Rusty got registered for Kindergarten at our local public school this month and also completed his Kindergarten testing. And truly, we love our public school and educators that teach, support, encourage, love, and cheer on our children at school so so much. We are so very grateful for our teachers and school district, they are deeply involved and invested in our kids' lives and for that we will always be public school supporters.
But real quick-
[stands on soapbox]
After his kindergarten testing, his results showed that he scored very low in alphabet letter names and the sounds that they make, which brought his whole "score" down significantly. Like laughably low if you ever were trying to determine his school readiness by interacting with him or looking at test scores.
In the kinder testing debrief when this came up, I responded with "Yes, I know that he doesn't know all the names and sounds" and then just smiled sweetly because I was thinking in my head....because he didn't go to kindergarten yet.
The way we (society) push-push-push kids to know all the academic things as early as possible makes me want to cry (and scream) for a million years. Not to be all 'back in our day' but when I was in kindergarten we learned a letter a week (!), and had nap/rest time, and an actual sliding board in the classroom. We had these big group tables and I'm pretty sure playtime was like over 50% of the school day. It is almost the exact opposite today in schools.
As a teacher and a mother, I see the effects firsthand that this has on kids growing up and I am trying hard every single day with my own children to battle against this extreme pressure to do ALL THE THINGS as early as possible.
To keep childhood sacred, wild, free, and joyful.
So yes, my five year old doesn't know all the letter names and sounds, but he can tie his own shoes, and climb a tree, and make his own sandwiches, and feed and care for pets, and assess risky play, and zipper and button clothes, and follow multiple step directions, and sit quietly for a whole picture book, and ask thoughtful and deep questions, and make hypothesis about cause and effect in the world, and work his way out of boredom by being creative, and find his way home from a hike in the woods, and share toys, and play safely and kindly with other kids younger than him, older than him, or similarly aged, and recognize appropriate behavior and noise level for various settings, etc etc etc.
so I'm not going to worry my head and heart about the academic stuff. I will take care of all the other stuff so that my child can go to school to just learn.
I'm both a parent and a teacher, so I know this much to be true:
I'm doing my best to raise the third kind of kid.
[gets off of soapbox]
Back to regularly scheduled programming...
We also were able to spend more time outside - thank goodness! We went on lots of hikes around the house and even got to spend an afternoon at the Quemahoming dam digging a deep hole in the sand pile and running through the (freezing!) water with Aunt Kitty. The end of the month also meant Mentor Fishing Day, so it was off to fishing camp for the kiddos for the day which means not only fishing but running, climbing, fire-warming, and being wild and free too!
Some of the books/stories we read:
The Gingerbread Man
The Three Little Pigs
Worm Weather by Jean Taft
Egg by Kevin Henkes (we love this book!)
So Many Bunnies by Rick Walton
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett (our all-time favorite book and children's book author!)
Kindergarten skills we practiced and mastered!
First and Last name writing
Tying shoe laces
Rhyming words aloud
Free Play Obsessions:
Dirt bike riding
Drawing creative pictures (ie. same scene but night vs day!)
Zoo keeper (setting up a zoo with stuffed animals with cardboard box habitats for them)
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