Ian

Ian is a 7 year-old 1st grader.

Ian also had a year at home with Daddy prior to attending various day-care centers and pre-schools.  Unlike Haley who does well in the midst of activity, Ian required home-like environments with “Mother-type” teachers to thrive and feel comfortable.  Because early childhood education was so important to us, we chose a series of home-based preschools for our son.

When it came time to starting kindergarten, we realized that Ian’s late Fall birthday would make him among the youngest members of the class.  For Haley, that was fine because she was such a precocious speaker and so well socialized that we had no doubt she was “ready” for kindergarten.  But Ian, was a different kind of child.  He didn’t talk until he was two.  And didn’t talk much until he was 4.  He spent 2 years in speech therapy because, even after he DID start talking…no one could understand him except Haley.

Each and every milestone was accomplished right on the edge.  Rolling over…sitting unassisted…the kid didn’t walk until 1.5 years old!  Still all within normal limits, but different from his big sister who was running all round, unassisted, at her very 1st birthday party.  Grandma still recounts a story of Haley (age 7 months) pulling herself up to her TV table to work the DVD player!!  And we knew Haley was a “different” kind of child when she rolled across the room at 8 weeks to ‘investigate’ a newspaper with her mouth!!

So, for our Ian, we decided that he would do better (i.e. be more competitive, more resistant to negative peer-pressure, able to sit still and follow directions as necessary to do well in school) if we avoided rushing him off to kindergarten.  Ultimately we opted for a private kindergarten/pre-K program which he began just prior to his 5th birthday (as not to ‘waste’ a year).  And the following year he was ‘officially’ old enough to enroll in public kindergarten.

…until he started public kindergarten.Our plan was successful.  Ian was well-behaved, mature, and a joy to his teachers.  He learned phenomenally well from his teacher and impressed us with his academic abilities.  Ian constantly demonstrated that this “going to school” thing was such a great decision…

It was then that he started subtly complaining that he “already knew all of this stuff.”

Instead of being “concerned,” I was *thrilled*!  It meant that he should be a high-achiever…the dream of any parent.  So I established a supplemental home curriculum to complement and enhance his school experience.  And throughout public kindergarten year, this was sufficient.

Then 1st grade happened.

We LOVE his 1st grade teacher, and Ian continues to do well in her class.  However, as he continues to be unenthusiastic about attending school (“I’m not going to learn anything new today”) I’m feeling the urge to reconsider our current arrangement with this child.