Kindergarten Promises
I have done it. I have committed myself not only to myself, but now to my student and child:
“Hans, this week we will take a vacation and then start Kindergarten on Monday.”
“What’s Kindergarten?”
“That means all the school a five-year-old should know. Jill starts Kindergarten tomorrow, but you will start on Monday.”
“Why can’t we start tomorrow?”
“Because I need a little more time to figure it out. And, you have been doing school already, right?”
“Right.”
“Jill hasn’t had school all summer, but you have done some already, so this week will be a vacation while I get everything together.”
“But, Mom, a vacation means like going to the beach.”
“Well, this week will be a break from school.”
“Oh, ok, a break. Yeah. And why do you need to get things together?”
“Well, I need to finish figuring out what we need to do for Kindergarten, and then when we start on Monday, we will do full Kindergarten — a little different than what we have done, but it will be what a five-year-old should do.”
“Oh, ok, because I am five now.”
“Yes. So, how about on Friday we’ll talk about what we’ll do and talk about Kindergarten rules, and then start on Monday. So you can listen as much as you want this week to the recordings Daddy made for you, because Daddy recorded what a five-year-old should memorize. So if you listen to that this week, that will get you ready for the full start on Monday while I get the books and things ready for the full start.”
“Oh, ok. I will listen to it a lot.”
I have learned a few things after doing school pretty regularly for the last month, and I want to tweek things around a bit and consider next week a new start. One thing I have observed is that treating schoolwork as an impersonal objective thing that I am helping him accomplish smooths our relationship. It keeps me from feeling like any stubbornness, laziness, or genuine confusion is a personal affront to myself, and it gives him a feeling of ownership in the process rather than it being just one more thing I am demanding from him. I believe we are still in the honeymoon phase of being five, but using “what five-year-olds” can do has been the magic key to almost every door the last two weeks. We’ll see how long that lasts — and I know it will last longer if I don’t abuse and overuse it, although it is a sore temptation.
So, on to figuring out life, the universe, and everything…..or at least, so it seems.
