Readiness for Kindergarten - OT

[OperaMama]

Last year Francis' preschool teachers gave him the 'go,' too, though he's end of June. He was mighty academic for a K'gartner, so he was ready, plus all his pals in the neighborhood were going. Heck, even his height is mid-range, unlike a friend of ours whose son is two weeks older; as an immature shorty, that guy is waiting until this year. Much better for him. I must say that full-day anything until they're like 10 seems weird to me. When can CFers take any extras after school? As is, at 5:30 we drop everything and head for the bath, neb&vest, homework, and dinner routine in order to get to sleep by 8 in order to get up and do treatment and get a BIG enough breakfast... They really do give too much meaningless homework to elementary kids these days. (On the other hand, they're all writing paragraphs at the end of KG and reciting the temperatures of the planets. Not MY KG experience at all, some 40 years ago!)

M'nell
mom of Francis, almost 6 y/o, dx almost 2 years ago, and Roz, 4 y/o, no CF nor gene

 

[OperaMama]

Last year Francis' preschool teachers gave him the 'go,' too, though he's end of June. He was mighty academic for a K'gartner, so he was ready, plus all his pals in the neighborhood were going. Heck, even his height is mid-range, unlike a friend of ours whose son is two weeks older; as an immature shorty, that guy is waiting until this year. Much better for him. I must say that full-day anything until they're like 10 seems weird to me. When can CFers take any extras after school? As is, at 5:30 we drop everything and head for the bath, neb&vest, homework, and dinner routine in order to get to sleep by 8 in order to get up and do treatment and get a BIG enough breakfast... They really do give too much meaningless homework to elementary kids these days. (On the other hand, they're all writing paragraphs at the end of KG and reciting the temperatures of the planets. Not MY KG experience at all, some 40 years ago!)

M'nell
mom of Francis, almost 6 y/o, dx almost 2 years ago, and Roz, 4 y/o, no CF nor gene

 

[OperaMama]

Last year Francis' preschool teachers gave him the 'go,' too, though he's end of June. He was mighty academic for a K'gartner, so he was ready, plus all his pals in the neighborhood were going. Heck, even his height is mid-range, unlike a friend of ours whose son is two weeks older; as an immature shorty, that guy is waiting until this year. Much better for him. I must say that full-day anything until they're like 10 seems weird to me. When can CFers take any extras after school? As is, at 5:30 we drop everything and head for the bath, neb&vest, homework, and dinner routine in order to get to sleep by 8 in order to get up and do treatment and get a BIG enough breakfast... They really do give too much meaningless homework to elementary kids these days. (On the other hand, they're all writing paragraphs at the end of KG and reciting the temperatures of the planets. Not MY KG experience at all, some 40 years ago!)

M'nell
mom of Francis, almost 6 y/o, dx almost 2 years ago, and Roz, 4 y/o, no CF nor gene

 

[OperaMama]

Last year Francis' preschool teachers gave him the 'go,' too, though he's end of June. He was mighty academic for a K'gartner, so he was ready, plus all his pals in the neighborhood were going. Heck, even his height is mid-range, unlike a friend of ours whose son is two weeks older; as an immature shorty, that guy is waiting until this year. Much better for him. I must say that full-day anything until they're like 10 seems weird to me. When can CFers take any extras after school? As is, at 5:30 we drop everything and head for the bath, neb&vest, homework, and dinner routine in order to get to sleep by 8 in order to get up and do treatment and get a BIG enough breakfast... They really do give too much meaningless homework to elementary kids these days. (On the other hand, they're all writing paragraphs at the end of KG and reciting the temperatures of the planets. Not MY KG experience at all, some 40 years ago!)

M'nell
mom of Francis, almost 6 y/o, dx almost 2 years ago, and Roz, 4 y/o, no CF nor gene

 

[OperaMama]

Last year Francis' preschool teachers gave him the 'go,' too, though he's end of June. He was mighty academic for a K'gartner, so he was ready, plus all his pals in the neighborhood were going. Heck, even his height is mid-range, unlike a friend of ours whose son is two weeks older; as an immature shorty, that guy is waiting until this year. Much better for him. I must say that full-day anything until they're like 10 seems weird to me. When can CFers take any extras after school? As is, at 5:30 we drop everything and head for the bath, neb&vest, homework, and dinner routine in order to get to sleep by 8 in order to get up and do treatment and get a BIG enough breakfast... They really do give too much meaningless homework to elementary kids these days. (On the other hand, they're all writing paragraphs at the end of KG and reciting the temperatures of the planets. Not MY KG experience at all, some 40 years ago!)

