My eldest son is 4 turning five in July and he started kindy this year. I fear I may have sent him to school too early as he is in a class with kids nearly two years older than him(he is the youngest in his class). He is a beautiful bubbly personality and his speech is perfect. His teacher is wonderful. She keeps a close eye on him and updates us on his progress regularly. The sad truth is he is struggling with his literacy and numeracy and there is a chance he may have to do another year of kindergarten. If he just gets through there is a chance he will struggle through the rest of his schooling.This has caused me many sleepless nights. I dont need him to be top of the class but i really dont want him to struggle.I want to take him out of school and try all over again next year but hubby insists that "he should be fine". Has anyone faced a similar situation? How do I tackle this without it having a negative impact on my sons confidence?
5 Replies
That second year of kindergarten can make a huge difference in confidence and ability. If he is a happy boy now, let him finish off the year, and repeat. Don't beat yourself up. You can do some extra literacy and numeracy stuff over the summer holidays, to help give him a boost but it's possible the extra year is enough.
Finish the year and repeat kindy if that's what his teacher suggests, I don't think he will mind. Just explain that there's going to be a new lots of kids to make friends with. I'm guessing your not in qld as kindy isn't school, prep is our first year of school and theres a girl in my daughters prep class who's just about to turn 5 and she might not be at the top of the class she's definitely improving with each day.
With school its not just learning in the classroom but at home too, make learning fun and not a chore. Also if you can help out at school you can see how they teach and apply that to when your at home. I have a preppie and if I didn't help at the school i wouldn't understand how they learn the alphabet, sounds etc, i feel like I'm re-learning it all over again.
My nephew started at the same point and we have watched him struggle for years because his dad wouldn't let him do kinder over again. He is in year 4 now and I think dad might finally have come around. Little man has never quiet caught up, he is by no means a slow learner he's just never quiet bridged the gap.
For his sake I would say let him start over while he's still little and won't notice.
Our Mr 10 started kindy just as he turned 4 and is the youngest in his class. he struggles daily with every aspect of literacy (and everything else as a result) It breaks my heart to see him try so hard and still be behind. If someone had told me to start him in kindy later, I would have. If I had my time again, I would've held him back- The younger you do it- the easier it is for them and you.
From a teachers perspective:
It's not so much the intellectual issue that should be the focus but the social. Honestly, most kids that start school young are fine intellectually AND socially all the way through primary school. It's when they get to high school that the age gap becomes majorly obvious. They tend to lose it and all sorts of issues arise.
I'd repeat kindy if it's not going to be a drama. Just my opinion.
Good luck xx