of this one early or continue for the next month. I guess I don't have a sense of whether damage is being done or whether he will brush it off. I am grateful he is not staying in this one all year, especially with the teacher we had a raport with gone.
When I was in my panic mode about DD's preschool and what an awful choice we made I knew I couldn't let her finish up the year, but with DD we saw major differences in her. Even though I wasn't comfortable leaving her in the school for the rest of the year I would have been fine with another month while I searched for another school. We just lucked out that the school remembered her and her abilities and took her over people on the waiting list. (She had done their summer camp for 3 weeks.) So we were able to move her within a week.
If you're moving and starting another school in a month I wouldn't stress over his time at the school.
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/Hablame_today/65c4b5d7.jpg I asked him what it was. �He said "an up and down thing" and started pumping iron. �Wish I knew how to post a little video. �Here he made a machine gun, but he's using it like a rifle. �Poor confused kid. � �http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/Hablame_today/bc328f05.jpg Ok, just two more pics. �He's got the erector set Jr for his birthday. �He put the tires on the rims and screwed most of the nuts and bolts in place. �I tightened one or two hard to reach spots. �But can you believe the whole design is all his very own!! �Ok. �Maybe you can really believe it. �:D http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/Hablame_today/dd5cc68d.jpg I tightened the nut that's blocked by the tire and I snapped the bolts into the rims because he just couldn't after trying. �I told him to pinch and push at the same time but he tried and still couldn't. �But he mounted the tires on the rims and handled most the nuts and bolts on his own. �
He's been playing with the Trio blocks for four days non-stop. �He just got a mess of them for his birthday. �He got the construction Trio sets so he first took the truck part and built a handle on it as tall as he so he could push it around while standing. Then he built blocks between the wheels and the body because dada's always pointing out various SUVs with lift kits. �Which by the way he still calls GPSs because our suburban has a GPS and he still get those acronyms confused. �He also still calls a microphone a "styrofoam" no matter how many times I correct him. Let's see he made two trio sticks and played them like a violin. �He made two vertical sticks connected by a horizontal one at the top. �He tried to connect that to his spiderman bag and call it a suitcase. �Here he is making a quick phone call before he finishes making his "race car" (seen above). http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/Hablame_today/5570e636.jpg
At least this answers the question my brother asked me a few weeks ago, is Wyatt creative? �I had to answer I don't know. �We don't see kids his age enough for me to compare. �He lies a lot. �He'll tell me he can't eat his lunch because there's giants in the kitchen threatening him. �Or that he didn't lose his cellphone, that a monster ate his phone and spit it back in his hand and he hid it from the monster and now he doesn't know where it is. But I'm not sure that's really creative or just wrong.
I mentioned in another thread that we're starting to work on spelling this year and he is starting to do word searches. �That was last week's news. �I sat with him for two lessons saying, uh, �look for "blue". �Look for the B's. Is there a L beside it? �No? �Look for another B. �We're looking for blue, B.l.u.e. �Did you find it? �I see it. �No I'm not going to show you. �You find it. �Ok, here take the marker and highlight it. �Good job. He found one word on one page without me talking me through it. One word and he said he was done with the whole page. �Oh well. �Good job!
I think that it would be hard for me to get anything done in regards to moving if I was worrying about DD. I think if ur mommie gut tells u one way or the other to listen to it. If he is dumming himself down that is a long time..... I think teachers who try to get kids to like them can have a hard time. Kids love teachers and people in general. Teachers need to teach to the children noticing each child and going from there. I think that is what will make a child like the teacher. I think kids really want to learn. My two cents good luck.
�At least this answers the question my brother asked me a few weeks ago, is Wyatt creative? �I had to answer I don't know. �We don't see kids his age enough for me to compare. �He lies a lot. �He'll tell me he can't eat his lunch because there's giants in the kitchen threatening him. �Or that he didn't lose his cellphone, that a monster ate his phone and spit it back in his hand and he hid it from the monster and now he doesn't know where it is. But I'm not sure that's really creative. �
I think the lies do speak to creativity, it speaks to a rich imaginary world. I dont think they are lies the way older kids or adults lie. My DS 4.5 was/is the same way. I was worried for awhile when it would be about things other people have or other people did, he would say it was his or he did it or didn't do it. At first I corrected it, but then realized it was how he was processing the world and incorporating the world into his imaginary world. He has imaginary friends with fantastic lives, where he says stuff like he and the friend do this or that.