M'nell
mom of Francis, almost 6 y/o, dx almost 2 years ago, and Roz, 4 y/o, no CF nor gene

 

[Ratatosk]

Ughhhhh! DH and I went to his end of the year preschool program last night. Now we're starting to have some doubts, inklings that maybe we SHOULD keep DS back. There some things that he does great with, other things he maybe needs to work on... Our heads are spinning...

We have until mid-August to decide. We have a relative who used to teach special ed at the school DS will be attending -- she now teaches Jr. High/High School and we have a couple other relatives who teach elementary school elsewhere. So, we're going to talk to some people, try to figure some things out in the next few months. Just want to make sure we're doing what's best for him. Sigh...

 

[Ratatosk]

Ughhhhh! DH and I went to his end of the year preschool program last night. Now we're starting to have some doubts, inklings that maybe we SHOULD keep DS back. There some things that he does great with, other things he maybe needs to work on... Our heads are spinning...

We have until mid-August to decide. We have a relative who used to teach special ed at the school DS will be attending -- she now teaches Jr. High/High School and we have a couple other relatives who teach elementary school elsewhere. So, we're going to talk to some people, try to figure some things out in the next few months. Just want to make sure we're doing what's best for him. Sigh...

 

[Ratatosk]

Ughhhhh! DH and I went to his end of the year preschool program last night. Now we're starting to have some doubts, inklings that maybe we SHOULD keep DS back. There some things that he does great with, other things he maybe needs to work on... Our heads are spinning...

We have until mid-August to decide. We have a relative who used to teach special ed at the school DS will be attending -- she now teaches Jr. High/High School and we have a couple other relatives who teach elementary school elsewhere. So, we're going to talk to some people, try to figure some things out in the next few months. Just want to make sure we're doing what's best for him. Sigh...

 

[Ratatosk]

Ughhhhh! DH and I went to his end of the year preschool program last night. Now we're starting to have some doubts, inklings that maybe we SHOULD keep DS back. There some things that he does great with, other things he maybe needs to work on... Our heads are spinning...

We have until mid-August to decide. We have a relative who used to teach special ed at the school DS will be attending -- she now teaches Jr. High/High School and we have a couple other relatives who teach elementary school elsewhere. So, we're going to talk to some people, try to figure some things out in the next few months. Just want to make sure we're doing what's best for him. Sigh...

 

[Ratatosk]

Ughhhhh! DH and I went to his end of the year preschool program last night. Now we're starting to have some doubts, inklings that maybe we SHOULD keep DS back. There some things that he does great with, other things he maybe needs to work on... Our heads are spinning...
<br />
<br />We have until mid-August to decide. We have a relative who used to teach special ed at the school DS will be attending -- she now teaches Jr. High/High School and we have a couple other relatives who teach elementary school elsewhere. So, we're going to talk to some people, try to figure some things out in the next few months. Just want to make sure we're doing what's best for him. Sigh...

 

[rotandroll]

I just have to say that when I was teaching kindergarten, one of the most difficult things was the first day of class because we had crying kids AND crying moms. The school always set up donuts and coffee in the gym the first week of school because there would be so many crying parents that they would meet up in the gym and snack and sob a little bit before finally taking off.

Of course Max is ready! You would know better than anyone else.

 

[rotandroll]

I just have to say that when I was teaching kindergarten, one of the most difficult things was the first day of class because we had crying kids AND crying moms. The school always set up donuts and coffee in the gym the first week of school because there would be so many crying parents that they would meet up in the gym and snack and sob a little bit before finally taking off.

Of course Max is ready! You would know better than anyone else.

