Just wondering! I know a lot of our kids have started school this year. So...

How are they doing?
What are they learning?
Do they like it?
Any dramas or achievements?

Parker has started kindy this year, and has been at school about 10 weeks. We have 4 terms a year and he just started term 2. In first term he went 3 days a week. Which is awesome. I was so worried he would be sick a lot and not end up going, or I would miss him too much and want him home lol

This term he is going 4 days a week (for some reason our school is 5 full days in kindy, but in most schools in Perth, Kindy is 4 half days, or 2 full days). It is coming onto winter here, so I don't know how he will do, but believe it or not, he has got through so far with no serious illness or need for antibiotics (miracle right?)

He is really enjoying it and once a week goes to after school care with Cooper (it is adjoined to the school) and Dan picks them up after work.

Cooper and Parker are actually getting along a lot better since starting school together too. We had a parent teacher interview last term and she said he was doing awesome and was particularly good at news!

We take his lunchtime meds to school everyday in a small esky (what dorks huh?) and the teachers are really good about it.

So what about you?

Anyone?

Well, Ethan is still a bit younger but he is in pre-school. He has been doing really well. He now knows all of his ABC's (no letter recognition yet) He can actually count to 10 and can say his numbers to about 15. He knows all of his colors, animals, shapes, etc. He can also pick out his name from a page with other words written on it.

I am ordering him the Baby Can Read system for his birthday. A family members daughter is 6 months younger than Ethan and she can already read about 75 words. I think Ethan will be able to pick it up too. I'm really looking forward to doing it with him!

I have also noticed that his long term memory and imagination have really started taking off. I also think that Ethan is way ahead of the curve in regard to his speech and socialization skills. I'm so proud of him! Most people don't believe that he still only 2! However, we are looking forward to his 3rd birthday next month!

Catherine is doing phenomenally!!!! She's not reading yet, much to my chagrin, but she knows all her letters and sounds and that one represents the other, and she's all over simple math. She's playing on her school soccer team and cries after every game because she only scores 1 or 2 goals. She'll knock you down if you're in the way! She also just performed in her first ballet recital last weekend to a packed house of several hundred people. She was a munchkin in the Wizard of Oz.

I am just dumbstruck when I think that a year ago, before she was diagnosed with celiac, that her speech was so garbled that even I couldn't understand her half the time, and we really worried about how she would cope with school. Now, she's counting down the days until school starts again in the fall, and she's a "full day" student. In her little world, being a full day student is very glamorous; she's a half-day student this year and spends her afternoons in day care at the school.

Sebastian has been going to a Montessori preschool all year. He will be done for the summer at the end of the month. They have a summer program, but I want the kids to have their summers free.

Sebastian really likes school. He is very up and down. His conference is next Friday and his teacher was telling me that his is the only one she has not finished yet. She wants to wait until the last min, so she has the most accurate picture of where he is, since he changes so much.

Everything pretty much depends on if it is a good day or a bad day. I have been getting a lot less diligent on watching what he eats, so I am sure that is why he is so all over the place.

Since it is a Montessori school he does not learn anything specific at a cretin time, but works on what interests him. He know all his colors receptively, but expressively they get pretty jumbled up. He can count very well, but has no number recognition yet. He loves maps and globes. He like to point out Europe and South America, they are his favorites for some reason.

I am really looking forward to next year when both kids are in school and I will have three kid free hours a day! Though I did just agree to be a sub at his school, so hopefully I wont have to work too much.

Unfortunately Eric isn't in school anymore, and he misses it terribly. He's all set up for the fall though. I found a program similar to the one back home for children at risk. It's a perfect mix of special needs children, well children, and sick kids, and I can't wait to meet his class.

Back when he was in school, the teacher noticed a lot of the same things I did. Eric when feeling well was a totally different dude than when he was feeling rotten (which was most the time :(). She was concerned about how he seemed to lose skills, but we both attribute it to pain/discomfort, because when he pops back in to well land it's like he learns everything like a sponge, just like a four year old is supposed to do. We both think that he just needs extra time to get and hold on to skills because of his lack of concentration when things aren't going well for him health wise.

In the fall he will be going for 4 hours a day, five days a week, and yes, I'm a little worried about how it will go. They will be doing 3 meals with him. YIKES! Meal time didn't go well at his old school. He enjoyed it, and it was always positive, but he didn't eat/drink. No big deal since all they handled was a morning snack, but here they feed the heck out of these guys! LOL
Yet there is a part of me that's singing "hallelujah" I won't have to feed him myself all day, and we all know how kids learn from other kids!!:yahoo:
We don't know yet if he is afternoon or morning, but if I get to chose I think I'll ask for afternoon that way I can feed him well before he goes and if he doesn't eat well at school because it's all rush rush rush, I'll still have a couple of hours to make up for it, and turn it into an average day at home without making him sick before bed KWIM?

I'm so glad Parker is doing well with it. Isn't it amazing how much school changes them? It's just such a proud Mommy time. It's great that he's not catching everything under the sun too. Maybe Cooper helped his immunity along by bring them home before Parker was exposed in his own classroom?
Whatever the case, I hope this winter goes smoothly for him, and his immune system is able to fight off everything without incident, and he's just your average booger pickin kid all winter.

The progress Ava has made since last September is HUGE. Literally enormous. :yahoo: We are SO proud of how far she's come, despite all that we still deal with. She loves going to school and we are extremely fortunate that she'll stay in the same pre-K classroom, same teacher and aides, next year.

They've set great goals for her for next year and we're really happy with all they're doing. They understand the issues she deals with and are committed to learning right along with us and figuring out what she can do and what we need to ease up on and take a little slower. Energy level is a biggie. We are probably going to have to call another IEP meeting for this summer to ammend her medical plan and make some more accommodations.

