Prep For The Big K

I know it's only April, but I'm a big believer in being proactive when it comes to my kids' education.

Big sister A is happy and thriving in French Immersion, and Lil' J is signed up to start in September. In an effort to get him prepped and keep up with the English side of things at home, I'm creating simple puzzles and exercises for him to do.

These days there are so many wonderful published resources out there (work books - we have a whole shelf full :) and web sites galore, but once in awhile there's a gap that a parent can fill with a home made tool.

Word searches are a big hit with Alyssa, but for J, I can't find any that are simple enough. Any easy solution is to simply make my own.

Below is the first one I created (in jpeg format, so if you like it you can "right click save as" to your computer). My goal with this one was to have a small number of simple words, all left to right, horizontally, like they would be if they were read in a book. I added the "name" line at the top because J likes to write his name. We'll work at this level until he's comfortable finding them all, and then we'll move on to diagonal and vertical words...



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Introducing A Four-Year-Old To French Immersion

My daughter is thriving in Grade 1 French Immersion, so it's only fair, I think, to give her brother the same opportunity. I recently purchased a board book, "Mon Petit Livre Bilingue" with this in mind. Basically it's one of those little kid books with pictures of common items and their names, only this book has the names in English and French.(Hey! Helpful for me, too ;)

The first time I read it, his reaction was, um, not exactly what I was looking for:

"Mama why are you weading da Fwench? Stop weading da Fwench!"

Oh great. He's adverse to it already. Pffft. (sigh)

Ah, but Maternal creativity prevailed, as it usually does (Go Moms!). Every time I encountered a word that was spelled the same in both languages (like "table"), I'd say:

"HEY!!! That's an ENGLISH word!!! Wassup wid dat!!! Gee wizakers!!!!"

...at which point he would dissolve into massive giggles and beg me to read more. (Ah ha ;)

Here's a list of some of the words we laughed over:

six
orange
triangle
rectangle
short(s)
tuque
radio
table
sofa
sandwich
pizza
xylophone
ambulance
elephant
lion

By the end of the book, he was near hysterics, and I had him convinced that they're almost the same language ;) He'll learn the differences later, obviously, but at the moment he thinks French is fun.

Good enough for now!

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Report Cards And Their Influence On Parenting

I never got bad grades so I never feared report card days, but I can see where it would cause stress for some kids. I say this because even with Alyssa's near perfect report card (on Friday the 13th ;) I still felt myself transform from Calm Mommy (ahhhhhh) to Type A Mommy.

Now in my own defense, I don't think it's a bad thing to examine your child's area of weakness (in her case "oral", as in: speaking French in class), and try to help her improve. However if it weren't for the report card, I more than likely would have left it alone and given her a chance to grow into more confidence.

Here's the dilemma: kids are individuals, with their own rates of progress in various subjects. There is a certain amount of benefit in catering to that, and letting a child grow into areas of aptitude (as in, they'll learn when they're ready). If they're ready on their own terms, learning is faster, more likely to stick, and a lot less stressful.

On the other hand, real life just isn't like that! There is equal value in gently nudging (shove! ;) a child out of his/her comfort zone and stretching their learning boundaries, so that they're better equipped to deal with the demands of reality once they leave the safety of the nest.

(Sigh! Reality at the age of 6? Sheesh)

In the end, I did the "shove" thing with Alyssa and her oral shortcomings. I pressured her and forced her (specifically: we did some reading out loud). I struggled with the question of am I helping her, or creating a bad experience? After her initial resistance, she gushed with excitement about how easy it is once you try, and how much better she felt.

phew

What about you - how do you handle a teacher's critique of your child? This is such an open ended question because every scenario is slightly different, and no single response is appropriate all the time. It's a case by case judgement call, and as parents we simply do the best we can.
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Friday The 13th

I'm not superstitious... well ok, maybe just a bit, but more in fun that anything (it is fun to be wary of a calendar date, right? just checking ;)

The amusing thing about this particular Friday the 13th is that my daughter brings home her report card today....
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TV? What TV?

Ah, Spongebob!! How I love thee!!! Thanks to you, I can vacuum, do dishes, do laundry, take out garbage, clean bathrooms (wait, hang on. Maybe I don't like Spongebob after all ;)

Whaaaat??? I don't use the TV as a babysitter ALL the time. Just enough so that I can get through a day with my sanity intact. And I have been know to turn it off, under much protest, and drag my children against their will into the back yard. This usually ends well (as in, they end up happy), because kids and the outdoors go hand in hand.