I'm not going to worry about it yet. �I'll assume it's a phase that will pass. �He just seems to think everything's always fun and games anyway. �It looks like he just realized we don't always have to state the facts and he's playing with it, he thinks it's funny. �He was so literal before. �But it's bad, really bad. �He went potty today. �I wiped his butt and he went to the table with no undies on. �I said "go put your undies on". �He said, "They're right here". �He points to his bare hips. �I said, "Where?". He said, "on my butt". �And he looked me straight in the eye and told me this when he's sitting naked right in front of me. �He had a glimmer in his eye but he kept a straight poker face. �I'm not making a big deal out of it, but I have told him "nobody's going to believe you if you keep telling lies". �Eh, if he gets much worse I'll just write it all down and make a book or a videogame world out of it. �
Today I got a treat. �He's been learning hooked on phonics since last year so I've seen him sound out single words. �And he'll sometimes read a nice big flashy sight word he's picked up somewhere (PBS?). �But he only reads words not sentences. �Well he just did that two week free trial of the reading eggs. �It really worked! �I bought him a cheap-o phonics DVD from toysRus because HOP 1st introduces the blended sounds on a boring cd, I need something with "ch" "sh" "th" phonics lessons. I put on the DVD and left. �I heard from the other room "This a cat". �Then the DVD guy read, "this is a cat". �I heard Wyatt correct himself, "this Is a cat."
We signed DD up for piano lessons this year through a program that comes to her school. We thought this would be the best route due to the additional Spanish time, since the instructor teaches in Spanish and since she is a full time student it would be a really long day for her if we added piano lessons after school. The instructor has been very impressed with DD's abilities. She was able to read the notes by the first two lessons and her attention span is amazing. But I haven't been impressed with the lessons. I don't feel they put much if any emphasis on practicing while at home.
So this week we rented a piano for the house. We do have a keyboard but it just isn't the same especially if you are learning. We decided to rent for now since we're still at the beginning and don't want to buy until we're sure she is devoted to the piano. The nice thing is part of the rental fee will go to the purchase of a piano so we won't lose all of the money.
We also found a teacher who will come to the house and give her lessons. She will be his youngest student but thanks to her 2 months of lessons through the other program we know she is ready and he was excited to hear about her attention span and note reading. She starts with him on Monday.
Good luck with the piano lessons. With DD12 having a piano made it more real for her. I think the teacher can really make a difference too. My little one also says things that are not really true. I do not think it is the same as lying. I think more of it as learning to manipulate language. I recently found an early K program for four year olds that uses the reggio method. I've googled it but anyone know or have experience with this method? Unsolicited the woman said that they have had children stay for the year and leave reading at a third grade level...I thought that sounded hopeful.
I recently found an early K program for four year olds that uses the reggio method. I've googled it but anyone know or have experience with this method?
My DD's preschool used Reggio Emilia methods. We loved the school, but I don't know how much of that was good-match and how much was good-method. I know the atelier (art studio) was a big part of Reggio Emilia, and there was a lot of time devoted to structured, in-depth work in the arts. They also spent a lot of time outdoors, which I think was a school-specific thing, rather than a Reggio thing.
It was definitely a play-based school, not academic. DD's teacher identified her at the beginning of the 4yo class as one of the kids likely to be reading by the end of the year, but she wasn't - nor was there any pressure for her to be.
IMHO a 4yo going from non-reading to 3rd-grade-level reading says more about the 4yo than about the preschool - and I'd be leery of a preschool that said otherwise. (I'm thinking specifically of the academic program we looked at at another school, where 4.5yos were in the "3yo" class, having been asked to repeat the year due to lack of material mastery, and the kids in the 4yo room were silently doing worksheets at their desks.)
(I'm thinking specifically of the academic program we looked at at another school, where 4.5yos were in the "3yo" class, having been asked to repeat the year due to lack of material mastery, and the kids in the 4yo room were silently doing worksheets at their desks.)
Gosh that sounds awful - both the repeating and the silently! My DS preschool is considered very academic but DS would be more frustrated in a play based unless it was a gifted play based because he actually enjoys doing all the crafts and sheets and has more difficulties negotiating the social stuff since he wants more advanced imaginary play.
That sounds awful! My DD is in an academic school but her's is more in line with DeHe's description.
