Summer's End

Well, summer is almost over...at least in terms of "going back to school". Nate has had a great time completing Level 2 of swim lessons, learning how to take a breath while swimming without gagging on a mouthful of pool water. He has also been in karate lessons for a month and loves it. He has the best instructor at the YMCA and is picking up the moves quickly.

Our biggest "YAY!" is that Nate was tested for early entry into Kindergarten and PASSED!! Since his birthday falls past the AZ cut off date, every public and private school we looked into refused to test him (or anyone with late birthdays) for early entry. I was getting discouraged and had resigned myself to the fact that he would be taking a 4yr old preschool class...again...and hoping he wouldn't be bored. But then, a charter school opened up near us that has an accelerated academic curriculum AND early entrance testing. Nate went into the exam room by himself but gave me detailed info on what they asked him! Pretty much everything he's learned in preschool and a few extras we had taught him at home: Identifying shapes, colors, upper and lower case letters and sounds, identifying and creating patterns, counting to 50, writing his name and drawing a picture of himself...etc etc.

I've been told countless times that he would be better off being held back a year (especially since he's a boy). But we have kept a close eye on his social and academic development and I think most every parent knows what their own child is capable of. He would've been fine repeating preschool again but I'm so thankful he had an opportunity to at least "try out" for Kinder. I think being an only child with parents who already have high expectations, constantly being in the public eye, playing with all our friend's kids who are older plus his own keen development all contribute to his ability to transition early into Kindergarten. (Although in my opinion, what's "early"? Several states have their cutoff as Dec 31). Anyway, that's my soapbox.

He is SUPER excited about starting Kindergarten and I'm glad he'll be in a school where he will be challenged. He is so proud of himself for passing that test. I hesitated even telling him it was a test, although the word doesn't make him break into a sweat like I would. ha! To him, learning is fun and he cannot seem to get enough of it. I hope it stays that way for a long time.