Today I sat with my four year old and did some "pre-K" work book stuff, as well as some activities in his Thomas The Tank Engine magazines. He lasted almost :45 before getting restless, which was a tremendous relief to me (not that I have TV guilt), because apparently by Kindergarten, kids are only expected to be able to focus for about :20.

(PHEW)

When determining whether or not your child has an attention span issue, a handy rule of thumb is that they should be able to remain engaged for :03 - :05 per year of life. (Or so says a few pages that I read on the internet. I'll take it, 'cause it makes my lil' :45 dude seem like a genius ;) Wahoo, internet!!

As I type this, both kids are watching Spongebob, and although the maternal guilt reflex is trying to kick in, deep down I'm not too worried about it.
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The Joys Of The Flu

I was awoken this morning at about 4:30 by my son.

"Mama look what's on my pillow!"

He's prone to nightmares, night terrors, sleep walking (to the toilet and then back to bed, thank goodness ;) and any and all assortments of sleep disruptions imaginable. He has even had night terrors about things on his pillow (poor lil' dude).

So when he referred to said pillow, I was reluctant to get out from under the warm covers. Been there done that. I called out to him in a voice that was hopefully loud enough for him to hear down the hall but not loud enough to wake my husband sleeping next to me.

Ya right.

"MAMA!"

Ok, ok, ok, I'm up. (sigh)

There was indeed something on his pillow - vomit! Awww... poor little guy. (And EW BLECH). I changed his sheets, changed his jammies, gave him some hugs, and tucked him back in again. Ahhh!! Back to my warm cozy bed.

Not for long - round two happened about ten minutes later. So far that's been all, but now I'm faced with that scenario where the younger child is too sick to accompany the older child to school. Of course big sister is at the age where a) she LOVES school and will be mad to miss it, and b) is too young to walk the three blocks herself (some parents might allow this, but um, not this parent).

As I'm typing this, my "get the kids up" timer is ringing. What to do??

a) I could just let them both sleep, and tell her the truth when she eventually wakes up.

PROS: it's the truth.
CONS: ooh-eee she be MAAAD at me, and her brother ("But Mommy I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!")

b) I could go into her room and take her temperature, and tell her she has a fever.

PROS: She'd roll back over and go to sleep.
CONS: It's lying (which I'm not keen on, except for fun stuff like Santa & the Tooth Fairy)

Hmmm. But then again, she might really, actually and truly have a fever (ohhh, wouldn't that be handy ;)

Parenting is weird sometimes.

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Kindergarten Readiness

Ok, Lil' J - you're up next!

Hmm. Is my giggly, silly, march to the beat of his own drummer son really ready for The Big K this fall? His father was expressing doubt last night, which started me thinking about the whole thing.

It's difficult for me to really tell, because at the age that he is now (4 1/2), his sister was reading and writing simple (4-6 word) sentences. I know that's a little ahead of the curve as far as early language skills (btw, to compensate she was behind socially - she had much anxiety and shyness, which thankfully she's outgrown). It leaves me with the inability to judge J's preparedness, because he's not quite as advanced as his sister, so acck! He must not be ready, right?

Wrong!! (yippee).

Here are a couple of handy checklists I found, to which I was able to answer "yes, yes, yes," repeatedly for J. I guess he won't have to repeat preschool after all ;-)

http://www.nvsd44.bc.ca/sites/pdf/12/12-160-1815.pdf

http://www.vbschools.com/kindergarten/checklist.pdf

Phew!!
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Back To School!!!

Alyssa said to me last night: "Mommy tomorrow I'm going to get up super early and get dressed right away!!!"

I think she might be excited ;-)

Lil J doesn't seem to care one way or the other, but I know once we get to his preschool he'll be happy. My biggest challenge today is getting them there in this, um, weather.

Speaking of which, my timer is ringing - time to wake them up.

Have a great day, everyone!
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5 Easy Ways To Make Reading Fun

I'm lucky that Alyssa loves to read, so getting her to practice is no struggle. Still, the more fun we have, and the more ways I can "sneak it in", the easier it is. Here are some things that have worked for us:

1) Word search puzzles. You can find children's word search books at places such as Chapters, or you can always make your own. This is what I did initially - I used graph paper, filled in simple words to start, and then filled in the blanks with random letters. Making them yourself is actually an ideal way to start because you can customize them to your child's level. Make sure the first few puzzles have only a few words (i.e. 4-6), so that your child has a feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing the puzzle.