Flower: There has been talk on this board about the Reggie system. You might want to search for it. From what I remember there are a few people on here that have had their children attend and were happy with the program.
We had our first lesson from the house. It did not go well. The poor guy had three strikes before coming into the door. 1. DD was mad at me because I wouldn't give in to her plea for popcorn. 2. The lesson is the first time DD has had anything from the house. 3. He is male and DD tends to get silly around male instructors. I stayed out of the way but heard all of it. She was definitely not cooperating, but there were a few moments of hope. She shocked him when she read the notes from the sheet music and when he asked her how she knew that her response was "because I'm 4." Four is her magical number. She associates it with big girl and the ability to do anything. The nice thing is I found a stash of her piano lessons at school (which was suppose to be given to me) and with the lessons were comments from her previous teacher. It included how fast she picked it up; how talented she is; and the amazing attention span. All great evidence to give to her new piano teacher. I gave him an out given the dreadful lesson but he wanted to continue. He said he sees her potential and also can tell that she is extremely intelligent. So I had a little talk with her and hopefully this next week she will settle down and not waste his time. If it continues the way it did the other day we will have to look for sessions in someone's studio. Crossing my fingers!
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/Hablame_today/64c6ff3f.jpg here's a picture of me drilling the multiplication tables into my kid. I'm using maria's math mammoth youtube method to drill math facts, where he reads the # line forward then backwards and then reads the equations forward then backwards. I guess L8r he'll memorize them. But first let's read through them all once. �Oh mr. smartypants erased the #3 from two of the equations, but then read them backwards and forwards as if the 3's were still there. He just got exposed to this, so it's kind of cool he noticed and memorized one piece, even if it was the easy part. I don't know why I'm bragging but he's reading his first little easy equations for the first time ever.
Katelyn'sM_om, how are the piano lessons going now? We are going to try them this month, along with drums and voice. Woo hoo! I think I might take lessons along with her
Katelyn'sM_om, how are the piano lessons going now? We are going to try them this month, along with drums and voice. Woo hoo! I think I might take lessons along with her
You should. I've learned a lot just from listening to the lessons. I've even taught myself the scales. <<Patting myself on back>> Especially since I have never had lessons before.
We started a new preschool in a new town for DS3.5, we are in a real city for a while. It's basically been going great, it is non-academic which is perfect. Kids are 3-5, most of the kids are older than him and somehow it's still okay he's not fully potty trained. There is lots to do and a bunch of the kids are very bright. I think overall it's going to be really good for DS, the play based structure of it is great, his main need is social and he's doing really well at this place in that regard. Someone snatched a toy from him today and he didn't lose it, just calmly followed the kid around reasonably politely asking for it back until a adult noticed and intervened. Yay for little successes.
So far the only thing that isn't working too well is circle time which is at the end. They split the large group into two smaller groups. DS has been started out with the younger half (as he is in that age group), who do short jump up and down type songs and listen to short books. The first day went great, but after that not so much. More and more he is off wandering away, even if I sit with him (parents are encouraged to go). I totally understand his impatience: the fingerplays are meaningless mumbo jumbo and the stories are baby stuff, and repetitive is repetitive rather than comforting. It's also at the end which means it's time to go home or somewhere else.
Today it was so dull we snuck out and joined the older group. Their activity was playing bingo with beginning letter sounds. The bingo idea was interesting to DS as he's played some bingo type games, but the letter sounds is old hat and there was a lot of time between calling each one out as the teacher has to explain to the other kids that no that's a h not a n, etc. It was going to take 15 minutes for anyone to get a bingo (and all these 4 year olds are amazingly sitting there patiently!). Because of the interval DS doesn't notice when the teacher calls a new letter. In the end DS isn't really ready for a sit down game in a group setting. He started well putting a couple tokens down on his card, but then put another kid's token on his card for him (on DSs favorite word rather than a called-out word), he very loudly read the fine print teacher's instructions off her cards while she was speaking, he lay down and swam on the ground after the fff sound word was fish, he took all his tokens and made kind of a cool picture with them, and finally politely said he was done and left. It would be fine if he was not a distraction to the others but his social maturity is 3 all the way and he might well be in the way even if I was there.
There's no real alternative for kids who can't hack the group time as there is no one supervising the other areas, everyone is supposed to go to group time.
Okay so to get to the point, the director (who seems great) noticed that group time isn't the easiest and asked me if I had any ideas for how to accomodate for him (especially if it were in the younger group). I said, "read some really long books". Which wasn't that helpful.
