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Attachment Parenting
s/o reading at age 6
I was reading the post about older kids and AP, and it got me thinking - at what age did you learn to read? I know at the schools around here, they teach reading in their 4 year old program, and kids are reading by Kindergarden. However, when I was in school (I'm 27 now), I was reading at about 5-6, and I was placed in advanced classes, and most kids really didn't start reading until they were 6-7 years old. And they didn't even really start kids reading until 1st grade. We learned a little in Kindergarden, but not much.
For those with older kids - do you feel like your kids are being pushed too soon? Or do you feel its about right? Some of the 4 year old programs around here are full day, 5 days a week. We only went to Kindergarden for half days!
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Re: s/o reading at age 6
I learned to read in preschool - we worked a little on reading in preschool but I picked up most of it at home I think. My parents claim I could read signs when I was 2 but...I think they might be exaggerating ;-) I was ahead of my classmates when I started school though.
I think schools today are all over the map. My greatest concern is the increased focus on standardized testing, even in elementary school. And you have some kids who can read and some who don't even know their ABCs - all in the same class.
I'm not sure what we'll do with kiddo as far as preschool. I see preschool as being more about social growth and play. We will work with him on reading at home I'm sure.
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Erin is in Kindergarten this year, and she goes full days, 5 days a week. It was a lot to handle for her in the beginning, but she's adjusting now. She's starting to read and write, and no, I don't think it's too much for her. She does it all day, and then comes home and STILL wants to practice writing and reading....I think it's great!
It does put a lot of pressure on the parents to work with their children to make sure they don't fall behind, but it's not overwhelming for me.
I learned to read in preschool as well. My Mom said that she didn't know that I could read for quite some time because I told her I couldn't ... then my preschool teachers told her otherwise. Apparently I was scared to tell my parents that I could read because I liked being read to and I thought if I could read by myself my parents wouldn't read to me any more. lol
Anyway, I fully remember a lot about preschool and LOVED it so I don't really think it's a clear cut right vs. wrong thing. I think it's more about the personality of the individual child. DD is in Montessori half days, three days per week already. She really enjoys it and is thriving there. We will start her full days there next fall. If she was miserable there I wouldn't send her. It's great for some kids and for others it isn't.
And I certainly don't expect her to the best and the brightest in her class because of an early learning program. I just expect her to be her.
*ETA - Our kindergarten was full day. There was not a half day option.
YES! We'd get a Letter Person coloring page to color with each letter. That's how I learned to color! Yes, I could read in kindergarten but could not color. lol I learned to trace the outside of the Letter Person with a crayon and then color INSIDE the lines. Ahhh ... coloring.
I read before kindergarten, but I had an older brother who read to me constantly. My mom swears I learned so quickly because of him. We were definitely reading in kindergarten and I'm 31.
I went to a full day kindergarten program. They didn't even offer half days or partial weeks. That was in North Carolina though.
I totally remember the Letter People!
I'm glad there are positive experiences with full day kindergardens and early learning. For some reason, I am so scared for DS entering public schools here because they are very heavy on teaching to the standarized testing and teaching things really early. The 4 year old programs are appealing because they are free and part of the public school system. However, they do have half day options. There are no half day kindergarden options.
Once I left Kindergarden, I went to a multi-graded class and everyone was taught on their own level - it didn't matter what grade you were in. If you were in 2nd grade but read at the 4th grade level, you went to 4th grade reading. If you were in 3rd grade, but struggling in a subject like math, you went to 2nd grade math. And we had 3-4 recesses/day, plus PE. The schools here are not that child-centered.
I don't know of any programs like that around here in the public schools. I guess I didn't do the more traditional public school experience, so I am nervous about it.
I don't know if they are official programs, but here in South Florida, my nephew did this. He was reading a grade level or two above his own, so they would send him for an hour a day or so to work with those students and their teacher.
