Growing out of it and trained out can be two different things. Waiting for him to grow out of it can seem a bit indulgent at first when you have no experience with an older child to reassure you otherwise. Training him out of it can be trouble, though, as he might begin to see himself as somehow....wrong....if he can't discipline himself as quickly as other students. That's not always what happens, but I would at least wait until kindergarten age to put him in a school setting. Wait and see. Most parents and teachers have no faith in that. They cannot trust that a child would ever *want* to sit still, learn to tell time, read, do math, science, history, literature. But in my experience, mostly they do! Surprise! Sometimes earlier, sometimes later (sometimes waaaay later) but they usually get it.
I just don't get it.... they get the kids to learn to sit still, then they have to eventually make them get off their duffs and walk. By the way, my 5yo (never ever taught math), just showed me a "Go Fish" card and said, "Mama, two 3's and a 1 make 7". She can add dice, count play money, count amazingly high, write the alphabet and her name, and build amazing structures with whatever. She also has a superpower--she can turn anything into a toy and make an entire game around that. For hours. How could they learn to do all that if they need to be taught? And.....right now she's sitting still! No big feat for a 5yo girl necessarily, but, they DO SIT STILL! Just not always on command. Apparently that is important these days. (She's now showing me how she arranged the Go Fish cards in two perfectly matching stacks.)
Now my 6.5 yo is planning out her Halloween costume. She just had the idea for making a light saber out of a dowel and sparkle red paint which she has diligently put on layer after layer. Now she's drawing the design to complete it, now she's writing (big deal for her, she's had difficulties with coordination and fatigue, not unexpected since it took her 4 years or so to learn to smile on command without looking like she just ate a lemon). She's finishing the list of what else she needs for her vampire-with-a-light-saber costume. She also reads, knows a little Spanish, can add, subtract and multiply, tell time, measure, she has amazing powers of listening and I've read her the Hobbit 3 times, LOTR once through and many other classic stories. Right now she is walking adding numbers out loud.
It is a very, very schoolish night. (It's about 7PM right now and nearly bedtime.)
OK, now I've made some parents of 7yo's who don't get this obviously schoolish behavior from their kids feel guilty and ineffective because their girls do nothing but race around the house and over the furniture with a cape. Except when they bounce on the bed or go stomping through puddles. "So what?" I say. This is not a big deal, I think. Others definitely think otherwise and there are so many arguments about this, but we must sometimes agree to disagree. I promise to teach my girls not to bludgeon the general population with their profound illiteracy.
Now I'm being sarcastic. Sigh! I need to just stop and edit this down to something more palatable. Or not. (See signature below.)
OK, understand that all this commentary is coming from a die-hard unschooling parent. I have my opinions and that's what this post is. But I *see* that little kids are natural unschoolers. Will we stay that way? Who knows? Right now my family is just riding the wave.
I think you can afford to wait. The teacher will try to convince you otherwise, but I disagree.
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