Any ideas? My current idea is just to pick him up a little early and skip group time altogether.
If circle time is the only thing that doesn't seem to work for him AND he appears to be in the middle of the two options than I would probably just pick him up early.
So thankfully I was able to switch my dd (4 in March) from her loving and perfectly fine (for the majority of kids) church pre-k to the Montessori where my older 2 are and where I also am teaching Spanish part-time. (The cost was prohibitive for the first part of the year, I was able to work out a solution finally). While she *seemed* content at the other school, it is clear that Montessori and a multi-age classroom (at least for now where she is youngest) will be a good fit for her. I think her teacher is not a die-hard Montessorian and will be flexible about allowing her to progress. It has also been good to have additional feedback that she is indeed not typical in her development. Hoping the rest of the year goes as well as her first week!
deasongirl - Hope it is still working out and remains so...I would imagine it is nice to have everyone in the same place.
Katelyn'sMom- Hows piano?
My little one is doing well. She knows the sounds etc. but seems to learn words by memorization rather than phonics. I was worried in the beginning as I wanted her to know phonics as I never did. So she knows phonics but still prefers to learn the whole word method. She is quite headstrong and things must be on her terms. If the idea originates with one of the adults or is required then she will not comply. She seems to be able to tell the difference when I am just saying something and when I really mean it. So for example if she thinks I want her to take a nap then there is a lot of fuss, but if she thinks I don't care either way then she will settle down and take a nap as though it was completely her decision. Ohh for such freedom.
Hi flower. All is going well, including piano. DD's class is now learning to read in Spanish, plus working on addition and subtraction. I really do love that the school is 2 years ahead but let's face it: even this is below DD's abilities BUT since she still doesn't like to show what she is capable of at least with the advancement of her school she is getting to do more than a typical 4 yr old would in a classroom setting. Of course, DD is at the top of her class for all the work. I'm just hoping that as they continue on with the curriculum that DD accepts it is okay to move forward and not wait for the rest of the class to participate.
The only thing she doesn't seem to like is Mandarin. She absolutely refuses to use the language and has even made claim that the teacher is no longer coming to her school. haha She loves French and is fluent in Spanish. My guess is with some time she will give in to Mandarin.
Hi...It is so hard how these girls it seems in particular hide. My oldest said the other day how she wished she was not so smart. Her desire is strong to be like the other kids. My youngest was painting a few months ago at a friend's house. She was painting x's and y's. The other child, who is also advanced, was making scribbles and making up what they were. She asked my kiddo what she was painting. My little one answered, "painting". If we had been at home she would have said what she was doing without any concerns. She was not even 2 yet at the time. I was amazed that she hid so young. I think it also depends on the school. If the school has an atmosphere that acknowledges positively advanced understanding I think the children hide less. At least that was the case for my oldest.
Do you speak Spanish at home or is it just at school? Is it immersion at school? I think in other posts you said it was. Language acquisition and code switching are pretty interesting and neat to watch.
The only thing she doesn't seem to like is Mandarin. She absolutely refuses to use the language and has even made claim that the teacher is no longer coming to her school. haha She loves French and is fluent in Spanish. My guess is with some time she will give in to Mandarin.
This made me chuckle! My DD8 went to a french babysitter from the age of 1-5. She spent 2-3 days per week with this lovely lady and a few other french speaking children. We only speak English, but it was a good fit for DD because the lady spoke fluent English as well and was happy to use both languages with her. The funny part was, in the entire time she spent there, DD REFUSED to learn to speak french. By the time she was 2.5 Karen stopped translating what she was saying and DD could understand perfectly. Each time she was encouraged to speak in french she would shake her head and say "Sorry Karen, you know I don't speak Spanish." Even now she understands what is being said in french but can only say a few words. I guess she just put her foot down and refused to learn.
No, unfortunately I am pathetic when it comes to foreign language and DD has no patients with me either. When I try to talk to her I usually get a quick NO, you don't speak Spanish. On the few occasions that she let me try I was corrected sooooo many times I just gave up. She is a very critical teacher! The school is a complete immersion.
I went to pick her up yesterday and the class was a little behind and hadn't really started their valentine party. The minute she saw me she had big tears in her eyes and grabbed her bowl of fruit crying that they hadn't had a chance to share. I told her it was no problem and I can wait. She then turned to her teacher and talked to her all in Spanish but I could make out that she basically said the same thing. LOL I guess she needed assurance from both of us that it was OKAY. It always amazes me how quick she can jump from one language to the other.
