should I be focusing more on preschool...

Hi guys!

The school is coming out to do an evaluation for Ryan for preschool, he's in speech and it's part of their protocol.

My friend had the same evaluation in a different school district, and she was telling me what they were testing for.

Now I'm a bit nervous. We haven't spent much time focusing on letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. We do talk about them in our day to day stuff, hiking swiming, playground etc...but I have no idea what they know. If I ask them what color a particular object is, they may or may not give me the right answer, depends what mood they are in. I don't push it, I figure they are only 2.5yrs old, what's the rush.
our focus is more social (mostly because Ryans so shy). But they do so well in other areas like sitting still at library time), sharing with friends, basic problem solving, swimming, riding bikes working on a farm, cooking and just old fashion playing.

Should I be worried? Should I be pushing more? I just want to make sure I'm not doing ryan a diservice by focusing on the wrong things.
so should I follow the schools lead or my kids?
*I should state I don't feel there is any issue with their ability to learn. And our pedi has mentioned that they don't have to know these things before going into kindergarten, as long as they have the confidence to learn it. Oh and they will be going to preschool next fall for 2 years before kindergarten.

Thanks for your insight.
rebecca

 

Personally I wouldn't stress over it... but then I'm taking a laid back approach. We will probably do Pre-K 4, but not anything formal before that. My kids are 3 yr 3 mo now, and just up until a little bit ago I wondered if my dd knew her colors... mainly b/c she'd sometimes say the wrong one... but also b/c when I'd ask, her brother would answer first! haha! anyway, in the last little bit she's gotten quicker at answering and she's usually right! I'm with you in the part of they are young... if your pedi doesn't have any concerns, then hopefully it's just a timing thing. I love the focus on the social/fun things! there's plenty of time for scholastics!

It will be interesting to see how the eval goes... do you think that they are just evaluating so that they can put him in the right class? Is only Ryan being evaluated b/c of the speech issues?

good luck! I think it will be interesting for you to also see what they have to say even if you don't change anything you're doing.

 

I'm a bit confused... what kind of evaluation is it? My kids' preschool doesn't even bother really teaching numbers, shape etc until 4. If it's the school district testing to see if they qualify for preschool after early intervention, I guess it depends, but for us they just tried to get them to talk a bit, draw some circles, see how they did with some toys etc...

 

Our school system is very small, and we only have one preschool with one teacher in our area, which is why we are holding off on preschool a bit. I'm afraid of 3 years with the same school and teacher in one class might get a bit dull for them. And well, 'I'm' just not ready yet.
Yes, Ryan is the only one being tested because he is the only one in speech therapy. Our speech person thinks his speech delay was mostly because he is so shy and doesn't often like to make eye contact, so therefor, he wasn't watching us use our mouths, which she felt was important.
Our state requres that if a child is receiving services than the school system has to come out to evaluate them 3 months prior to their 3rd birthday. If they qualify for school services then the child can attend preschool for free. Our speech therapist wants the school to meet with Ryan even though he won't be going to preschool this year, she feels it will help him for next year. At least that is what she says, I know she really wants my boys to go to preschool this year.

From what my friend was telling me about her daughters eval was they were asking very academic like questions. They said she qualified for kindergarten...at 2.5 yrs!! Her kids are exceptionally bright kids! They were asking shapes, colors, numbers letters etc.

It's funny, after I shared this info with dh he has been 'drilling' the boys! Lol!
He loves teaching flashcard and stuff, blech, I would much rather go for a hike and discover cool bugs and fairies under rocks!! Haha!

Thanks for input ladies!

 

If your boys are enjoying the flashcards, I'm sure it won't hurt them. I wouldn't push it if they are not interested, though. You want them to feel that learning is fun, not a chore. I think what you are teaching them through your daily routine is perfectly age appropriate. I taught 2.5 year olds in day care for ten years before becoming a SAHM.

 

Ditto youngmom3. I don't think toddlers need to be pushed into "academic" learning so early (letters, numbers, shapes, etc), as they so often are. If they enjoy it, fine. But I think that age-appropriate learning IS going for hikes and discovering bugs and fairies! Really, at that age, I think it's all about sensory/motor exploration, learning self control (little by little), and learning social skills (how to communicate emotions in ways OTHER THAN whacking one's twin over the head, how to get along with other kids, etc), and being generally curious about the world. There's all the time in the world for the academics later.