 

[rotandroll]

I just have to say that when I was teaching kindergarten, one of the most difficult things was the first day of class because we had crying kids AND crying moms. The school always set up donuts and coffee in the gym the first week of school because there would be so many crying parents that they would meet up in the gym and snack and sob a little bit before finally taking off.

Of course Max is ready! You would know better than anyone else.

 

[rotandroll]

I just have to say that when I was teaching kindergarten, one of the most difficult things was the first day of class because we had crying kids AND crying moms. The school always set up donuts and coffee in the gym the first week of school because there would be so many crying parents that they would meet up in the gym and snack and sob a little bit before finally taking off.

Of course Max is ready! You would know better than anyone else.

 

[rotandroll]

I just have to say that when I was teaching kindergarten, one of the most difficult things was the first day of class because we had crying kids AND crying moms. The school always set up donuts and coffee in the gym the first week of school because there would be so many crying parents that they would meet up in the gym and snack and sob a little bit before finally taking off.
<br />
<br />Of course Max is ready! You would know better than anyone else.
<br />
<br />

 

[Ratatosk]

I know he's a sharp cookie and I'm not a fan of red-shirting kids for sports reasons, etc. I just keep hearing from people about how this isn't "our" kindergarten -- a lot has changed. Kids in 1st grade are having to go to summer school, get montesorri tutors... Children are expected to know a lot more some of the people whose children have gone thru the program say it's more of a 1st-2nd grade level and I guess I worry about DS and his being more of a free-spirt in an environment that sounds a lot like the one "Uncle Buck's" niece attended. Children in this school district tend to be labeled early on if they don't "fit in" -- if they're more imaginative, they tend to get labeled as have attention issues.

And what's with knowing your alphabet backward and forwards. Not a figure of speech -- requiring a kid to be able to say his abc's backwards.

Kinda stewed about this all day. Then I thought DS's cousin's kid who tends to have more difficulties with socialization and learning activities went to a neighboring kindergarten -- about 20 miles away, smaller town last year. Checked out their curriculum -- compared it to ours -- they learned colors and shapes and did art projects. Completely different ideals, teaching methods.

Oh well, figure I'll run him thru some of the kindergarten readiness stuff we were given with his pre-registration packet.... there was even a page on teaching your pre-kindergartener proper handwriting techniques, so they can shift more easily into cursive writing. I'd just hate to look back and think, that maybe we should've kept him back. On the other hand, the school district IS large enough that should there be any issues and maybe he needs to repeat kindergarten, there shouldn't be any issues...

 

[Ratatosk]

I know he's a sharp cookie and I'm not a fan of red-shirting kids for sports reasons, etc. I just keep hearing from people about how this isn't "our" kindergarten -- a lot has changed. Kids in 1st grade are having to go to summer school, get montesorri tutors... Children are expected to know a lot more some of the people whose children have gone thru the program say it's more of a 1st-2nd grade level and I guess I worry about DS and his being more of a free-spirt in an environment that sounds a lot like the one "Uncle Buck's" niece attended. Children in this school district tend to be labeled early on if they don't "fit in" -- if they're more imaginative, they tend to get labeled as have attention issues.

And what's with knowing your alphabet backward and forwards. Not a figure of speech -- requiring a kid to be able to say his abc's backwards.

Kinda stewed about this all day. Then I thought DS's cousin's kid who tends to have more difficulties with socialization and learning activities went to a neighboring kindergarten -- about 20 miles away, smaller town last year. Checked out their curriculum -- compared it to ours -- they learned colors and shapes and did art projects. Completely different ideals, teaching methods.

Oh well, figure I'll run him thru some of the kindergarten readiness stuff we were given with his pre-registration packet.... there was even a page on teaching your pre-kindergartener proper handwriting techniques, so they can shift more easily into cursive writing. I'd just hate to look back and think, that maybe we should've kept him back. On the other hand, the school district IS large enough that should there be any issues and maybe he needs to repeat kindergarten, there shouldn't be any issues...