On a side note, we are having some personal tragedy in our lives. DD's dog whom she loves dearly has cancer. He has a huge tumor behind his right eye and at the very least will need surgery to remove the tumor and the eye. She is devastated. The thought of your dog with only one eye is a lot for a 4 year old to deal with. We had a CT scan done today and our worst fears are coming true. It is massive and just surgery will probably not fix the problem. Now we have the hard decision of possibly having to end his life. I just can't bring myself to tell her that. We go in tomorrow to meet with the surgeon and are praying they have an option that is doable. We already lost our cat last year and it was hard on her, but I suspect losing her dog will be 10 folds worse.
Katelyn'smom- How is your dog? HOw is everyone at home? Hope things are getting clearer and that your choices are ones that are easy to understand and explain. Good Luck.
Love the story of your little one talking in Spanish to the teacher! Code switching is pretty awesome and I've seen studies that equate smoothness and speed of transition to age of language acquisition.
Oh, Katelyn'sMom!!! I am so, so sorry to hear about your dog. Big hugs to you and your family.
Our dogs are important family members, too. We lost two to cancer when DD was 3 and it was more difficult for her than I ever would have thought. These smart little kids have the most amazing sense of their own emotions. It took her a very long time to come to terms with the 'hole' in her heart (her words). They have such a capacity not just for love, but for being able to articulate it.
Katelyn'sM om- I'm so sorry to hear about your dog! Ours had cancer in the exact same place and my parents chose to remove her eye. We eventually had to put her down awhile after that but my parents really appreciated the little time they had left with her after her surgery. We also had to give up our cat recently due to DH's severe allergies (only showed up a couple years after getting the cat but they put him in the hospital multiple times), it's been really, really hard on DD and she still asks about her often.
I guess I'll be joining everyone here in about a week or so. We finally visited DD's school (we decided on a Montessori school) and they really emphasized how much they would work at DD's pace. After visiting the school we think socially-emotionally she probably won't be ready for the 3-6 classroom until she actually reaches the age but they did say they would bring materials to her room at her level. We're mostly worried about stuff like puzzles/math things since she's just been whipping through all the puzzles we've given her (we just bought her a 30 piece one for the first time yesterday and she already did it with a smidgen of help on her first try!). We have a 60 piece one coming in the mail so hopefully we'll find something challenging for her then! I'm not sure financially how we can't keep buying these, though!
Our other concern is language related since the school will be in her second language and we really thought she'd be picking it up more quickly than she has been once we moved here. She seems REALLY stuck on English and even though she can speak quite well in her second language (and her grammar is actually better than English) mostly she still speaks in just English regardless of what language she is spoken to in (surprising since no one here besides DH and myself speak both languages). The in-laws keep joking that it's her mission to teach everyone English here! I'm sure she'll pick it up eventually but I'm expecting some rough patches in between because she can be pretty stubborn if she wants to be. Then again she will no longer have her two favorite free translators with her so it might put more pressure on her to speak more.
Otherwise we're excited about the school. It has an absolutely gorgeous campus and we love that they work on more than just academics (DD seriously won't be hurt by having to pick up after herself there). The school has a video that we were able to show to DD and she kept asking to go to school and when could she start.
We talked to the surgeon and the surgery she would need to do was so over the top we couldn't consider putting him through it. The tumor is literally all of the right side of his head. He would need to lose all of his jaw from that side, part of his sinus cavity and his eye. Plus he would probably need radiation after the surgery. We also had to consider our other dog who would have to be separated from him for 2 weeks and that is almost impossible. DD said it best yesterday. "They are so connected Mommy. They are like magnets." When we got the news and knew that it wasn't an option for us we decided to spend as much time as possible with him so we pulled DD out of school for a few days. Thank goodness the weather has been great. We took them to their favorite dog park and then took them out on the boat yesterday.
As for DD, I told her on Wednesday which was really hard on her but now it is almost matter of fact. She thinks she needs to tell every stranger she meets and she clearly comprehends all of it but is showing no emotions. DH thinks it will really hit her when he is gone but I think she is bottling it all up. We have had some major mood swings to contend with and I know it is related to her dog.
