Yesterday was the parent/teacher conference for preschool. And one of the main points the teachers wanted to get across was that Carrie is a really good reader. Well, of course, I knew that. But no, reading – and understanding – chapter books at four is not just early reader material, it’s way more than that. And they’re concerned that she’s going to have a hard time in kindergarten because there won’t be anything at all to challenge her.
I wasn’t all that concerned until they got me worrying about it. I mean, there’s lots of things that kids learn in kindergarten besides reading, right? Social skills, writing skills, tying your shoes (oh, that’s actually probably something I should teach her here at home, I guess), getting through a whole day without mommy or a nap. Right?
So I used a couple of different homeschool tests on the web to see whereabouts her reading level might actually be. Are you ready for this?
She’s reading at a fourth grade level.
Um. OK, then.
I’m choosing not to completely panic, but I think I will make a couple of calls to the school and just try to find out how they might handle a very advanced early reader. It’s not as though we could (or would) skip her up to first grade anyway, so I think I just need to have a basic comfort level that they’re not going to completely ignore the fact that she can read and will find ways to channel it so that they don’t have to chastise her for reading whatever they write on the board instead of sitting there sounding out individual letters with the class.