I'm started to become interested in Montessori in part because the kids are grouped by several age/grade groups and I'm guessing that helps with younger kids learning from older ones, working with varying ability levels, etc. Some public school systems have Montessori magnets, too.
My big thing is I want to get away from the testing, and short of private school, I'm not sure how else that is to be accomplished.
Ahh! I'm so glad that you guys remember Letter People! I loved them!
Remember THIS?
I'm Mr. M-with the Muchy Mouth
I'm munching morning to midnight-midnight to morning
Mr. Mmmmmmmmmmmm with the Munchy Mouth!!!
My mouth must munch, munch, munch. My mouth has lunch, lunch, lunch!
I read pretty early on but since ds has been having trouble in school I have done a lot of reading. Science is showing that girl's brains are usually ready to learn to read around age 4 and for boys that magic age is closer to 7.
Yes, I absolutely believe we push our kids too far too soon. In Finland they don't even start school until age 7 and by age 15 their students are out testing ours in most areas. Our school system is seriously broken.
I loved the Letter People! (Honestly, usually when I mention them as part of my kindergarten memories, people think I'm nuts!)
I was reading in K, but I had two older sisters that I idolized. So I was definitely trying to be like them!
From what I have seen, they cover the ABC's and sight words in kindy. Then in 1st grade they have to make the leap to phonics and being able to sound out words, etc.
Plenty of kids can do the phonics stuff earlier (I know I was reading by the end of kindy if not sooner) but developmentally, many kids's brains can't make that leap until around 6-7. So in some ways yes I think they push to hard at too young an age. But really I think it is a matter of needing to break kids up into groups.
I would like to see which scientific journal articles you are referring to.
Some kids, in my humble opinion, are programmed to be learners and are hungry for the next intellectual challenge. It's not "pushing" them if they show an interest in learning and WANT to know what words the letters make.
Pushing our kids too far too soon = toddlers and tiaras. Not learning how to read at a young age.
this has a lot to do with how they are funded, not just the age that children begin. all schools feed children lunch and snacks through the day. every child is fed. there are kindergartens in finland and most go, but they are considered part of daycare, not official school.
so most children get some education before the formal ed begins. in finland, most children read before 7.
Just so you know, this was a s/o of another thread on this board, not 6-12. That other thread just happened to be written after this one - coincidentally, I guess.
Yes, I read Hippy's OP. I lurk on this board, although I rarely post.
And I wasn't trying to be mean or spiteful here ... I'm always genuinely curious about the scientific facts regarding the brain's hardwiring. Just in case anyone decided to break out the ::side eye::.
This book was a great starting point for me. I've learned a lot and continue to learn as we get farther into my son's schooling.
I asked my mom to teach me before I turned 3. She got out her out her old *** and Jane reader and taught me one afternoon. Other kids were being taught in Kindergarten. My teacher would just set me up with readers from the older grades and I'd work independently.
Einstein Didn't Use Flashcards is another good book that addresses early reading/learning. I can't remember what it says at the moment though, other than kids can learn early, but there is also an optimal time when kids are more ready to learn to read (and learn other things).
Like you said jenerally, some kids want to learn and are ready to learn early - and I think that is important, too, and fits along the AP style of parenting.
I didn't think you were being mean here
eh, well sometimes my e-rep precedes me. lol
My mom told me that the 4 year olds at her school who were previously in daycare seem to make the transition easily. During the first week or two, though, she said she always ends up with 4 year olds hanging out in her office. This year, she had one who came in there and napped behind her desk and kept asking, "Is my mom on her way yet?" They all eventually got the hang of it though
I learned to read at 2. My mom made me little books out of small picture albums with sight words and pictures cut out of magazines. From what she said I started picking the sight words out of real books we were reading - but 2 and 2 together and started reading. I could read chapter books in K. I didn't go to preschool and went to half day K. Funnily, I did not learn my ABCs until K! It freaked my teacher out big time when she caught me reading. To this day I am such a sight reader I have an awful time pronouncing words that I haven't heard before. On the flip side I read straight down a page, line by line, and read a page in seconds. Although I was never pushed in school and I was never much of an over achiever know how to read well and having good reading comprehension gave me a huge leg up all the way through and especially in college.
