School

When I was in graduate school it was common practice to target all of our goals during "play". I was really doing therapy with kids but we were not sitting at a desk running drills or creating grammatically correct sentences. Instead we were having a pretend picnic, fishing, or cooking. Some of the parents thought all their kids were doing was playing and did not see the therapeutic value of play. I understand and value the importance of play and want my children to have a strong foundation in play.
When I sent my girls to school they knew all the basics. They knew colors, shapes, basic counting, could follow simple directions, turn pages in a book but their pretend play skills were just emerging. Sydney and Lior "played" together but not really cooperatively. After about a month at school I really began to see a lot more imitation in their play and now they are really using imitation in their play and truly playing cooperatively. Since their language skills have increased their play has become more elaborate. They have started playing school,Lior is Morah Stacey, Sydney is Morah Shulie (or Julie), and Jordan is Morah Shainey . They pretend to read books or help with a tea party. What thrills me is that they include Jordan in their play and she really plays along. When she is pretending to beShainey she answers to Shainey's name and does what ever the bigger kids tell her to do. I love that when Sydney changes her babies diapers she needs to put on gloves because that is how they do it at school.
I know their are a lot of people who do not understand that children learn through play, imitation and repetition and would not see this year as being successful for the girls. I see that the girls have established a solid foundation in learning how to play. They are learning the pragmatic skills necessary to get along in the world. I do not gauge success by how many letters they know or how high they can count. I do not think that kids should be reading when they are three. I know that when they are ready to learn how to read or write they will because developmentally they will be ready.
Even though I was not read to send them to school and still am not thrilled with the time I spend away from them. I am thrilled with the progress they have made this year and can count their first school experience as successful. Of course there are things I did not like and wish could have been done differently but the girls reallybenefited from their first school experience. Now I have to gear myself to camp FIVE days a week because of course I am not ready and do not want to send them. I wonder if I will feel that way in a couple of weeks but tonight I am not ready!