What academic skills do your almost 4yr old have now?

[jnezmama02]

I just realized that Emily  not only recognizes all the letters of the alphabet, she can write them all from memory (not copying or tracing)...I'm talking freehand here.   She also knows many of the letter sounds.  She recognizes 1-12, can count to like 50 by herself and to 100 if she's reminded of a 70 and 90. I think she might have even picked up a few sight words from Jessica, b/c she blurts them out sometimes when Jessie is reading and she's looking over her shoulder.  Emily  counts 1-10 in spanish and knows about most basic colors in spanish as well as a few key phrases (mostly from Dora, lol).  To be honest, many of these things I'm shocked by this b/c Jessie didn't do many of these things until this summer...and Jessie is by no means "behind" in her Kindergarten class. Matter of fact, she's in the "above average" reading group according to her teacher.   So, if Emily is already at this point and still has 1.5yrs to go before Kindergarten, what the heck is she going to learn in Kindergarten?

[kokonutmama]

Your last question is a potent one.  The answer, I fear, is probably nothing, except social skills. She might be bored.

We, on the other hand, will not be having that problem.  I am raising a popular jock, of all things.  Outgoing, charming, great at finessing language and picking up new physical skills quickly, but has no interest or talent for reading and writing AT ALL.  He can recognize about a third of the letters in the alphabet, maybe the number "1", I'm not sure about that.  _Write_ a letter? Not even close. He can count pretty high.  Not to put him down,though.  He has  kinesthetic intelligence, emotional intelligence, can pick out and name the different instruments in a small ensemble by ear, has a bigger than average speaking vocabulary ("hey mom, will I get blisters on my feet if my socks are two different textures?"), and is the light of my life, but bookish? uh, not so much He, for one, will get a lot out of kindergarten.  He'll enjoy it, too, I think.  His favorite bedtime books are the dictionary (puts me to sleep, but he loves it) and the set of Letter books that are pretty instructional. 

You must be really proud of Emily, she sounds like a sweet and talented young lady. 
ETA: I'm totally sincere about that.  I realized after I posted that it may have come off slightly sarcastic, which was not at all my intention.

[ShannonandDel]

Delaney is a little bookworm too. She has been writing her letters for awhile now and loves to write everything. I spell words to her all day  She  is reading a little too and can count pretty high. She is just starting to recognize larger printed numbers now. We are also moving past picture books for reading. We are halfway through Charlotte's Web right now and she is loving it. She closes her eyes to "see" the pictures.
The being bored in school is a big reason we aren't going to be sending her to school. She knows we will be starting Homeschool in the fall and we are both excited.

[kokonutmama]

Wow, Shannon, I tried reading Charlotte's Web to Kody last summer because at the time he didn't care what I was reading, as long as I was reading outloud to him, including grown-up books.  He didn't get into it, and honestly I had forgotten about some of the themes, so I let it drop after the first chapter.  After that I tried The Jungle Book and Peter Pan, but ended up reading both of them silently to myself while he played with cars, lol.  I guess whatever phase he'd been in that allowed me to read really heavy grown-up stuff to him had passed.

I think it's cool to read chapter books with our little ones if they'll listen.  My uncle read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy to his kids as bedtime stories and now says that he wouldn't have done it if he'd realized (a) how long it would take and (b) how many different characters' voices he'd have to keep straight. 

[ShannonandDel]

A, I don't think she would have been ready before now. She has been wanting longer stories for awhile so we just kind of worked our way throgh some easy readers at the library to this. I do modify some of the sentences and we do a lot of talking about what is going on. When the goose and th sheep talk about Wilbur being killed they go on and on and on. I just skipped to the point and reminded her that they are wrong (she has seen the movie a million times. Even so, there were tears in her eyes and we moved on quickly. 

Hope, I bet some of Emily seeming so much ahead to you has to do with her having Jessie.  When Jessie was small you had Emily to take care of, but Emily has a big sister to try to be like.

I wish we could get all of these little guys together. I think they would have so much fun!

[moogie]

To be honest, i'm still finding out what she knows since being back the last few months.  She knows the alphabet and can write the alphabet too.  She can read atleast 20 words.  numbers, i know she knows a lot of them.  With books she doesn't like me reading non illustrated books.  She is also very creative and good at visualising ideas.

As for Asha, she is exactly like Kody.  charming, sporty. its still scares me how her mannerisms are the same as Kody's(atleast Kody 2 yrs ago)

[ShannonandDel]

A, I don't think she would have been ready before now. She has been wanting longer stories for awhile so we just kind of worked our way throgh some easy readers at the library to this. I do modify some of the sentences and we do a lot of talking about what is going on. When the goose and th sheep talk about Wilbur being killed they go on and on and on. I just skipped to the point and reminded her that they are wrong (she has seen the movie a million times. Even so, there were tears in her eyes and we moved on quickly. 

Hope, I bet some of Emily seeming so much ahead to you has to do with her having Jessie.  When Jessie was small you had Emily to take care of, but Emily has a big sister to try to be like.

 I wish we could get all of these little guys together. I think they would have so much fun!

Hope, That sounded wrong. I wasn't saying Emily just "seemed" ahead. I was saying that there was pobably a reason tht Jessie wasn't doing the same stuff at this age. They are both smart little girls!

