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Sorry i don't know where I got the 3.5 thing. Anyway 2.5 is even less reasonable to expect to sit in a circle.

4 is soooo young for K. is it full time?

I don't know you but it sounds like you are raising your child in a way that will be better off for him in the long run but it will be hard in the early years. Been there, still doing that.

Can you find a good babysitter to give you a break?

I couldn't use family because they were far away and when they visited they couldn't handle my DD's level of activity and usually clashed with her desire to do things very creatively...like use her toy hammer to pat in her jigsaw puzzles would result in being told "no, no, this isnt' tool time, this is puzzle time" resulting in a lot of frustration all around, usually more trouble than it was worth for a couple of hours of "freedom". But I found a super lovely college student, and art major, and she was so wonderful, it was a match made in heaven.

I thought you might live in Ontario.

I'm going to send you a PM.

4 is what it was when I was a kid, and it wasn't until this thread that it occureed to me in other places it might not be until 5... Anyway, but if not, then some stuff makes more sence now

We have two years of Kindergarten, incidentally.

It's half-days now, in most schools, but they are going to full days. There is some possiblity that they may cut budgets and *not* go to full day universally, but the transition is well underway, and I'm calling about 80% odds that it will be universal by the time DS is entering Kindergarden 5. They promise that opt-out will be available, but I'm afraid that we might get labelled as "home schoolish" or something similar for opting out (we intend to opt out)

Meh. It's a ways away.

DS would look at the person like they were a strange green bug if they objected to using a hammer on a jigsaw puzzle. "I'm _being_ gentle," he would say

-Mich

I don't even think it's "that" outside the box to use a hammer for a jigsaw puzzle, it's really pretty sensible.

When my DD went to preK, the 4 yr old program, it was supposed to be a choice of full or part time. I did part time, but as we found out after she was enrolled and attending, she was the only kid in the class who did that and the teacher kept pressuring me to let her stay all day because she said my DD leaving at lunch time was not good for her socially. So after the winter break I did enroll her full time, against my better judgement but with hope, and it was pretty much a disaster. She was too tired, they did handwriting after lunch (?!) and she just kept breaking down. She was a complete wreck when she came home. This did not do well for her socially. I wanted to put her back to mornings but the teacher was dead-set against it. Her idea was to keep plowing ahead and if DD was sent to the blue stool enough times, she'd get it into her head that she would behave and stick with the others.

I didn't agree, took her out of the school, and put her in a program that was a few mornings per week again.

Anyway we just keep trying and moving forward. The toddler/preschool days are really fun and precious when you look back on them, but they are hard when you're in the middle of it all and feel a bit isolated. Like this elderly lady said to me once (a complete stranger) "The days are long, but the years are short."

Let me see...

If your kid is sitting all the way through the story, then he is mature. If not, then he is immature.

Going into more detail: If your kid, who has sat through the story, can tell you one thing about the it, then he is mature. But if he wants to talk about all aspects of it, and understand every nuance, then he is immature.

LOL

I can tell you now that this perception of your child will not go away. A high energy, high mental-function kid will be very challenging to most adults in child education. They will interpret his intensity for immaturity. You will have developed a happy medium for dealing with it, but to them, in its raw form, its very disruptive.

I SO know what you mean about the stories and circle time in general. The only way DS2y4m and I get through it is for me to let him chew gum while he has to sit there. I’ve mastered a discrete mommy-hug/pop-this-into-your-mouth and so far the other kids and the teacher haven’t seemed to notice. It keeps him distracted enough to sit relatively still and quiet. I had to make it work somehow because I wanted the time out of the house (the rest of the program is okay).

DS’s “participation” has made the teacher warm up to him more (and to me too, come to think of it, I must be earning mommy points somewhere, ha ha, going to need those for kindergarten) and I think the positive feedback has been good for my little terror, ahem, treasure.

But if circle time is not officially required at the drop-in, I say - let freedom ring!

I just had this question answered by an early childhood expert, we stopped by Mc Donald's. The play area has a little section called toddler area. The sign says toddlers 3 years & under can play. (:

I'm thinking that, if you are enjoying it and your DS is enjoying it, continue doing it your way. The other moms are out of line and if their kids are "getting distracted" by his creativity and talking, then that's really their issue, not yours.

If you're not really enjoying the activities but still want him to learn to do things that teach him to follow directions or sit still for progressively longer periods of time, then there are a lot of things you can do. You can talk walks and allow him to stop and draw or photograph specific things, and then perhaps do artwork with things he finds. You can have a friend or two over and have your own storytime, ideally switching off with other mom friends leading the group. Bake. Have picnics. Go to outdoor concerts where sitting is encouraged but wandering is allowed. Build stuff in the backyard. Garden. You get my drift . . . .

Of course, if homeschooling were something you were considering, perhaps creativity and talking is more important than learning to sit still and follow rigid art rules as either a toddler or preschooler.

To me though, you're doing exactly what your DS needs and it's the moms at your activities who are being unreasonable.

I'm a little in my cups, so... erm...

Oh, this is way too long, I'm going to try and edit. This may make things incomprehensible. Just a warning.

I _am_ thinking of homeschooling. DS got a report card (I didn'te know the was part of the random little-kids programme he was in or I probably would not have signed him up. I HATE the idea of a 2 yr old getting a bloody report card. This was a sports programme, not the EYC stuff) He LOVED it. He wanted to go back and work harder. There were a bunch of things he could do that he was marked as not being able to do. HE wasnted to go back that INSTANT and show the instructor he could do it. He wanted to be signed up for the next term right away. He wanted to know the graduation requirements for the level above his (there were levels to this programme... who knew? This really was all a bit shocking for poor ol mamma me) All that from a kid whose pic is next to "Not a performing monkey" in the dictionary.

He was, to make a long story... not that short... THRILLED.

He also read the word "concourse" today. WTF? "concourse?" It was a sight-word, it shows up in every subway station. But still, WTF?

And also he's definitely bored. HE has NO self-discipline, but I think he's aware of that and actually wants to learn. again, WTF? I got to that stage when I was.. 26.


And I had a bit of a eye opener with another little kid his age [snip] Yeah, DS was way ahead in an off-interest area, and I'm pretty sure that the other little kid is more than just "sharp."


DS is getting so freakin' hard to handle, and I think he's just BORED. I hate the idea of "School" for a kid who's only 3, but I think, maybe, I have to find a way to do it. And I'm not sure pure "unschooling" will work for us, because that's basically what I've been doing anyway, and it seems to be not "enough."

The other day, he identified the lungs on a schematic of a human circulatory system by finding where the blue blood turned red. Is that wierd for a nearly-three year old?

He doesn't really seem that smart right now, he's had times where we hear about it incessantly. I was feeling a little better becasue that hasnt' been a problem lately. But maybe I'm being a bit denial-ish. But maybe I'm just enamoured of my child, like most moms, and seeing brilliance where there is really a completely average wonderfullness.

but BUt but... what happens when you hagve to cross the threshhold and start treating your kid _differently_ Not just explaining alittle more, but really making choices about how to act based on a guess that they are atypical?

How can you make the leap to decide you really are convinced you're seeing something?

-Mich, somewhat drunk.

Well...all you can do is, raise him like he's your own. LoL

I would let him go as long as he likes it if it were me. Don't worry about him liking report cards. What do they say here, "don't let 'the perfect' be the enemy of the good. I think my kid could do find waiting until first grade to go to school, which, school here isn't mandatory until first grade. But I thi k he will really like going. It's something to do.