Are my expectations realistic? - Page 2

[annettemarie]

Another book I really love is Creating Readers
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846
It's kind of spendy but I got it on ebay at a good price. Ir even got a good recommendation in one of the Waldorf catalogs!

[RubyWild]

Some 3 year olds know the entire alphabet, but really it's very young. I would focus on creativity, motor skills, imagination and let letters and numbers come with interest and time.

[guest^]

What everyone else said, and to remember that we live in a society where the earlier and faster the better. IN the 60's,70's, we went to "nursery school" to learn how to share,follow directions, get used to being away from moms, etc..

Going to kinder was to learn your numbers,letters, and shapes.

Put it in perspective....today certain preschoolers are expectedto know some of the letters, count to 10,etc...



mp

[girlndocs]

Ds is 6.5 and has just recently suddenly begun recognizing letters. He has been read to daily and dictated things for me to write down in front of him frequently for all of his life. Our house is very literature-rich.

I think it was almost 2 years ago that I stuck a toe in the water as far as teaching him letters and their sounds. He was totally uninterested and no matter how much repetition there was, he just didn't get it. I backed off and left it alone. In the past week or so he's begun writing and recognizing a handful of letters spontaneously and he's beginning to link them with their sounds -- all without any help from me!

[Embee]

Originally Posted by sunnmama

Anyway, my epiphany was this: the child loves books. She will read, and--if I don't push her--she will LOVE to read. If I push her, however, she might not love to read. I might ruin it for her.

So my singular goal now is to foster her love of books and follow her lead. I will not analyze, wonder, or worry. I will enjoy books with her, and trust her let me know if she wants some help decoding all those words

Great advice. I admit that when DS started taking an interest in letter at around age 2 1/2, I got a little giddy. I don't think I went over the top, but I did find myself quizzing him one day and then said to myself "WHOAH! Slow down... what in the heck are you doing?" I'm glad I backed off when I did because he totally lost interest in letters in favor of something else (um, trains I think) and by 3 1/2 had lost track of the letters he used to know. Fast forward to just before his fourth birthday however and he started writing letters all over the place. Bam! Just like that he knew this and that letter and could write them well also. Now, he won't stop asking me how to spell this and that and the other and it seems, the information is now firmly planted. In all this, his love for reading books did NOT wane not did our tradition of reading together several times a day.

I'm pretty careful anymore to let the interest/learning process take the sweet time it needs. Kids often show interest, learn a ton and then need to drop it to learn something else and then to pick it back up when they can or wish to. When DS started talking at 12 months, I was surprised (ok, and a little giddy), but then, he started walking and he didn't say much of anything for about 6 or 7 months and then it was just one word here and there until a few months past his second birthday, when he started talking a mile a minute and hasn't stopped to take a breath yet. I've learned to trust this process time and time again. It took me learning it, unlearning it and learning it again to have that kind of trust...

The best,
Em