[kokonutmama]

I wish we could get all of these little guys together. I think they would have so much fun!

You read my mind.  I've been daydreaming about ways we could all afford it, like, convincing Fox or Bravo that it would make a good reality TV show (getting online groups together IRL) so they would buy us all plane tickets and lodging.  Lol. 

I'm impressed with all your kids.  Such brainiacs! 

[jnezmama02]

Oh, Shannon, I knew what you were saying. It's all good!     And, I agree that having Jessie helped. I think having an older sibling really helps kids get further in their skills b/c they have someone to look up to and want to be like.  Also, Jessie likes to "teach" Emily stuff all the time. It's very cute  .

A, I think Zachary is more like K...at least as far as motor skills.  He's been MUCH more physical at an earlier age than the girls. He seems to have amazing fine motor skills already. He's much more interested in investigating how to climb something or how to take something apart than the girls were at this age.  He's not as vocal though.  He's 19mos and still "babbles" most of the time w/ clear words here and there.

[ShannonandDel]

  Hope,

I love the differences in my kids. Delaney was sitting with books, turning paper pages, and was able to identify all kinds of animals at this age. Finley thinks books are for eating. On the other hand, Fin is the most determined little thing. He will not give up until he figures out whatever he is working on, which usually has something to do with climbing. He also loves to take things apart and try to get them back together. He is a lot more vocal than she was, but she was better a signing.

He has figured out doorknobs already too. Delaney didn't even try dooknobs until she was three. I think part of it is that he is taller, but just a small part.

[jnezmama02]

Delaney was sitting with books, turning paper pages, and was able to identify all kinds of animals at this age.  Finley thinks books are for eating.

I'm so glad to hear you say this.  I thought I was the only one w/ a kid who thinks eating books is more fun than looking at books.  I swear, Zachary has an addiction to eating paper/cardboard.  Board books are his fave. Yep, most of his board books have the corners eaten off.  He will sit to listen to a story, but only a short one, LOL.   

Oh, and Zachary calls ALL animals "dog".  It doesn't matter what it is...even our cat is called dog.  I guess the only exceptions are characters that he knows the name, like Mickey Mouse is "mouse".   He did just start verbally counting this week.  He'll now say "1, 2, 3".  So, that's something, lol.  I was beginning to get worried he was "behind" on his verbal skills, but his dr. and everyone else I know say that boys are more physical and less verbal.  So far, he's staying true to that.

[skeettafic]

Jocelyn has known all her letters and sounds for probably a year and she is starting to sound out the beginnings of words.  She can write most of her letters freehand but she doesn't do it often.  She has a few sight words as well.  She also composes "poems" that she tells me to write down.

She can count to 50+ but needs help with the transitions sometimes.  She can add and subtract numbers less than 10.  She recognizes the numbers up to 60 (she can read a digital clock).  She is starting to read a regular clock. 

I do truly wonder how she will do in K since I'm sure she will be doing so much academically at that point that I fear she will be bored but I don't know that we can do anything about it.

[jnezmama02]

Wow, I can't believe Jocelyn is already understanding a digital clock and working on a regular clock. This is something I've been working on w/ Jessica. We just got her a first digital watch and she's still working on understanding the meaning of all of the times (again, something they address in K).  She knows key times, but not all of them (like she knows around 3pm is when she gets out of school and around 5:30pm is dinner time, but 3:45 vs. 4:45pm doesn't have any meaning to her yet). She's not even close to being able to read a regular clock yet.  They don't address that in school for a few more years. 

Will Jocelyn be going to private school or public school?  I think that will make a big difference on whether she's bored or not.  I know in Jessica's public school, the kids are all over the board on skills. They teach to the middle of the group. This works for Jessie b/c she is learning to master her skills without too much struggling or being bored. However, I fear Emily will be bored w/ this kind of set-up.  Unfortunately, we don't have any other choice right now. The private schools are too expensive. There will be a charter school that is supposed to open up next year, but I don't know if I'll feel comfortable w/ that since it won't have a long standing academic record yet (just 1 yr) when Emily goes to school. I don't want my child to be the "experiment", lol.

[ShannonandDel]

Delaney talks about time a lot. She will say, "It is 20:30 o'clock!"    She does know the order....Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc.

We have a kitchen timer to help her understand minutes. We will say she has 15 minutes to finish something, or that we are leaving in hlaf an hour and set the timer for her.

[kokonutmama]

There will be a charter school that is supposed to open up next year, but I don't know if I'll feel comfortable w/ that since it won't have a long standing academic record yet (just 1 yr) when Emily goes to school. I don't want my child to be the "experiment", lol.

There may be advantages to being the second class at a school.  The teachers are bound to me more energetic and fresh.  There's not as much "well, we've just never/always done it that way" mentality so a gifted kid might get a sort of custom curriculum, they look at her as an opportunity to set up an awesome gifted program (because the whole staff is fresh and excited about the project) rather than another kid too smart to teach. 

I was the third class at my high school, and count myself very lucky to have gone there while I still could.  It's become so competitive that I'm not sure I could have gotten in were it now so little known at the time, but the quality of the education was absolutely the best anyone could ask for.