My daughter did bring Miss D to visit around noon and we went to the pool, where we stayed in the water for over an hour, until we were all quite prune-y. Because if you are at the pool with Delaney, you WILL be in the water. Getting out and taking a break is for wimps.
She will be swimming by the end of the summer. She has a strong kick and can propel herself the length of the pool at a good pace, clutching her ridiculous parrot-head float ring, but of course, if she's clutching the ring, she's not using her arms. Mom got her to put the ring aside and brave ducking her face under once or twice (once on purpose, the second time not so on purpose). She came up spluttering the second time but not alarmed, and I pointed out that it's important to shut your mouth when jumping into a pool. She took this in very seriously and committed it to memory: "I need to close my mouth when I jump." She did dog-paddle a couple of feet to the wall on her own, as well. I swam to the far (deep) end of the pool and she wanted to kick her way to me with her swim ring, and I suggested we meet in the middle. She got there as quickly as I did; I was doing the "grandma breaststroke" - the one done while wearing prescription sunglasses in the water. She is developing a nice, strong kick, and as soon as we get her arms going, she'll be off and no turning back. She is DETERMINED to learn to swim; she is on a mission now, and we are going to make it happen with these regular sessions at our community pools (there's one a block from their house, and mine is a 5 minute walk away).
A nice long swim was followed by vegan burgers and salad and fruit for lunch, several episodes of Curious George on Netflix, and of course puzzles. She has to do her Melissa & Doug See-Inside Alphabet Peg Puzzle
(best money Grandma ever spent) every single time she visits. She knows her letters, and is learning letter sounds. Mom asked her, "What letter does apple start with?" and she shouted, "A!" and so forth. I see that they have an upper and lower case version Melissa & Doug Upper & Lower Case Alphabet
and I'm going to have to add that to the puzzle rack. She's got the upper case letters down, but lower case is still a bit confusing. Of course, she is TWO. I truly don't know where they'll send this kid to kindergarten. She has an October birthday, which means she missed the Cast in Stone birthday cutoff for kindergarten, and won't start kindergarten until a month before she turns six. Yeah. That's going to be...interesting.
Our youngest grand daughter, after two years of pre-school, went into Kindergarten at her local school a month before her sixth birthday - the usual starting age is five, but in this family it has worked out that nearly all have been at least five and a half when starting school.
ReplyDeleteHere you can start a child at school if it is turning 5 in the first term - I feel that is too young for such a big change.
I really believe that our little mob have benefited from being a little older at the start line.
There is just so much to learn before even starting at school. Swimming for example - well done Delaney.
Gae, in Callala Bay
Delaney will have had 4 years of academic preschool before starting kindergarten, and is already hitting pre-reading and early math milestones at two and a half. I've been down this road with her uncle, who was allowed to skip a grade (he missed the date by 9 DAYS). Now, grade skipping is strictly VERBOTEN! You MUST walk the path and color inside the LINES! We'll see how this goes forward, but I'm not having a warm fuzzy feeling right now.
ReplyDeleteMy dad started school at 4 and graduated from high school two months after his 17th birthday. (This was in 1948.) He does complain that during the war, if someone dropped out of school to go in the service, they could go to regular high school when they returned, and could play sports until they were 21. So he was 15 and 16 and wrestling and playing ball against guys who had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and were almost 21. He also talks about not being as mature emotionally as his classmates. My mom is three months older than my dad, and she graduated a year behind him.
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge worry when you feel that the school system is not as bright and flexible as the child.
ReplyDeleteA problem here too, especially outside the more densely populated areas. Selective high schools are really only available in the metropolitan areas.
I am in favour of the selective system - it gave my father and my mother and her siblings a quality of high schooling that could not otherwise have been afforded. I also had the opportunity to choose between two selective high schools. The extra travelling involved was sometimes a problem, but worth it in the long run.
Gae, in Callala Bay
Yes, if we had an outstanding school system that could provide the kind of education a very bright child needs I wouldn't have these concerns, but the opposite is true here. Education is all about passing standardized tests and extremely inflexible.
ReplyDelete