Overall, school is the best thing that could have happened for Ava! Everyone's goal is mainstream kindergarten, and with the right accommodations and modifications, I'm pretty sure that will be a reality. :)

Not good but not horrible.
Stresses me beyond belief.

Jayden has been very impressive....I don't know how much has to do with school and how much has to do with his development itself....but things are good....He loves going to his classroom, he follows the routine, says " bye bye mama" and walks off to do his thing.....he has begun to voluntarily walk to carpet time....he has always had to be taken .... now he joins the other boys on his own, although he still does not have any real interest in the other boys.... he finger paints!!!! that's a biggie...Jayden recognises all his alphabet, and knows the sound each makes. He can count to 30, and I know he recognises up to 20 ...I'm not sure about any farther than that..... I just posted that he is referring to himself as "I"....huge accomplishment. He traces the alphabet very well...he knows how to spell his name and write it hand over hand. His vocabulary it huge but he still doesn't use much of it in the way of communication ...but it is picking up.....lots of echolalia....and many times we are not sure of what it is he's saying ....he recites lines from movies but (all through the day) they are garbled....so we don't know what he's saying and oooweee...he gets mad!! His teachers just love him, he is a very well behaved little boy, some of the boys in his class are ...hmmmm... a little on the wild side:) Next year all the boys in his class will advance to 4K....Jayden will stay back and have all new kids...but he will be used to the teachers and his classroom so we hope things go smoothly for him...he is the youngest in his class right now all the other boys are already 4. Only a few more weeks here...school ends June 11th for him...then he gets a few weeks off and the in home therapies will begin.

We are having a great school year and can't believe there are only six days left! D's class visited the kindergarten last Friday (and then five kindergarteners broke out with fifth disease :sad5: ), and he's very excited. Today was his last therapy session. He is a grad now! I can't believe we've been doing therapy through early intervention or child find for the past five years and it's finally over. Our goal was to have him eating and in a normal classroom by the time he started kindergarten. And now he won't even be pulled from class for therapy!

He has changed so much. He can read practically everything. He talks so much and claims to be the class clown. He starts trends, like the lego trend, and now all the boys have to save what they build in the morning and show it to their parent when they get picked up. Kind of slows down the pick-up process... but my boy's a trend-setter!

D's also surprised me by doing things lately I didn't know he could do -- he can now pump himself on a swing, ride his bike without the training wheels (they're still on, but raised so high he doesn't use them), and poop outside of the house. :oops: I know.... But some of you may remember that he was so constipated for awhile that he had this huge mental block about pooping. More than a year after I considered him potty trained (because he wouldn't have an accident), he still needed a diaper and a very long time to have a poo. Then finally he began using the toilet but ONLY at home (or at the "home base" if we were traveling). But the other day he spent a very long time in the bathroom at the neighbor's house, and later he told me he'd pooped -- and that he "can do that at school now, too!" Time to start working on tying those shoes, I guess!

A couple of years ago, he was serious and sullen and you couldn't get him to say two words. And of course he didn't eat. I just can't believe that now he reads way beyond his level and his expressive speech is that of the average seven-year-old. He also has so many interests, like space and science in general. And he plays board games for ages 8+.

Who is this kid and what happened to my little baby? :yahoo:

Becky, Daniel is such a bright little boy that nothing you said in your post surprised me!
Daniel, congratulations! You are such a smart little boy! Ethan says hi, he always gets really excited when he sees your picture! Are you excited about summer break?

Hahaha, he's having breakfast right now, but I'll make sure he reads his blue note later!

Maiya is in day care a couple of hours a day. Socialisation was our big goal- and eating with friends- which she both accomplished. We have been off the baby bottle for 6 months and just recently, off sippy cups to a glass.

Maiya started reading at 2 and a half. She now reads full sentences (phonetically- not from memory). She has been counting to one hundred forwards, backwards in two languages for over a year. She new all of her shapes (octagon, hexagon, etc) and all her english and punjabi letters by the the time she was two. Some have called her gifted- i thought she was hyperlexic, and she definitely had an obssession with numbers and letters. She is bored at daycare, i dont know what this kid will learn in kindy next year. But her energy and mood are far from always good, so like daniel, just attending and participating regularly will be a major milestone. I dont see her doing full days in a year- i just cant imagine.
\
She goes swimming once a week, will start lessons twice a week soon. She likes soccer twice a week. She just started running a few weeks ago. I never saw her run for more than a few minutes - but since she is OFF PREVACID!!!! for two months now, she can really run. I always said it made her short of breath, and boy did it ever

So that is where she is .... oh yeah and she is so anxious to meet her baby brother in August. Yup- i never posted cause i was in denial- but we are having a boy in a few months

OMG Jo! A baby boy congratulations! I am pregnant too not due until October. Sounds like Maiya is doing really well, great news she is off the prevacid also!

:yahoo: Jo!!! Congrats!!! :hug:

And WTG for Maiya...she sounds super advanced!!!! :yahoo:

Daycare has done wonders for Alexis as i keep telling you guys... Congrats on the baby did you use the baby read to teach her to read?

thanks everyone-congrats scarlet!!

no- maiya just started reading- no baby read. She just decoded words - which is why i thought she was hyperlexic. i never really encouraged it- as it was odd and part of her obssessions. like today, we went to the restaurant, and almost had a melt down because she noticed numbers on the side of the table and was just inconsolable that we did not get the number 5 table- and she just would not let it go. On a positive note- she ate really well- we have come a long way there.

Jo ... don't read (no pun intended) too much into Maiya's learning to read and fascination with numbers. I taught myself to read at age 2 and have always been ... ummm ... heavily mathematically inclined. It's all good. :smt036