How it's going
So many people have asked both me and Audrey this week how kindergarten is going (with me, it's to ask how I'm doing!).
Audrey is doing quite well, pretty much as I expected. I knew she was a little anxious, partly because of a brief but bad preschool/daycare experience she had when we were in Beijing for a couple of months some time back. But even with the anxiety, she has jumped right in, and comes home with stories about "work station time" (rotating around to the different play stations around the class), "cooking" in class (using a graham cracker and cereal to somehow make letters), and going to the library. My main concern is that she will get bored. I know it's the beginning of the year, so her teacher is likely still sorting out the different abilities, but so far the things she talks about doing are variations of things I've done at home with her. She knows her alphabet, colors, and shapes, can count to 100, can already read probably a good 100 words, including sight words. She's already told me about a "boring" computer game she had to play. I don't say anything in front of her, so I'm not giving her ideas. I'm not merely boasting when I say she's a very bright child (ask jur!). I just wish the school's gifted and talented program started a little earlier. Pushing her up a year is out of the question; we already had to make a special request to get her in kindergarten this year because her birthday was a few days after the cut-off date.
I suppose if she gets terribly bored I could fall back on homeschooling. But I really really don't want to this year; it was a huge relief when I decided not to for now.
I'm doing GREAT. I feel like, for the first time in years, I have a routine. I get up at 6 (!), shower, make sure she's up, fed, and dressed, and walk or drive her to school. I'm getting exercise because it's a good 10 minute walk one-way. Then I come home, eat breakfast with Leo, put Aislinn down for a nap, and then I DO HOUSEWORK! My kitchen is starting to look like a place I would not actually mind strangers seeing, and the dining room table has remained clear for several days. Dishes are all washed and put away. Laundry loads are washed, dried, folded, and PUT AWAY all within the same day. And the majority of this happens in the three hours she's in kindergarten.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my spunky older daughter. She shows me the world in a way I've never seen it before. But she can really wear me out in the process. She's an extrovert, and I'm an introvert. She NEEDS attention and interaction. I CRAVE quiet and solitude. I knew that some of this would have to be given up when I became a mom, but I had not counted on getting a high-need baby. She has remained high-need (a nice way of saying high-maintenance), so for the first time in five years, I feel like I can take a breath...let it out...and know that in the next five minutes, I can do that again without interruption, if I choose. OK, mostly without interruption. Aislinn is still a part of this family. But she naps for an hour while Audrey is at school, and is already starting to play well on her own while I putter around. She's a different creature entirely than her sister.
I'd say it's all going pretty darn well.
Audrey is doing quite well, pretty much as I expected. I knew she was a little anxious, partly because of a brief but bad preschool/daycare experience she had when we were in Beijing for a couple of months some time back. But even with the anxiety, she has jumped right in, and comes home with stories about "work station time" (rotating around to the different play stations around the class), "cooking" in class (using a graham cracker and cereal to somehow make letters), and going to the library. My main concern is that she will get bored. I know it's the beginning of the year, so her teacher is likely still sorting out the different abilities, but so far the things she talks about doing are variations of things I've done at home with her. She knows her alphabet, colors, and shapes, can count to 100, can already read probably a good 100 words, including sight words. She's already told me about a "boring" computer game she had to play. I don't say anything in front of her, so I'm not giving her ideas. I'm not merely boasting when I say she's a very bright child (ask jur!). I just wish the school's gifted and talented program started a little earlier. Pushing her up a year is out of the question; we already had to make a special request to get her in kindergarten this year because her birthday was a few days after the cut-off date.
I suppose if she gets terribly bored I could fall back on homeschooling. But I really really don't want to this year; it was a huge relief when I decided not to for now.
I'm doing GREAT. I feel like, for the first time in years, I have a routine. I get up at 6 (!), shower, make sure she's up, fed, and dressed, and walk or drive her to school. I'm getting exercise because it's a good 10 minute walk one-way. Then I come home, eat breakfast with Leo, put Aislinn down for a nap, and then I DO HOUSEWORK! My kitchen is starting to look like a place I would not actually mind strangers seeing, and the dining room table has remained clear for several days. Dishes are all washed and put away. Laundry loads are washed, dried, folded, and PUT AWAY all within the same day. And the majority of this happens in the three hours she's in kindergarten.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my spunky older daughter. She shows me the world in a way I've never seen it before. But she can really wear me out in the process. She's an extrovert, and I'm an introvert. She NEEDS attention and interaction. I CRAVE quiet and solitude. I knew that some of this would have to be given up when I became a mom, but I had not counted on getting a high-need baby. She has remained high-need (a nice way of saying high-maintenance), so for the first time in five years, I feel like I can take a breath...let it out...and know that in the next five minutes, I can do that again without interruption, if I choose. OK, mostly without interruption. Aislinn is still a part of this family. But she naps for an hour while Audrey is at school, and is already starting to play well on her own while I putter around. She's a different creature entirely than her sister.
I'd say it's all going pretty darn well.
posted by Andrea | 10:20 PM
4 Comments:
Wheee, I get to make the first comment.
Remember that even while you're using this "at school" time, you can be challenging her at home too. You never stop homeschooling, even when your kids are off at public school. :) And everyone has something to learn, even if it's NOT to refer to the lessons with scorn because they're so easy, and NOT to drag the little boy around the classroom just because you like him a LOT. (Ahem. I started young. Then had a LONG dry spell.)
And yes, I will attest to EVERYTHING she says about Audrey. And I love her. She is her Auntie Jur's little girl!
Oh, I'd love to sit down with some tea and have a chat. My daughter is an introvert like me, and also, like me, was always very self-contained, i.e., she can occupy herself without me for long periods of time, even from when she was a toddler. She's just as happy with other people around or without. I have often thought, my gosh, God knew what He was doing, because how on earth could I live happily with an extrovert, a chatter, etc. And I guess the answer is, you adapt, to whomever God gives you. And you learn to appreciate their different gifts. That seems to be what you've done. I can almost feel the relief, though, when you write about being able to do what you please/need to, with those hours.
I'm sure you're right that the teacher is still learning who knows how much. And even if Audrey knows everything they can teach her, she will benefit from the social interaction. My daughter was in the same boat when she began preschool, but it was still a positive experience. I had to stop teaching her to read at 3, because I saw that it was going to become a liability to her if I intended to put her in school with same-age kids, which I did. I concentrated our time together on other experiences that she would not necessarily get in school -- museum field trips, volunteer opportunities (sorting canned goods at a food pantry), that sort of thing. It enriches them, but doesn't set them up to be bored or feel superior to peers. LG's school didn't start GT until 3rd grade; I think that might be standard, they have some research that that's a good place to start it, I believe. I know Audrey's going to be a wonderful student, and have faith, she'll get all that she needs, between you and school.
I loved her first day of school photo in the previous post. So precious. The time goes so quickly. Children are such a wonderful gift.
The difference in personalities can be scary at times.
My oldest son was very high energy and outgoing. We went places together, approach problems the same way, even left-handed!
Middle son very introverted, doesn't want to be with other people much. Like his dad.
Youngest was so glad to finally be able to go to school the same time as his brothers! The end of the second day, he came home and announced he was done, he had learned enough about noise.
Go over to 18August05
http://silverfox-whispers.com/
It seems mothers are the same no matter when they send off their little one.
Audrey looks soooo precious. That picture is a Keeper!!
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