Spontaneous learning

In the happy land of make believe all children and adults would have the desire and opportunity to learn and explore the world around them at their own pace. Unfortunately, the age a child should be reading, writing, and doing algebra not only is out there, but has gotten earlier and earlier as the years have passed. "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" is a funny poem that comes to mind...and there is absolutely nothing in it about the 3 R's. (by the way, what idiot came up with the 3 R's?! Obviously not a language teacher...probably a politician, but don't get me started on them WRITE now) So now some people freak out if their child is not reading in Kindergarten when it used to be 2nd or even 3rd grade. My mom reads the paper religiously and cuts out articles that end up in my recycle bin, usually outdated and unread. She stopped for a while and would just tell me...THEN I wanted the whole article so she started up again. Anyway, while she was telling me about a company that offered tutoring for preschoolers I just about flipped my lid! What on earth should your preschooler feel like they are behind in before they even start school?! Ironically, as she was telling me this, Kyra was reading a board book to Tasha. I pointed to them and said, "that's what preschool tutoring should look like!" Case closed.

My 2 daughters are completely different personalities and completely different learners. I look and them and wonder how Bill and I created such polar opposites. It is a daily (ok, hourly) frustration but absolutely fabulous learning experience for me. Wow. I'm going to have to repeat that in front of the mirror each day. Even as an infant, Kyra would watch you or another child play with a toy before she would attempt playing with it. Tasha has always jump in head first and demanded first and last crack at anything. I think this has proven true with everything except the escalator, which Tasha still holds your hand on. Kyra was about everything social, artistic, and entertaining. She'd let you read to her for any length of time, enjoying the pictures and language so she could absorb the story as the author intended. I would reread some of the same stories night after night because I was too lazy to get new ones, or because she would fall asleep by the time Sam-I-Am convinced the cat that green and ham were actually tasty. Tasha INSISTS on rereading the same stories over and over and over again. She "reads" the lines she knows, and knows several books by heart. She withdraws from too social of situations, and likes to be the entertainer, not the entertainee. Tasha asks questions that Kyra didn't and Kyra listened to the answers that Tasha never heard.

Contrary to what many people may think, the teacher in me usually stays at school or tucked away in my tutoring bag. I am not constantly diagnosing children's reading abilities and I don't write lesson plans in my head for the morning that I will spend with my 3 year old. She does go to preschool and loves the social interaction of the small group. I requested that she be able to write her name in lower case letters instead of the all caps that they started her off with, but other than that I think I've been pretty laid back. Tasha WANTS to read and write and so I encourage that. Kyra wasn't interested until Kindergarten and even then I think it was mostly peer pressure. She didn't LOVE to read until the summer after 2nd grade, and now I can't stop her from doing it (but who would want to?!). Here's what writing instruction looks like at my house...
She wanted to write the name of her favorite book (of the week) so she went and got it. Good idea Tasha. Last year I had to remind Kyra that she should probably look up how to spell Hermione! (OK, she's not that bad) Same mom, still a teacher, but 2 very different learners.

Who needs tutoring, desks, writing sheets and workbooks? Just give me a kid a pad of paper, pencils and a book! But then again...back to my opening statement, "In the happy land of make believe..." Plain and simple, all kids are different and not all of them will take the initiative, at least not at the same time!