Are Public Schools Pushing Our Little Kids Too Much?

I hung out with a few kids a couple weeks ago and was surprised that a four-year-old didn't know all her letters. This morning I was talking about this kid with my mom, who is a preschool teacher at the University of Louisville's preschool, as well as a reading education specialist. She said that kindergarten is when kids really need to start learning their letters and possibly start learning to read. I looked it up after we got done talking, and on WebMD, it says that ages 6-10 is when kids should start reading. 

My mom told me, however, that their school is getting a lot of pressure to teach more reading and pre-reading techniques because the state is redoing the kindergarten screening procedure. There is now concern that kids are going to start being turned away from kindergarten classes if they don't know the alphabet or know how to read before they are screened for kindergarten. Now, if a kid's brain isn't ready to learn the alphabet, the kid isn't going to learn it. What is it going to do to kids if they are put in remedial groups starting in kindergarten? This is going to completely kill their self-esteem. All kids learn at their own rate. If the official age to learn to read is 6-10, then that means that kids should be able to read by the end of third grade. Third grade. Not kindergarten, not first grade, not before kindergarten!

My sister didn't start reading until first grade. My parents knew that she would be put in Title 1 and dubbed a "slow kid." So, both my sister and I were home schooled for a couple years. My parents held me out because they didn't think it would be good for me to be in public school and my sister to be home schooled; my sister might develop an inferiority complex if that were the case. Mom taught us at home, and it was great for both of us. My sister learned how to read close to the end of her first grade year, and the next year we were both put in public school. She was always within the top 5% of her class for the next 10 years of her public education!

My sister (left) and me playing when we were kids.

If my sister had been put in public school and forced to learn to read before she was ready,  she never would have learned it well at all. She would have been put in Title 1 and always been around kids who weren't even close to her intelligence level. She never would have been integrated in reading class and once she "learned" that she was "slow," there is no way of telling if that mentality and that learned behavior of not understanding concepts would have spilled over into other subjects.

Let your kids play. If they start picking letters out when they're 18 months old, great. If they don't, it's okay. Kids are supposed to play when they're young. The brain at the preschool age is working on learning social behaviors and how to interact with other people. If you are inundating little kids with stuff their brain isn't capable of learning, they won't learn the way they're hardwired to learn. Let them go play. Playing is the whole point of being a little kid, and it really seems like we are trying so hard to make them "smart" that we're not letting them be kids. 

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

5 Ways to Take Time for Yourself!

This morning I woke up to see 1520 views of ChickOpinion! Wow! I never thought I would get this many views in only three weeks! Thank you for making this fantastic opportunity a success! :)

I am going to take a day off of talking about the news today. I feel like it gets too negative and I don't want to start my weekend (or yours!) off like that!

The beautiful, cold autumn sky outside.

It's another gorgeous sunrise this morning! I am going to take today for myself (well, part of it!). I've gotten a little bit off track in terms of keeping tabs on my health over the last couple weeks because I've gotten busier. A lot of people have the misconception that taking time for yourself means blowing off responsibilities in other parts of your life. I think that only happens rarely--like if you don't routinely take time for yourself and then decide to take a whole day or a whole week for yourself. That can be damaging to your own psyche, your family, and your job because shirking your duties will really just end up making you feel guilty. You will end up making the false association between taking time for yourself and feeling guilty for taking time for yourself.

Here are five things I love doing to take time for myself that don't have to take a lot of time (but can take a lot of time if you want them to!):

• Yoga. I know some guys might think this a "girl thing" because girls are usually more flexible than guys. Well, I'm going to say it's for everyone. Breathing and focusing inward during yoga is so powerful and I definitely think men can benefit from it, too.
• Reading. Now I am well aware that not everyone loves reading. But I do! :) Sue Grafton is a huge favorite of mine for books (just finished B is for Burglar!) and for short stories I adore Guy de Maupassant.
• Cooking. This one is kind of funny, because it can be for someone else, but it relaxes me because it's just me in the kitchen and I get to do whatever I want. :) I don't know yet what I'll cook tonight, but I'm excited to have that time for myself.
• Pampering! This is not just for girls!!! If you look good, you have the potential to feel a lot better about yourself! So yesterday I decided to get my eyebrows waxed for the first time. For those of you who haven't seen me, I have brows reminiscent of those of Brooke Shields. :-/ So. I finally went for it! I love the result, but here's a tip: if you are allergic to aloe, tell them ahead of time. Ow! My eyebrow area was all puffy for a couple of hours after the wax because of the "soothing" stuff they put on afterward. Hopefully next time I decide to try the pampering thing it will go a little better! :)
• Create Something. This is something I really love doing. I know that it might sound all artsy-craftsy, but you know, everyone has different ways of creating! This blog, for example, is huge for me. I love it, because every day I get to create this thing that is part of me! I am definitely into the arts and crafts thing, too, tho--I'm making kitty toys this weekend for our little guys and starting on my wedding dress, so there are tons of different things to do! Try to find something that you like doing that is all you and create!

I know everyone has crazy schedules and I'm not trying to be "holier-than-thou" about all this. It's extremely important to take even 10 minutes for you every day. So today, take some time for yourself! Rebuild who you want to be, who you know you are, and get back on track!

Have a great weekend! I'm going to start posting on weekends just to see how it goes, so please keep up with the blog during your football-filled first weekend of Fall!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi