Saturday, December 17, 2005

J started yesterday morning with a private dance lesson. P says she just needs to work on her timing, which is happening with most of the other kids too. We finally got an email stating that J's new tap group will be meeting over the Christmas break. She auditiond over 2 months ago and made it in. She is the youngest (of about 17 kids) in the group by 2 or 3 years. They are going to knock this number out in 1 day (4 hours) and I think I heard that it's going to competition.

W brought over some math workbook to do with me and had me read an ABC book to him. He pointed out more silent 'e's and some letter blends, like 'ph', 'ow', and 'qu'. Then he did some math games on rainforestmaths. Then he was off to school. Seems so pointless to initiate all of these activities at home and then go off to school. He's not learning anything there, but enjoys the crafts, songs, stories, lunches, and friends. if I can just see preschool for that, then I feel ok about him going. I'm noticing he is very close to where J was at his age. Very similar determination, drive, enthusiasm, precociousness, and abilities. Not that I should compare, but it might just prepare me for what's to come:

J
walked alone at 10 months
had about 7 words at 11 months
held pencil correctly at 12 months
held fork/spoon correctly at 12 months
knew alphabet at 15 months
completely day/night potty trained at 2 yrs 3 mos
took gymnastics class at 2 yrs
wrote name at 2 yrs
propelled self on 'big swings' (pumped legs) at 2 yrs
read words at 3
started dance classes at 3 yrs
tied shoes (and anything else) at 3 yrs 11 mos
read books at 4
wrote well at 4 yrs
taught herself cursive at 5

W
walked alone at 9 months
held pencil correctly at 12 months
held fork/spoon correctly at 12 months
spoke first words at 2 yrs
knew alphabet and colors at 2 yrs
completely day/night potty trained at 2 yrs 4 mos
snapped fingers at 3 yrs
tied shoes at 3 yrs 4 mos
wrote name at 3 yrs
blew bubbles with gum at 3 yrs
zipped coat at 3 yrs
buttoned shirt at 3 yrs
read Bob books at 3 yrs
hit a baseball over the fence at 3 yrs
Sunday school at 3 yrs
reads longer words at 4 yrs
started dance class at 4 yrs

So, while J continued an even progression, W had a huge burst of activity at 3 yrs old. At 4 they seem to have had the same abilities. And K was mostly right there too with most things (walked at 9 months, potty trained before 2.5, and I know she was reading and writing before PreK). W's teachers constantly tell him (and me) how smart he is. I certainly don't want him down the school's road to handling smart kids. They have no idea what their doing. Th gifted program, though well intentioned, was still forced, uninteresting work that took most of the fun out of learning.

Oh, one of the moms at dance asked me how J had a dance lesson in the morning, "doesn't she have school?".
"No, she's homeschooled".
"WHY?"
And I went right into WHY, lol! I did keep it very "gentle" and after a few minutes she agreed it seemed better and that her son has been asking to homeschool. She just assumed it was too expensive (she pays $6000/yr for his Catholic high school). I set the record straight and recommended TLHB for her to read. That book just gets better and better. I cannot put it down. I'm telling you if anyone needs more confidence to homeschool GET THIS BOOK! You don't even need to have teenagers to read it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cool. Wanna potty train my little one? She's almost 23 months. :) I always waited with my kids b/c I was pregnant and too tired, but this time I'm not. LOL!

So, do you think this woman may homeschool? How nice it would be for her to save 6000 bucks a year.

BTW, I totally understand where you're coming from. Me, my sister and my aunt were all skipped, my mother skipped K b/c she knew "script" at 4, and my sister had AP classes galore. I didn't b/c the SP program made me an underacheiver--not drastically, just wanted to be normal--and I feel I may have been cheated.

NYCitymomx3 said...

I hated the SP classes. PS 10 was such a bad school - there were fights every day - and it definitely made me an underachiever too. In 7th grade I had my first bully, my first best-friend-back-stab, my first encounter with 12-yr-olds smoking, and my first failing grades.

Anonymous said...

OMG, that sounds like me. I was liked--not popular, but liked in Elementary. Then I broke my leg in school and missed the whole last month of school. People who liked me changed and (way back when) my major bully of 7th grade--besides my whole class, grumble) became well known at the time. I doubt people know her anymore, remember the whole Roxanne, Roxanne thing, and Roxanne Shante? She tortured me. Who wants to go to school when sneakers are being thrown at your head and people are calling your big sister baldie (she had really short hair) and all the rest of that? I tell you, those shaped me. I want my kids to be able to stand up for themselves, but dang, you shouldn't dread going to school b/c you're smart or evil forces are putting you down. I'm so happy they're home.