Our 2 girls attended Kindergarten at our local public school. Although I feel they received a great education and had fun, I see Kindergarten in a whole new way, now that my little guy is in it. Boys are, well, different! While my girls thrived in that school setting with academics being the main focus, that just is not the case for my little guy. I am pleased with our day if I can complete up to one hour of academic work with him. The rest of his day is spent playing, exploring, building, digging, and just living life!
It is quite the challenge on most days, getting him to just even start his school work. He wakes up pretty early, and gets right to "work", building something with his Lincoln Logs, Legos, or Trio Blocks. He then will move to the outside world where he will dig and dig, ride his bike, or come up with some really neat imaginary game to play. When I call him to come to the school table, I am not met with enthusiasm, to say the very least.Who likes to stop playing??? But the funny thing is, once I get him past his calendar time activities, he is pretty cooperative and completes all the academics I have for him.
The key is keeping things moving, interesting, and quick. And it's not that he's not smart- quite the opposite. When he WANTS to, he can write me things and read words I have never taught him. And he will impress me with his math skills and other things I have never officially taught him, but he somehow knows. It's just that he is always thinking about what he could be doing instead of school work. I often see a look in his beautiful blue eyes that tells me "C'mon Mom- I have things to discover and things to build!"
I think most moms with little boys will agree that boys just want to have fun and get their feet wet, so to say. Having to stop and do school work is just getting in the way!
But he's quite the little trooper and HE has taught ME so much about slowing down and just enjoying life. I know that too soon, he will grow up and not be my "little guy" anymore. But for now he is my little guy, and he is only in Kindergarten. He has the rest of his life to "do school". For now, I am happy with him "doing life".
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