2) Leave the close captioning on the TV. We did this by accident once and Alyssa actually learned how to spell a few words by watching and reading along. Since then we've left it on.

3) Play Hang Man. This is another favourite of A's. You can use short phrases as well, and whenever your child is ready, he/she can create the puzzles for you to solve. Humour takes the work out and turns it into play: Alyssa made a puzzle for me to solve, the answer to which was "do not fart". She was pretty amused, let me tell you ;-)

4) Communicate with notes. I leave notes for A in her lunch, and taped to her bedroom door. You can take this a step further and play "treasure hunt" with notes - so much fun :-)

5) Make books with your child. I use coil bound notebooks from the dollar store and write short stories in them, and Alyssa will illustrate them after she's read them. The nice thing about writing them yourself is that you can tailor them to your child's level and interests.

Happy reading!

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Heavy Rainfall Warning

You know how it is... when you have nothing to blog/talk about, there's always the weather ;-)

Today we have a heavy rainfall warning. We get those quite often where I live (the south coast of B.C., Canada). Yup, heavy rainfall.

This meant that my daughter had no choice (because Mommy is the Dry Clothes Warden) but to wear her rain boots and then change into her shoes when she got to class. It also means that The Boy (because he is Mr. Trippy) will change clothes several times today.

Last but not least, it meant that we were late for school today, because Mommy Warden thought she'd be clever and keep Mr. Trippy and Miss Too-Much-Of-A-Diva-To-Change-Her-Shoes out of the rain as long as possible, but messed up on the time. As a result, Miss Diva missed the second bell and needed a late slip from the office.

Oops. Baaaad Mommy...

My Singing Daughter

Awwww.... so cute..... they're learning "O Canada" in school now. She and I surfed the net to see what was out there, and found this You Tube clip of Avril Lavigne when she was a child, singing our anthem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kXnyGUb5r8

Alyssa LOVES it, and asks for it repeatedly, and sings along with Avril. It takes me back to when I was a kid and we used to sing it in school. I don't know if I feel proud, or really old!!!

lol

French Immersion Help

I can't recall if I've mentioned that Alyssa is in early French Immersion. The benefits are many - I won't go into them here (that's another post!).

It has required of me that I brush up on my high school French from, uh, a "few" years ago. (Hey, they had electricity back then, so cut me some slack).

Anyway, I just did a quick Google and found a page:

http://www.bonjour.com/index.php

I haven't explored it in too much depth, but what I like about it so far is the help with pronunciation. There is both audio help as well as phonetic spellings.

I'm definitely going to bookmark this page for future reference...

Full Day Kindergarten

Our government is considering implementing full day kindergarten to begin in 2009.

The more I sit on this idea, the more I think that I am opposed. Not from a logical and rational perspective, but from an emotional one. I don't think I'm ready to spend a whole day without both of my kids yet!!

I was gearing up for September 2009 when I'd walk both kids over to the school, send Alyssa off to her grade 2 class, and send Joseph off to Kindergarten. Then, 2 1/2 hours later, I'd walk back and get my little man. We'd go home and hang out, and then return a few hours later to pick up big Sis. Now the thought of being without them BOTH for the whole 6 hours makes me a little sad.

Not that it wouldn't be convenient!! WOW the stuff I could get done... wahooo!!! I could even... (shockers) NAP or something. Shop, watch tv, clean the house... (ok maybe not THAT).

LOL

Plus I think there are social and educational advantages to all day Kindergarten that shouldn`t be ignored.

But.... awwww... my little boy!! What will I do without him!!

Not yet. Let me keep my baby a bit longer...

And It Begins

Walking with The Boy the other day while The Girl was at school:

"Mommeeee!!! I meed a tissue!!!!"

I cup his chin in my hand and tilt back his head, and can't see a thing. Clear perfect little nostrils look back up at me (can nostrils look? anyway...)

"Mommy pweeeze! I meed a tissue!!"

Hokay. I dig through my bag and pull one out for him, which he proceeds to use with vigor as we walk.

