The time has come! I decided to register Aislin early for kindergarten since it was an option at the school where she will attend with Blaine. She is so ready for kindergarten- I just hope they are ready for her! Aislin on our way to register:
At age 3 when Aislin began preschool for the first time she obviously began in a class with 3 year olds. After a few weeks her teachers and school director asked if they could move her into the pre-k class with the 4 year olds. They told us that she had already mastered the skills that they present in that class and was ready to begin reading, which they did in the 4 year old class. I was hesitant, as this was her very first time in school, but I had a feeling that she probably was advanced so I agreed to it. It was definitely the right decision.
At age 3 she wrote her first sentence and could read a very simple book. She thrived by being exposed to the higher expectations with the older peers. This year she continued in the same class, but has been completing a kindergarten curriculum with some of the more advanced peers in her class. I am just really hoping that kindergarten next year will keep her progressing. I had her pre-k teacher help me complete a detailed packet of all the sight words she knows as well as math concepts. I also included the results from some private psychological testing we had done on her at age 3.
After the move to the older class I decided to do a cognitive assessment on her at home. I re-scored it 3 times because I was shocked at the results, there were certain areas where she was off the charts! Thus we had a private psychologist test her with a different measure and with me in another room. Her results matched mine. At age 3 we learned that even by the strictest definition of the term genius, Aislin met the criteria. We of course have not told Aislin or Blaine this. They do not read my blog, yet! But since I will using this blog as a family journal I did want to record this piece of Aislin's life somewhere. She joined Mensa at 3 and was the youngest member in Georgia to do so. We did not do any media type announcements upon the recommendation of a person from Mensa. She told me that while some parents announce their young child joining, it often brings unwanted media attention. Being that I work in a field with parents who have children with various developmental delays it just felt wrong to announce to the community that I had an adorably perfect little girl who also happened to be incredibly smart. Thus my family blog will be the only place that I mention this. Not even her teachers (who do not read this blog) know that she was the youngest member of Mensa or that she is technically a genius.
Because Aislin "gets things" and processes things so quickly she sometimes has a hard time with peers. She is extremely extroverted and social, but she tends to want to control and organize the environment around her. She will get frustrated with peers thus she takes it upon herself to direct others. Aislin's school caters to advanced children so she has spent the last two years with other peers who can read and write sentences and complete kindergarten work the same as she can. I am worried how she will relate to peers next year who may not know how to write their letter or read any words yet. She is very inquisitive and her school now caters to wide exposure to various topics (Greek mythology, the water cycle, China, India) and is teaching them French. I just hope Aislin is not bored next year and if she is I hope that her school will adapt to her needs. I know there have got to be some other children functioning on the same level as her, I just hope they find them.We will see...
Aislin leaving the registration:
She is still my baby. She took Bitty Baby with us to register :) I think I am more nervous than she is, I keep telling myself it will all be okay. I just want the best for her. These past two years I have been confident that she has been in the best educational environment for her. But selfishly I do not want to continue paying tuition, thus I am putting my faith in the public school system (which our school is high performing and excellent!) and hoping that they will continue to accommodate for her needs.
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