Did we fail her?

It is about our 4th week of preschool and we have learned that she is WAY behind. Okay, in the real-world she is WAY ahead but in the world of private school preschool she is behind. At this point in her PK-2 class she should already know all of her letters and numbers to 50. So we send her to a class everyday that she is immersed with a curriculum she doesn't understand and with most of the kids who do. It is so frustrating because we want her to be so successful and thankfully she has an AMAZING teacher who is trying to be patient with her, but we have to start going or blending and segmenting as well as addition and subtraction are coming and she needs to be able to do it. So the Claussen house is changing. Paul and I have decided to commit as much time as we can in remediation. I mean what does two special education teachers do the best... intervention. So we are intervening on the behalf of our sweet and lovely and smart daughter. We first thought of those gimmicky "your baby can read programs" and "hooked on phonics", but have decided to go back to what we know works for our own students: repetition, practice, and curriculum that we use in our classrooms. So I bought her Breaking the Code and I am looking at Touch Math and Handwriting without Tears. I will also assess her every few days and track that as well. We have been working on flash cards in the car. We do spend 70 minutes a day in the car so I need to use that time wisely as well. At this point she knows 18 uppercase, 13 lowercase, and only 3 numbers 0-10. We are hoping to know all letters and numbers to 33 by Christmas (that is the end of the year CA kindergarten standard). Her reward will be dance classes at school in the Spring. So we are hoping that she buckles down and gets to learning. Our journey begins.

First Week of Preschool Homework

Yes, preschoolers do get homework. Our very first week of homework consisted of 3 sight words: it, the, and my including writing them 3x each, writing numbers 1-50, 4 addition problems to draw and solve, a reading log, and a rhyming worksheet. We learned quickly how "behind" (in the world of private school preschool) she was. Her classmates can pretty much count to 100, solve addition and subtraction problems, practically read, etc.So we are really coming behind her to support her which includes a lot of frustration on our part, but we will push her to succeed. I do have to say by the end of the week her formation of numbers was 100% times better and she had very little trouble solving her addition problems. Oh, and she is an EXCELLENT rhymer. Definitely a strength of her's before she started school. I mean, that kid could be a rapper. She can give me all kinds of words for any word I may ask. Tomorrow we start another week of homework. Our adventure continues. Now the big question will be, once Rees starts in January does she get homework? I am thinking counting lovies, sorting sippy cups, and arranging the balls from smallest to biggest and that is just the first night!