So glad to see the school choice might be a good one. As for speaking in the second language, give her time. DD was slow to speak it too but comprehended it by the first week. It took her teacher saying sorry I don't understand you for her to speak. Of course DD tried another option before giving in which was to have her classmates translate for her. LOL But by a month she was speaking with no problems. I suspect the teachers will give her a little time before they expect her to talk to them and through that she will become comfortable with it all.
newmom21c - The school sounds awesome! I wish I lived in a dual language area.
Katelyn'sMom - So sorry about your dog! With my kids I have helped them make a "goodbye celebration" mostly of their creation. So when my oldest was really young we used the cremated remains to fertilize the garden. She also helped to get the cat ready for the cremation. Both parts of the "celebration" helped to unbottle some of the emotions by having it connected to a specific project that had a beginning and an end. My kids have been present at the passings of the animals. One was a natural passing and we sung "Its a small world" as it happened. The other one we had the vet come to our house. Still brings tears to my eyes as I remember going through it all. Good luck!
So sorry about your dog! I love flower's idea of having a ceremony for your daughter to remember her dog by.
Katelyn'sMom/flower
Thankfully the other kids translating for her won't be a problem. We don't live in a bilingual area at all! Actually, it's very much monolingual but that language just doesn't include English so you'd think DD would be more interested in learning that language, right? The inlaws don't speak any English with her at all and understand nothing (although I think MIL is actually learning a few words thanks to DD!) yet DD still insists on speaking English with them.
It's funny DH and I were gone a few days this past week to set up everything with the move and DD stayed with the inlaws. We thought when we came back she would be speaking more in the local language but instead her English was so much clearer and she was speaking even more than before!
I am new to this forum, but have been following this thread with interest for a while now.
My son Aiden is now 4 years and 2 months. School years here run from Jan to Dec, so we are just getting into the school year. He attends one of two schools for "high potential" kids in the entire country and is in what we call Grade 00 (Pre K). Thank goodness they differentiate in the class and allow each child to (mostly) work at their own pace. He is loving it and is really happy to go to school every day - even asking to go on weekends.
He is the second youngest in his class (there is one girl younger who will repeat this grade next year as she has just turned 4 this past week) but is very confident and relaxed around all the kids there. The school goes up to grade 7 and he gets to meet and interact with kids across all grades at various times.
They do general music classes, language classes and computer classes once a week. They go to the school library once a week as well. They do a lot of stuff that DS4 already knows, but since it's theme based he will do it just to learn about the themes. This semester the theme is animals and each day he brings home facts to share with us. He also takes facts back to school nearly every week as he has always loved animals (esp endangered ones).
Last year he was ahead of every child in his class in every "subject" except for the drawing ability in pictures. From what I can see this year - it's pretty much the same so far. Right now he is allowed to bring "work books" from home to do in his spare time, and he switches them weekly between maths and writing/spelling and puzzles books (mazes, word searches etc)
Next year DS2 will start there as well in the 3 year class. He will also be one of the youngest in his class, but again I don't see a problem with this. He is learning things that DS4 teaches him and so is "ahead" of even where DS4 was at the same age.
Just wanted to say hi and let you all know a bit about us.
Hi! New here too. My son is 4 years 3 months, and currently in Montessori school. Not sure how it's going to pay out next year, he has a November birthday, so I sort of want to send him to K at a gifted school, but he has fine motor problems, so I sort of want to keep him where he is. Just wanted to say hi!
Amber, does your son go to an OT for his fine motor problems or are they slight? A lot of my friends with boys voice the same thing about their fine motor skills and a lot of those have had their boys in OT.
Welcome Amber! Fine motor skills are generally an issue for all boys - as gross motor skills are generally weaker in girls. There are a lot of really fun activities to strengthen the fine motor skills that work really well for busy boys like ours
I would imagine that a montessori school should be assisting with this though?
We just signed our Kindergarten enrollment paperwork for DD at her Spanish Immersion school. I'm still a little uneasy about it all. The school isn't very old and is dealing with some growing pains, plus they are working on IB certification which makes the growing pains more apparent. But after turning the paperwork in I stopped to talk to one of the moms whose child is in Kindergarten. She has been thrilled with the teacher and told me that one of the boys in the class is gifted in math so the teacher works with him at his level. I was overjoyed to hear it. He has his a separate math book and lessons.
