Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Preschool or Kindergarten??

Today when I picked up Joshua from Preschool his Teacher said she was going to call me later today so we could talk. Immediately, I began fretting her phone call...what Mother wouldn't? So, she called......
Her first question was, "Has Joshua had his hearing checked before?" Because, there is a few areas she has noticed Joshua needing a little extra help in. In which I replied; Yes, we have had his hearing checked and all is good with the ears. Now, I'm thinking... Preschool's not a good fit for him yet?? Then she tells me...Preschool is absolutely just the place for him and that she's there to work with him where he is at. I told her that we as well as his Doctor thinks he is developing on the slower end of the spectrum. Which she agreed to be totally normal especially for boys. She doesn't feel there is any concern otherwise....just that we need to work with at home and to make sure we have fun with it. Which is really just it a lot of the time when we work with him at home he just has NO interest or gets frustrated. Which is probably why he has no interest. In the end her main reason for calling was she wasn't sure what are thoughts or plans were for Kindergarten....she didn't say he wasn't ready but she did say they will expect a lot more of him in Kindergarten. Then she goes on to tell me how sweet Joshua, that he is social with the other kids is and she really enjoys having him in here class! I'm so thankful Joshua has such a wonderful Preschool teacher. We sure had a great talk and she was able to answer confirm some questions we had of our own!! Any one else have a similar experience??

5 comments:

Kate said...

Hi Tana!

Thanks for your post to my blog last week. Sorry I wasn't able to get back to you sooner. I would love to get together soon to talk about going green. Thanks for the book rec. I reserved it at the library and am waiting anxiously for it to come in!

Sounds like Scott and John had a great lunch the other day. Apparently they want you and I to get together so I can tell you all about Dubli. Scott and I were looking at the calendar and the soonest we could meet is 11/2 (Sunday). Let us know if you can come over for an early dinner!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tana!
Jake and Joshua are so much alike. I guess both being summer babies doesn't help. Jake won't work at all with me at home and that is hard since the teacher in me wants to sit down and get him to do stuff. I realized that Jake will learn it if he does everything through play. I got hims some alphabet games and some dry erase stuff for him to use and low and behold he is learning his abc's finally! I found that if I got stuff that he loves like spiderman abc books and stuff that is really what he loves. Jake started in a summer preschool class and has the same teacher this fall and she is amazed with how much he has matured. Boys are a lot slower than girls!! Especially summer babies. I always new which of the kids in my class were summer babies by their maturity. Don't worry yet about kindergarten it is a year away. If in the spring he is still struggling then you may have to consider what to do. Hope that helps!!

Rachel Ollivant said...

I know a few boys with summer birthdays who's parents waited until they were 6 for Kindergarten and it made all the difference for them. And in the long run it could help him to be on the older end of the class than on the younger
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Sarah said...

Hey Tana, obviously you know our story, but I'll add it just since you asked ;-)

As my generic disclaimer, every child is different and develops at different rates. Everyone must make the decision for themselves.

With both my boys being summer birthdays we first tried to put Jonathan in preschool at 3 and 4 and he was no where near ready either times. So at 5 we had him registered for kindergarten. A week before school after we had met with his new teachers at the public school and they assured me he was academically ready but seemed to have trouble staying focused and still. I chickened out and put him in preschool at 5. I've never looked back! Even then it still took time getting into the rhythm of the school day and proceeded to be Jonathan (you know what I mean). I would make the same decision a thousand times over. We did the same with Ian the younger brother and the results have been terrific. Both boys are very confident in their classes and are progressing either right on track or are ahead of the game.

I sure miss you guys I bet Joshua has changed so much since we moved not to mention Austin. Hopefully we'll be able to visit next summer. That would be so fun to catch up.

LOVE YOU!
Sarah

Anonymous said...

Hey Tana! Just thought I'd comment on this one 'cause Isaiah has a summer birthday so I can relate a bit :) We waited and put him into kindergarten at 6 so he could be older for his grade and it's one of the best parenting decisions we've ever made! He's absolutely thriving in Kindergarten now, and being a bit older emotionally/socially REALLY helps him!

Hope all is well with you and your lovies. You're a wonderful Mama!

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