 

[Ratatosk]

I know he's a sharp cookie and I'm not a fan of red-shirting kids for sports reasons, etc. I just keep hearing from people about how this isn't "our" kindergarten -- a lot has changed. Kids in 1st grade are having to go to summer school, get montesorri tutors... Children are expected to know a lot more some of the people whose children have gone thru the program say it's more of a 1st-2nd grade level and I guess I worry about DS and his being more of a free-spirt in an environment that sounds a lot like the one "Uncle Buck's" niece attended. Children in this school district tend to be labeled early on if they don't "fit in" -- if they're more imaginative, they tend to get labeled as have attention issues.

And what's with knowing your alphabet backward and forwards. Not a figure of speech -- requiring a kid to be able to say his abc's backwards.

Kinda stewed about this all day. Then I thought DS's cousin's kid who tends to have more difficulties with socialization and learning activities went to a neighboring kindergarten -- about 20 miles away, smaller town last year. Checked out their curriculum -- compared it to ours -- they learned colors and shapes and did art projects. Completely different ideals, teaching methods.

Oh well, figure I'll run him thru some of the kindergarten readiness stuff we were given with his pre-registration packet.... there was even a page on teaching your pre-kindergartener proper handwriting techniques, so they can shift more easily into cursive writing. I'd just hate to look back and think, that maybe we should've kept him back. On the other hand, the school district IS large enough that should there be any issues and maybe he needs to repeat kindergarten, there shouldn't be any issues...

 

[Ratatosk]

I know he's a sharp cookie and I'm not a fan of red-shirting kids for sports reasons, etc. I just keep hearing from people about how this isn't "our" kindergarten -- a lot has changed. Kids in 1st grade are having to go to summer school, get montesorri tutors... Children are expected to know a lot more some of the people whose children have gone thru the program say it's more of a 1st-2nd grade level and I guess I worry about DS and his being more of a free-spirt in an environment that sounds a lot like the one "Uncle Buck's" niece attended. Children in this school district tend to be labeled early on if they don't "fit in" -- if they're more imaginative, they tend to get labeled as have attention issues.

And what's with knowing your alphabet backward and forwards. Not a figure of speech -- requiring a kid to be able to say his abc's backwards.

Kinda stewed about this all day. Then I thought DS's cousin's kid who tends to have more difficulties with socialization and learning activities went to a neighboring kindergarten -- about 20 miles away, smaller town last year. Checked out their curriculum -- compared it to ours -- they learned colors and shapes and did art projects. Completely different ideals, teaching methods.

Oh well, figure I'll run him thru some of the kindergarten readiness stuff we were given with his pre-registration packet.... there was even a page on teaching your pre-kindergartener proper handwriting techniques, so they can shift more easily into cursive writing. I'd just hate to look back and think, that maybe we should've kept him back. On the other hand, the school district IS large enough that should there be any issues and maybe he needs to repeat kindergarten, there shouldn't be any issues...

 

[Ratatosk]

I know he's a sharp cookie and I'm not a fan of red-shirting kids for sports reasons, etc. I just keep hearing from people about how this isn't "our" kindergarten -- a lot has changed. Kids in 1st grade are having to go to summer school, get montesorri tutors... Children are expected to know a lot more some of the people whose children have gone thru the program say it's more of a 1st-2nd grade level and I guess I worry about DS and his being more of a free-spirt in an environment that sounds a lot like the one "Uncle Buck's" niece attended. Children in this school district tend to be labeled early on if they don't "fit in" -- if they're more imaginative, they tend to get labeled as have attention issues.
<br />
<br />And what's with knowing your alphabet backward and forwards. Not a figure of speech -- requiring a kid to be able to say his abc's backwards.
<br />
<br />Kinda stewed about this all day. Then I thought DS's cousin's kid who tends to have more difficulties with socialization and learning activities went to a neighboring kindergarten -- about 20 miles away, smaller town last year. Checked out their curriculum -- compared it to ours -- they learned colors and shapes and did art projects. Completely different ideals, teaching methods.
<br />
<br />Oh well, figure I'll run him thru some of the kindergarten readiness stuff we were given with his pre-registration packet.... there was even a page on teaching your pre-kindergartener proper handwriting techniques, so they can shift more easily into cursive writing. I'd just hate to look back and think, that maybe we should've kept him back. On the other hand, the school district IS large enough that should there be any issues and maybe he needs to repeat kindergarten, there shouldn't be any issues...