By Tracee Sioux
I don't know who is more excited for the first day of Kindergarten, me or Ainsley. I've taken the education/parenting thing seriously and am sending a child who can read, write, do basic math, understands the color wheel, is quite good at logic and negotiation and loves homework.
She's a genius. Do all mother's feel that way about their children? I certainly hope so.
She's most excited about riding the bus. She even begged to be allowed to do it on the first day. She's been eyeing that bus since she was about 18-months-old, as the golden prize of being a big-kid. She can hold her own. I'm confident of that.
She has an October birthday and I had tried to get her admitted last year. No budging on that Sept. 1 deadline. I'm so glad now. She's the tallest, brightest, most mature, smartest, most confident one in the class. That kind of head start could take her through college. Well, elementary school at least.
Jeez, I'm so proud of the good early-parenting, Kindergarten-readiness work I've done I expect the teacher to send a gold star home to me.
6 comments:
I'm proud of your work too! You are the minority in that area. She is a very bright girl, and I know she is gonna do great! Jonas has a Nov. birthday, and I can tell a huge difference in readiness between him and Jack. Jack is the youngest in his class,and struggled in the begining.
I was going through some files the other day and found photos of Ainsley when she was a baby. I can't believe how grown up she is already!
She's going to love school; I'm excited for her.
My little lady just started kindergarten this year and we just finished week three. She has a May birthday, so we considered holding her out a year. She's as smart as she is beautiful, so we knew she'd be all right academically. She doesn't read yet, but she's on her way. I don't think it's necessary to send a kindergartner to school with reading/writing/math skills. I think that parents should work on those concepts, but I don't think academics is the most important part of kindergarten. I guess, what I'm getting at, is that many five-year-olds won't know how to read, or write, or do math before entering and it's okay. You shouldn't freak out if your kid's not doing these things. It doesn't make him/her less of a child or less likely to succeed. It certainly does not HURT if they do know these things. My five-year-old is absolutely thriving in these three weeks. She loves the bus too. On Thursdays and Fridays my husband picks her up from school, but during the first week, she demanded that he pick her up at the high school so she could ride the bus. (I teach at the high school, so the bus drops her off there Mon-Wed.) Anyway, congratulations to you and your little one. Kindergarten is a magical time.
J Morgetron,
You're right, reading, writing and math is not required for a good Kindergarten experience.
What I'm most proud of is that I've fostered a love of learning. A quest for knowledge. I've planted the seeds of homework as play and learning as fun. I've passed down my joy in the written word and our value that academic success is crucial.
More important than already knowing how to read is the attitude that reading is exciting and opens doors. More important than knowing 2+2 is the confidence that she will be able to figure out 2+2 or 2X2.
I think that will be key to all future academic success.
Yes. I couldn't agree with you more on that.
I just think there are a lot of mothers out there freaking out because their kids don't know all of this stuff -- some times even by the end of kindergarten they don't know it -- and that's okay. (Not because of this post, just because of the pressure society puts on all of us.) Some kids are advanced, some catch up, some never get there. It's all in the hand God dealt you -- yah know? (That hand includes the internal and the external in my opinion.)
I think it's awesome that you haven't placed a ceiling on your child's progress and learning. Many parents treat their kids like little imbeciles and so -- that's what they get! (Think of baby talk. If you talk to your kids that way -- that's how they talk. Talk to them as though they are human being and their vocabularies explode by the age of one -- or even earlier some times!) Many times the higher the bar is set, the higher the child will go. If there is no bar -- there's no telling how high a child can soar.
Do you ever read 24 Crayons in the dryer? She is facing a dilemma for which I think you would have some good input.
http://crayonsinthedryer.blogspot.com/
I would also love to hear what you have to say about a recent post I made:
http://morgetron.blogspot.com/2007/09/do-not-ignore-this-post-heroin.html
I love your blog. I love the idea of creating dialogue specifically about mothering strong daughters. I have two and am quite passionate about this stuff, so I will be back! Like it or not!
Good work!
-J
I think I like that you're coming back. I love when mother's take their daughter's seriously.
I agree with the baby talk issue. I don't even talk to my baby that way. It's not teaching them very well. Or the use of the wrong verbs and pronouns on purpose? "Her fall down?" "Her gonna sound stupid when her get big."
I'm pretty emphatic that my attitude about school and academics is super-important. By nature she's bright. But, by nurture she's going to have academic success.
She loves learning, most kids do I think, so I taught her as much as I could. If she's just as happy learning math or words why would I just let her watch tv all day and play with pointless toys? Might as well give her academic games and challenges.
I'll definately check out those sites.
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