Is my child ready for kindergarten?

It’s the time of year again when moms will begin to get their children ready for Kindergarten for the first time. Everyone has questions about if their child is ready for that big day. Here are some skills you will want your child to master before Kindergarten. Academics: How a child ready for school behaves or knows: Knows her first and last name. Knows the names of family members. Knows her address and phone number. Interested in books. Holds a book correctly and pretends to read or is able to read simple words. Understands or can tell you what common … Continue reading

Teaching Reading to Your Pre-K Child

Here are some ways to increase your child’s knowledge of phonics and encourage reading: Sight Word Cards: You will need word strips or index cards, book rings, markers, and a hole puncher. Select the sight words you will be working on with your child. Try not to overwhelm your child and list no more than ten words. Write one word per card. Punch a hole in the index cards and bind together with a book ring. Have your child draw a picture on each card to correspond with the word if possible. Label It: Using sticky notes label items in … Continue reading

Spanish Speaking Kindergarten

Today, my husband and I went to check out a Kindergarten class at the school that my daughter will most likely be attending in the fall. This class was a little different than your average Kindergarten class because it was a Spanish immersion program. I went away with mixed feelings about what was right for my preschooler. In our school district, you have to get ready for Kindergarten early. This includes testing your child for the Extended Learning Program, which can be compared to a gifted program in other school districts. Not every elementary school offers these classes, and they … Continue reading

Looking Forward

My daughter is excited. This week, we’re leaving for ten days of vacation at our cabin. She remembers it from last year – the swimming, beachcombing, playing with friends who we see a couple of times a year. Oh, and there are the croissants from the bakery down the road. We all look forward to those. One of the aspects of preschooler development that I find most intriguing is the development of memory, and with it anticipation or dread. When my daughter was two years old, she remembered very little from day to day. I found two-year-old tantrums easy. After … Continue reading

So Full of Confidence

My five-year-old is oh so full of confidence these days. Much of this confidence seems to be directed at me in the form of bossiness, demanding attitude, and “you are doing it wrong and I am right, Mom!” I thought that the teenage years started at 13, or maybe 10. Not 5. I know that like every other stage my daughter has gone through, this too shall pass. Everything passes, whether you are enjoying it or not. Becoming an individual involves sticking up for yourself when the authorities are wrong, and in our house, the authority happens to be me. … Continue reading

Babysitting Achieved

Yesterday morning I was in quite the state about taking my daughter to the babysitter. I didn’t show this to her, of course. I was quite cheery about the whole thing. We had new groceries so I gave her an entire box of them to take to the babysitter’s house and eat with her family, knowing that my daughter just adores strawberries. We packed her special doll. I told her that it was only for a few hours and that I would be there directly after I finished teaching and we could spend the rest of the day together, albeit … Continue reading

Babysitter, babysitter

My daughter despises being babysat. I’m not even sure if that’s a word, but it doesn’t sound all that pleasant to me either, when you put it that way. I recall kind of liking my babysitters, since an evening of babysitting meant an evening of fun, television, junk food, and a late bedtime. My daughter has been blessed with a parent who stays home part time and grandparents who care for her when I am not there. Rarely does it happen that my husband and I need to go to work and the grandparents are not there. It’s happening today … Continue reading

Bug Bites Be Gone

My 5-year-old recently came home from school with a bug bite. Bug bites at the end of September? I’m not an entomologist, but it looks like a mosquito took a hit from her eyebrow. I was a bit shocked that she got bit so late in the season, but we have had an unusually warm September, so I guess the bugs have decided to stick around. Too bad. I was hoping our days of being buffet options for hungry bugs were over for the year. Apparently not. This means that I have to dig out my DEET-free insect repellent once … Continue reading

Would You Let Your Kindergartner Ride His Bike To School?

If you lived across the street from your kid’s school, I’m sure many of you wouldn’t have a problem with your child wheeling it over to class. But what if your 5-year-old begged you to allow him to pedal six blocks along a busy sidewalk to get to school? Would you let him? If the kid still had training wheels on his bike, my answer would be a big “no.” You can blame me for putting more cars on the road. According to a recent New York Times piece, helicopter parents, who are intent on protecting their kids by driving … Continue reading

How Old Is Too Old For Kindergarten?

My five-year-old is the youngest kid in her kindergarten class. The rest of the kids are six (or will be by the end of the month), and if I read the birthday list correctly, one of her classmates will be seven in May. A seven-year-old in kindergarten? Am I the only parent who thinks it strange that a seven-year-old is playing with paint and glue with a bunch of kids he towers over? Never mind how I feel about the situation. I wonder how he feels about being called “the giant” and “Big Buddy?” According to most schools in the … Continue reading