Because of that I am doing the same thing my mom did with me with my LO, I'm a big believer in sight word reading. DS recognizes a few words, clap, mouth, gorilla and wave. I don't push it, but "his" books are in a small basket with some of his other favorites in the living room. We read them to him when he asks us to. Some days we'll read them again and again, sometimes we'll go a week without looking at them. It is possible that he is a phonetic reader (my brother was even with the same opportunities I had) and in that case I'll probably start teaching him to read phonetically when he's 4 or 5.
I want DS in a Montessori school for the same reasons that PP stated.
My SIL has two kids. When he entered kindergarten, the oldest could already read the list of words they wanted them to read in order to be promoted to first grade. The youngest is now in kindergarten and she reads at a second grade level. I don't think these kids were pushed *at all*. It's just that every opportunity (and there's a lot), my SIL would practice with them. And there was TONS of positive reinforcement. In fact, my SIL says all the time she's amazed by how many kids (of SAHMs) don't know their ABCs when entering kindergarten. She wonders what they do with their kids all day if they're not practicing that kind of thing.
She seems like a great example to me, but I've never been responsible for teaching a child to read, so what do I know. Maybe she just has extraordinary kids....
This would be my guess. Every kid is different so it really depends but most boys aren't ready until around age 7. Their brains are wired different and you need to wait for the "on" switch.
Like I said before...there are exceptions to every "rule". I never would have thought I would be saying that boys and girls aren't equal...but in this case the way we teach them may need to be different. Whatever it is in the end, what we are doing now isn't working.
This is a hot button topic for me as I've taught K-2 in a very poor rural setting and very wealthy suburban overparenting private school and seen two different extremes. However, I'm less worried about kids being "pushed" than I am reading curriculum (even super fun reading curricula) replacing free play, socialization, gross and fine motor skills etc. I don't think teaching reading in K is a bad thing, but when it's the ONLY thing many schools are teaching (well, math and reading) you can easily squelch the zeal for other subjects and learning in general.
My problem with the hyper focus on reading in Kindergarten is best exemplified by Animal School. Not all kids are developmentally ready to read in Kindergarten. However, for those kids, they are often pulled out of subjects they are ready for to spend more time working on reading, and then get put in reading programs that are frankly more boring than watching paint dry.
Anyway, I'll prevent myself from writing a novel here. I was ready to read in K and always at the top of my class, but truthfully, I only learned to decode and my true comprehension is still awful. I need to read things 3-4 times to really get the meaning.
These are my concerns exactly! The push to read earlier and earlier - while I agree it is probably what many kids need/want, is it MORE important than other areas of learning? What about social, emotional, etc. knowledge.
I attribute this to my mom reading to me quite frequently as a child. I have no idea what specific age I learned to read, just before K. I was an avid reader in school and it wasn't until grad school that it got beat out of me. Since then I've probably read <12 books. I graduated 5+ years ago.
I hope DD loves to read and I know she'll read when she's ready (now that I understand not all kids read by K). Oh, and we didn't have 1/2 day K, so 25 years ago in my small town we were all going full day.
so, did everybody on the nest learn to read super early? Or are the "average" readers just not responding
Random tidbit from my early childhood brain development class- generally students brains are ready to read at about the time they are able to skip. Something about crossing the midline
I remember that now. It's a lot like walking & talking. My friend's baby is delayed and they said once she starts walking she would start talking more...and it was so true!
I agree completely. My DD was not ready in Kindergarten and is now struggling in 1st grade. She gets pulled out of class 1 hour every day to work on her reading and her math but then misses out on other subjects in return, making her fall being in every subject or results in her bringing home all her work she missed in class to do as homework.
A 1st grader shouldnt have to do 2 hours of homework at night