Or insight, really.
Some of you have heard me speak of the dilemma surrounding an early August birthday for our little Bug. His birthday is August 4th, which means he is YOUNG for the first week of school. In preK, it wasn't that big a deal. They started a week later, so he actually had his 4th birthday the weekend before school began. For kindergarten, T was actually 4 years old for the first week of school. It was crazy to think that my little baby was headed off into big kid school.
So now, 5 months into kindergarten, Tim and I are looking at our options for next year. While T was absolutely ready to leave Child's Play and head into elementary school, we aren't completely sure he is ready to take the next step to first grade. In fact, I scheduled a conference with Tanner's teacher 2 weeks ago to discuss the possibility of holding him back for another year in kindergarten. I wanted to get her thoughts on it, seeing as how she 1) has been teaching kindergarten for 25 years, and 2) she has 3 boys of her own that are older now and she has been through this.
You see, boys and girls are so different. Duhhh, right? But academically my two children are polar opposites. Kendall is self-motivated and independent, where Tanner needs constant supervision. I don't think a day went by for the first 3 weeks of school that he didn't come home with a new hole in his shirt (from his scissors) or that he didn't have paint/marker all over his clothes. He wants to have someone helping him along the way. So that is the biggest thing about first grade that frightens me -- the children go from sitting at tables and working together almost all of the time to sitting at real desks and working on their own.
Anyway, after talking to Mrs. Porrier, I had a talk with Tanner about how he really needed to try harder ... his coloring is all over the place and his handwriting is terrible.
Do you know what he told me?"Mommy, I can't color the small pictures because I can't see them."
Gulp. I guess I won't be getting the Mommy-of-the-Year award this year. Again.
When he went for his check up at the beginning of the year, our pediatrician told me that his sight was "good enough to pass for now." I suppose it has gotten much worse with all the stress of focusing at school. Because now my little man is practically blind.
Awesome.
So I took him to the eye doc last week, and she informed me that his sight is so bad that we'll have to ease him into the prescription he needs. So we'll do this scrip for 6 weeks, and then go back and bump him up.
Yes, it's that bad.
However, I'm hoping this new vision he has acquired (he looks a things so differently now ...) will help with his academics. I really don't want him to have to repeat kindergarten ...
But I guess that's what this parenting thing is all about.
We make the hard decision now so our kids will have it easier in the future.
As a side not, he looks super cute in his glasses. ;)
2 comments:
What a handsome little guy. He wears them well! My nephew went through the same thing with his vision. Once they got him the proper prescription, he soared. We're all constantly learning, huh? You're a good momma. That's for sure.
What a cutie in those glasses!
Sounds like you did good and meeting with the teacher to address the possible issues (mom points). We don't know they can't see until it comes up- they really don't either (and his teacher did not catch it either). Had the same issue with Bryce (needing glasses and him not being able to see things in class). Now we are on to the new issues- 1. glasses are not cool so he does not want to wear them, and 2. keeping them intact due to him being so rough. They are bent and scratched and he has had them less than a year.
So B has a June 28th birthday. It was a struggle- start him early or late? I started him early, then figured he could be held back if needed depending on how he did. He is in 3rd grade. From what I have noticed each year from Aug to Dec there are slight problems (behavior, not sitting still, not following directions, jumping around...) and by Jan he is with everyone else. Each fall as I go to my yearly behavior conference I always wonder should we have waited? Then he starts doing better. Boys learn so differently than girls anyway, so it is such a hard decision.
Side note- Scott was 3 (birthday in Dec) when he started 4 yo Kindergarten! Crazy they let kids start that early back then. I remember him struggling throughout school, but he was 6 months or more younger than everyone else.
Good luck with him!
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