Lucy and Alden are both born in October. We waited with Alden and put him in so he was one of the oldest in his class. And now I am seeing how good of a decision that was. He just flat out would have struggled in grade one a year ago! But now he is having success.
Alden said very little until he was about 3. Lucy on the other hand started talking in 2 to 3 word sentences at like 15 months.
She could count to ten by herself when she was 18 months old. (i have no idea where she picked it up as I really didn't teach it to her). She hasn't stopped talking or learning since then. Even when you think she isn't paying attention, she IS! She is eating up everything around her.
I have been wondering about putting her in kindergarten or not for a while. When we move to Raymond in a couple years, the cut off for kindergarten is September, where as in Lethbridge it is Dec. So if we already lived there she wouldn't even make the cut off. So i've been talking about it with my mom, Regan, my SIL's, and Lucy's preschool teacher (Melina).
Well this past week Melina tested Lucy to see if she was ready to go to kindergarten. She got every thing right on that test. She knew all her letters upper and lower case, can write her name and recognize it (she can write Eli, Mom and dad too) she knows her numbers up til 15, her colors, and her shapes. Melina said "she blew the test out of the water."
Last week Lucy came upstairs and said to me "mom, can you teach me to read?"
So we've started having school time at home. Every day she asks as soon as she gets up if we can work on reading. In some ways I am not really sure what to do, since when I had tried to do all this with Alden when he was this age and he HATED it. (Goes to show you how different these two kids are!)
So now each day we are having a letter of the day and making crafts with them.
A is for Alligator
B is for Bee (and bad lighting in this pic but here it is!)
Practicing her writing of B's
practicing her cutting by cutting out her B
I found a whole bunch of great blogs and sites online that give ideas (i did NOT think of these myself!!) Isn't the net great ;)
I'll keep working with Lucy and see where she wants to go with this all, no pressure, just fun and who knows maybe we'll have two reading kids this year!
15 comments:
I love it when kids are eager to learn...anything! You're a great mom to recognizet hat she really wants to do this and to put effort into it for her! Good luck!
I'd love to know some of the sites for ideas! I'm trying to intoduce abc's to TJ, but feeling pretty clueless! He counts to ten and loves to "read", so I thought, abc's here we come!
It's such a hard decision, to hold them back or not. I totally hear ya.
Go Lucy you smarty pants (meant as a compliment).
After Having Ben be completely ready for school but his birthday being 2 days after the cut off and the schools not letting him in I saw such a complete depression in him. We did at home learning for a year with him to pick it up but I learned then it is completely up to the kid when they are ready. Ben was and wanted to with all his heart, Josh is completely different and it was good for him to be after the cut off date. I say ask her. Love the crafts! I had to do stuff like that with Sam during Kindergarten as he socially could not handle school. I totally love the net for everything we learned together. If there are any other sites you would love to know for learning games and stuff for kids let me know.. I have a ton of them. http://www.starfall.com/ is a great one for learning to read! enjoy. Good Luck!
Wow, she is like the child I always dreamed I would have...then I woke up to 3 boys who hate to sit down to learn anything!
Oh my goooooooooodness. I just squeeeel with love for Lucy. She is so much fun and I loved all the little conversations I had with ehr when I crashed at your place that summer. She sure is a chatty one, and smarT! I just love her.
You can't hold her back....let her go....who cares what Raymond does.
Way to go Lucy!
Well done Lucy! Karington is almost 17 months and doesn't talk! Funny how different kids are even in the same families. Good luck with the decision.
Smarty pants! I always thought that sending kids to school as soon as possible was best, but now that I have kids I am not sure I ever want to send them to school. So far both of our kiddies will be 5 1/2 when they go to school so I won't have to worry about this. So hard to know what to do. At least you know no matter where she is she is going to keep learning. Looks like Mama is a great teacher!
Music is a great part of Kindergarten. P sings new songs all the time to learn concepts. Have music time too at home. She can read the words too.
wow, smart girl!! Sounds like she'd thrive on kindergarten! Every child is so different. I think second borns just pick up SO much stuff and want to keep up to their older sibling. My youngest taught himself to read at four, astonishing all of us who had never bothered to really try teaching him at that tender age. Just go with the flow....... social aspects are probably the biggest factor. If Lucy is comfortable and self-confident, go for it!
So... are you registering Lucy in Kindergarten then?
I can't get over how grown up she's starting to look. She is such a smart little girl! I love how eager she is to learn and you are such a good mama!
I know what a hard decision this can be for a family! Just one other thing to think about - when she's in high school, will she be the youngest in her class? Remember the whole thing about girls maturing and handling emotional stuff in junior and senior high school too. My brother sent his daughter to school early and then in high school didn't think she should be doing what her classmates were!
You really are involved with your children, R and that's such a huge asset to their development. Is there much competition between A and L? They each need to excell without being compared which sometimes happens with siblings. Good luck with making the decision - remember in the end, it's about Lucy, not what others think!
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