Here's the thing: I'm feeling like I'm behind in my parenting. It's very much like Senior year of high school, in my experience. If anyone was like me, that was the time of my life where it seemed all of my friends knew exactly when to have senior pictures done by, send in college applications, fill out financial aid forms, submit essays to get scholarships, and I was always five steps behind. It's not that I didn't care about doing any of those things, I just could never seem to know about things before deadlines and opportunities passed me by.
Fast forward six years or so, (really, it's been almost six years since graduation? That seems crazy!) and I'm in the same boat, but this time, my children are suffering.
There needs to be a class or something, maybe around the time your oldest child is two, that tells you when you need to start looking at pre-schools and regular schools and all that stuff. When to start teaching reading, writing, or even the basics like colours, shapes, numbers and the alphabet.
My children are by no means stupid, I'm not trying to imply that at all. And they do pretty well on the basics despite the fact I probably didn't start as early as I should have teaching them those things. But it only recently occurred to me (Oliver's fourth birthday) that I've done nothing to really plan ahead for their education, only figuring that the summer before they turn five, we'd look into the local schools.
It seems most of the other kids around their age are already in preschool or will be starting next fall, some of them younger than Oliver. I'm feeling like a slacker. For a kid like Oakley, who loves sitting down and colouring and doing puzzles and reading books, I'm not quite as worried about it, but Oliver doesn't sit still very long to do things like that. He likes to build things and put things together. He's very mechanical about everything he does. I'm worried that he won't do very well in a school-type setting, but I also don't think homeschooling would be a good idea for him either.
I would appreciate any suggestions/tips from experienced moms (and dads.) I've tried, not very hard, but a few times, to sit down with Oliver with some pre-school books but he gets so bored and gets distracted....
Also, any tips about when to look at schools and what to look for.
So here's my experience... It sounds like Oliver is a lot like Nicholas. I tried to practice homeschooling the year before he started school and it was a total flop. His attention span was all of five minutes for a workbook and it frustrated me so bad. I still to this day do not understand how Leah can get Constance to sit for two hours doing a workbook.
ReplyDeleteSO... on the bright side, there is something about being in school that is different than just having your mom give you a workbook. For one thing, there is another adult giving you orders, and I don't know what Oliver is like, but Nicholas tends to listen to other adults better than he listens to me. Also, there are at least 20 other kids sitting down working, so that is another motivator. Don't worry about him not being in preschool... Nicholas wasn't either and he adjusted just fine. I don't know what the schools are like around where you live, but I know here they just expect them to know how to spell their names and recognize at least a few letters of the alphabet. Trust me, when I see what Nicholas has learned these few months of school I am AMAZED. You will not believe what Oliver will learn once he's been in school. Nicholas went from barely recognizing the entire alphabet to being able to read basic books in just three months.
I was one of those moms that didn't ever deliberately teach my kids things. I just kind of let them absorb whatever they absorbed. And so far, it's working. Other moms will always make you feel inadequate. Just do what's right for your family, be yourself and don't worry too much.
On the school front, again, I don't know what it's like in Idaho, but here, you register them the February/March of the year they will start school. For example, I have to register Jacob this week for him to start school in September. If I were you, I would go to your school board website and find out what school he would go to and when you should register him. All that information should be on the website. I'm sure they have one. The U.S. can't be THAT different than here, can it? :)
Anyway, that is my two cents. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Thanks so much, Laura.
ReplyDeleteThis is very encouraging to hear! Oliver can say the alphabet, but I'm not sure he recognizes the individual letters... let alone spell his name.
He won't be able to start school until the fall before his sixth birthday, which I think is lame. You have to be five or turn five before I think September or October to start school here. I'm not a fan of this rule for a couple of reasons, but I know it's in place to accomodate the best number of children. The main reason I dislike this policy is because Oliver will already be so much taller than most of his classmates, I worry that the other kids will tease him or think he's dumber since he'll be almost six. That's probably stupid on my part, but it's something I worry about.
I will check out the area schools next week just in case though. It sounds like the U.S. and Canadian school systems are fairly similar.
I am really looking forward to sending Oliver to school. Not because I want a "break" at home, but because I think he'll really love it once he gets the hang of it.
Here the cutoff date is Dec. 31, so since Jacob's birthday falls on Dec. 22, he'll start this year when he's still four. :( He'll be fine though. It's just he seems so much more babyish than Nicholas. There are still a few months for him to grow up though. I think all of us mothers worry that our kids will get made fun of. You're not the only one! :)
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