As for DD's class of now: there is such a wide ability in there from kids who don't know their ABCs to those that can read and her teacher is having a hard time providing for the ones at the top of the class since she needs to focus her attention on the lower end. So the school is bringing in a part-time teacher to help her out. On the days that the other teacher is there DD's teacher will be able to work exclusively with the 5 or so kids that are reading which means DD will get the needed attention. She has also tried to spend some one on one time with DD when she can. She will hold her back from recess for 5 minutes or so to work on some reading. She asked me if we were okay with this but I have no problem with it since DD already misses some recess time on the day that she has piano lessons. BTW: they also get PE so I know DD is getting the needed exercise while at school.
On a side note, DD's piano lessons are going well. Her teacher is floored with her abilities and is shocked that DD already reads notes from the sheet music. Last two notes home to us was about how amazing she is and is now playing by herself.
I can see why you are uneasy with all the changes and the growing pains, but it does seem like they are very conscious of trying to meet your DD's needs. The disparity is pretty wide now but at least they are making the attempt. So going with the something is better than nothing approach?
I picked DS up earlier last week and when I peaked in, all the other kids were in groups of 3 or 4 with a teacher or without working happily. DS was at a different table reading, alone. My sense is he does this a lot - I am glad that the let him choose to do what he likes which is read - and I know that they do have him socializing/playing a lot of the day. But on some level it was fairly heartbreaking to see he was the only one choosing this, and the stuff for him to read on his own is an odd mix. I wish they were even attempting to meet him where he is, but they see their role for him as socialization.
We still don't know about kindy, praying for the gifted school option, which will likely not be enough but at least it will be in the vicinity of enough - or we will rethink then. If he doesn't get in, then we have problems!
I have stopped looking for that perfect school. I really don't think it exists. We, too, have a gifted school in the area but I really see it as my last resort. We feel strongly about DD and foreign language and the gifted school would not provide that. At least with the school she is at right now, they are academically a head of public school. Kindergarten is when public school starts on letter recognition. At least her school started letters at age 3. Still shocks me that kids in the 4 yr old class are still having problems recognizing the letters, but my perception of what they should be able to do isn't very accurate for a 'normal' child of intelligence. I do know that there are some highly intelligent kids in the school and the school is willing to work with the parents to help their child succeed. All positive.
Crossing my fingers for your son and getting into the gifted school. When options are limited it really makes it that much harder.
Katelyn'smom I know exactly what you mean about not getting what the other kids are doing. I often wonder what the other kids and parents talk about while we talk about everything from superheros and their powers to the role of the amygdala and other brain parts!!! Here at least there is expectation of reading by the end of kindy. There is some sort of letter based scale, like being "G" or some such by the end of the year. But I think he is already past their whole scale. At this point I just want him to find more like minded individuals, we went to a science thing this weekend and there were 9 boys there (annoyingly no girls) and I think he was pleased to see there were kids who were interested in this stuff and 1 even knew more than he did - but he also noticed the were older and more capable. Where pre-k is good and kindy better is making him do the stuff he is only ok at, even sshhh, average!! LOL
So today was the first day where DD got to see the school. She was thrilled (although a bit anxious at first). We actually almost had a huge tantrum upon leaving (we were just going to fill out some forms).
I will say that our hope that she would be able to stay in the 0-3 room instead of the 3-6 room may have been pretty naive. She went to the room today and was already doing most of everything in there within seconds. They also had some puzzles there and she went through most of them taken apart some little pieces and putting them back together. The director said, though, that once she gets more used to the place that she could be moved up to the 3-6 room.
We have a meeting with her teacher tomorrow first thing in the morning and then she can start after that.
I'm still concerned about the language barrier but we'll just have to wait and see how that goes.
ETA: One really cool thing there. We were walking DD around on the tour and some of the older kids were going by and they said hi to here, would gently rub her head, stuff liked that. DD was, of course, dazzled by having older kids talking to her! I just loved seeing the kids of all age interacting with each other.
newmom - sounds like she will enjoy it and be happy there! awesome that the older kids were happily interacting with her too - it does make such a difference to them hey - I see it with Aiden at his school too.
newmom - sounds like she will enjoy it and be happy there! awesome that the older kids were happily interacting with her too - it does make such a difference to them hey - I see it with Aiden at his school too.
Thanks and I think the more we visit the more we're convinced it's a good fit. I think a big part of it is that here there are a million private schools and there's a lot of competition to get good students so they really do have to adapt to your child and provide a quality education.