"Fanks"

He hands me the crumpled paper, seeming content. I look at him again and NOW I see it... big and green and chunky, stuck to his cheek. (Ha! So he really DID need it ;-)

Now they're both full out sniffly coughy snotty watery eyed miserable. Ah yes, the arrival of the back to school cold! Hello again old friend. Nice of you to think of us, but uh, we're busy. Maybe another time? And call first next time. Oh and don't let the door hit you on the way out...

It's All Good

So far so good!

Alyssa loves grade one. The fact that one of her two former Kindergarten teachers is also her grade one teacher doesn't hurt. She was all smiles when she told me.

I know at this age they ALL love school, which makes our jobs as parents so much easier. I just wonder how long it will be before the bubble will burst ;-)

Tough Love

When Alyssa started Kindergarten last year, I had to walk into the school with her and take her all the way to the classroom (there was no crowbar handy to pry her from my leg). Luckily my hubby was there (he took the day off) to stay with then three year old Joseph and the stroller, which I hurriedly left in a mad panic to keep up with the the class as they disappeared into the school.

The next day she was fine.

This year, same thing. On the first day (yesterday), I had to drag her into the school. Again hubby had taken the day off (thank goodness) and stayed with Joseph in the playground, while I walked with the kids up to the class, into the class, and peeled Alyssa off my hip and plunked her into her big girl desk. Then I ran like mad (OK not quite, but you get the picture ;-)

The next day, she seemed fine. At the last second though, as the line was filing into the school, she turned to me with a panicked look on her face, and cried "Mommy!"

Since it was just me and the boy (hubby was at work this time) I had no choice but to stand my ground.

"I can't!! I have Joseph with me - I can't come in. Just GO!"

This of course flies right in the face of every nurturing motherly instinct that I have. Here I was, shunning my poor child, in her moment of need!

She was fine of course. She went, she conquered, and came out smiling five hours later. That's my girl ;-)

Fun With A Vacuum Cleaner

I'm a bad Mom.

OK, rephrase: you know everyone is ready for "get the bleep out of here and go back to school already" when chasing your children and pretending to suck them up with the vacuum cleaner is insanely funny to all involved. I think I had as much fun as they did.

One of the many upsides is that the children are now as dust free as the carpet.

Full Day Kindergarten

I think I'm in favour of this... The government is considering making Kindergarten full days, and introducing Pre-school to the current curriculum.

What it comes down to is that in today's economy, two wages earners are necessary for most families, and daycare is sorely underfunded. What surprises me is that they would consider increasing the school curriculum rather than increasing daycare funding (I'm surprised simply because it's a solution that I actually agree with!)

There are people out there who say: "Let kids be kids!! Why start them in school even earlier?"

I wonder if those people have children currently in Preschool or Kindergarten. Frankly, my kids have as much fun, if not more, in Kindergarten and Preschool as they do at home. With all the new friends, crafts, games, field trips, play time, singing, classroom pets, recess and gym time that they enjoy at school, it's hard to imagine them NOT wanting to be there.

Currently, studies show that one quarter of kids who enter Kindergarten are not developmentally ready (WOW). Clearly Daycare is not bridging this developmental gap in a society where both parents are too busy earning wages to put food on the table to be prepping their kids for school.

Then there is the theory (supported by studies) that early intervention prevents social problems later on, making the cost of a lengthened school curriculum economically beneficial.

With all of this in mind, it's hard to imagine why anyone would be resistant to a lengthened school curriculum which includes preschool and full day Kindergarten. It will be interesting to see if it is actually put into practice.

Pro-D Day and No Play Date!

My kids live a highly scheduled and structured life. My daughter is just one of those kids who thrives on doing STUFF, and her brother happily tags along.

Alyssa is a November baby, and I started her in Kindergarten when she was still four. She's in French Immersion, which she loves. in September '07, I fought the urge to enroll her in other activities other than school so that I wouldn't overwhelm her with her new 5 day a week schedule. However after a couple of weeks of "Mommy, why don't we have school every day? What are we going to do on Saturday and Sunday?" my credit card magically rose up out of my wallet and my fingers, seemingly possessed with minds of their own, were dialing the phone to the local parks and rec enrollment office.

So now, thank goodness, we still have swimming tomorrow even though there's no school. Yay!!!! (phew). Plus, I do get to sleep in a bit. I can`t lose sight of that ;-)