We met with DD's teachers today and it went really well. DH sort of led the discussion since DD was freaking out a bit while we were there (she was really scared the teachers were going to take her away at first but she eventually started playing with them towards the end and she was also scared T-Rex was hiding underneath some things there so I had help her most of the time). They asked about some of her early milestones and were very surprised but also didn't show any disbelief either (the also even remarked how curious she was during the interview because she spent the whole time exploring every inch of the room and asking about everything). They seems very open and flexible so I take it as a good sign too. She officially starts on Monday but there will be an adapting period where she only goes for a short while (while I'm there) to help her adjust, I think it lasts about a week? Here's hoping everything goes well!
Oh, and I love seeing the multi-age interaction. That's one of my favorite thing about Montessori schools.
LOL. I love the T-Rex comment. I can envision her having you look under everything for the T-Rex! Our kids and their imaginations, sometimes even today, DD still blows my mind.
It really does sound like a positive experience and I hope the school works out for your DD. I'm sure it will be an adjustment for all of you since (if my memory is correct) you recently moved to the country.
LOL. I love the T-Rex comment. I can envision her having you look under everything for the T-Rex! Our kids and their imaginations, sometimes even today, DD still blows my mind.
It really does sound like a positive experience and I hope the school works out for your DD. I'm sure it will be an adjustment for all of you since (if my memory is correct) you recently moved to the country.
Thanks and yep we just moved (about 2 months ago). The language issue is still definitely there and it's been a pretty slow going process getting her to actually speak with people in the local language (most of the time she does speaks with everyone in English still). So far she seems to really be enjoying it here but we'll see how that goes after she has to stay at school by herself...
Oh, and T-rex is an on-going issue for her. We also have to check to make sure he's not going to pop out anywhere but she's still strangely fascinated by him too.
LOL. I love the T-Rex comment. I can envision her having you look under everything for the T-Rex! Our kids and their imaginations, sometimes even today, DD still blows my mind.
It really does sound like a positive experience and I hope the school works out for your DD. I'm sure it will be an adjustment for all of you since (if my memory is correct) you recently moved to the country.
Thanks and yep we just moved (about 2 months ago). The language issue is still definitely there and it's been a pretty slow going process getting her to actually speak with people in the local language (most of the time she does speaks with everyone in English still). So far she seems to really be enjoying it here but we'll see how that goes after she has to stay at school by herself...
Oh, and T-rex is an on-going issue for her. We also have to check to make sure he's not going to pop out anywhere but she's still strangely fascinated by him too.
This seems like a good place to introduce my two-year-old.
Hi! My DD will be three in July. Although, she is not in any kind of formal preschool, she is verbally advanced, and as of late this has extended into early literacy. So, I am finding myself feeling more and more like a...homeschooler? In reality I am just a SAHM chasing after a bright and curious toddler all. day. long.
We do have her registered for preschool for two afternoons a week next year. It is 100% academics free. And, my mom is the teacher. It could not be a more gentle transition into school!
As for right now, we (together) participate in weekly organized classes at kindermusik and our local children's museum. We will be starting a great class at the botanical gardens as well in two weeks. We also spend our days visiting the zoo, a local farm, the butterfly house, a conservation center, the YMCA, many playgrounds, malls, bookstores, and we eat out a ton. We are always looking for something else to do!
At home, we just maintain a calm soothing environment for her. We are 99% TV free. I have not exposed her to worksheets or workbooks yet. We don't follow any curriculum. Starfall is probably the closest thing to that. We read a lot, and like I said, recently she has picked up on reading herself, so we will focus on that every once in awhile. Also, we delve into her interests. She loves geography, geology (rocks and crystals), presidents, and botany (leaves). This is what makes me feel like an homeschooler!
Hi ellemenope. Sounds like your DD keeps you pretty busy. How lucky for you that your mom teaches at the preschool and will be her teacher. That makes the decision so much easier when she is going to a place where you know and trust the teacher.
hi ellemenope. Your days sound like mine! lol it's often hectic finding interesting things to do that keeps them busy and that will not let you get bored too.
The preschool sounds like it will be a lovely introduction to school, and with your mom being the teacher at least she will be comfortable and hopefully kept as happy as she is at home with you.
As DS is a sensitive and careful type that is much appreciated.
Of course we do not have the group experience, the $1 million dollar facility, and several teachers. So that will be different. 
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