We're thinking that we will be asking only for vision instruction and orientation & mobility through the school system. We currently plan on not sending Noah to preschool at all next year. Instead of preschool, Noah will go to:
- weekly Sunday School and Jr. Church
- weekly Cherub Choir practice
- weekly story hour at the library
- monthly Toddler Tuesday at CMOR
In addition to these activities we will continue to have weekly feeding and AV therapy and whatever therapies the school system gives us. Sounds like a busy schedule to me!
This will give Noah another year to learn (hopefully!) to go potty and (hopefully!) to self-feed and (maybe?) to progress to eating some type of "real" food. These things will allow him to be a better fit at the private school where we would like him to be. Rather than pushing him this year into a situation that really wouldn't work we're just giving him a little more time. He doesn't really need a special ed environment, he just needs help and accomodations. I think the biggest way we can help right now is to give him just a little more time to grow up. For the first time I feel really good about the choice I'm making. Hopefully I won't look back later and regret it.
5 comments:
I ALWAYS think a mother's (and/or father's, as the case may be) instincts are the best. So congratulations on the decision - I bet you feel very relieved and content. I just have one thought for you - my (26-week) daughter wouldn't eat (ended up with a g-tube at 9 months, which we used until 18 months), and one thing that really, really helped her a lot was being around other children who were eating. So if there is any way to plan activities, even playdates if the group things don't include a meal, it might help you all. Just a thought.
I think you made the right decision:)
I haven't regretted keeping my girls home for an extra year at all. I think it has been excellent for them in terms of their emotional development, and feelings of safety and security. When they start preschool in the fall they will be much more prepared, and more able to express their needs than they were a year ago.
It is very seldomly a problem for a child to be slightly OLDER than their peers. Younger is almost always an issue.
I was significantly younger, maturity wise, than my peers when I started catholic school - still falling asleep in class in first grade for example.
My parents ended up keeping me and my brother behind a year and I was still very 'young' for my classmates. It wasn't until I was in 8th grade that I felt more on par with my peers.
This is my biggest fear with Arianna - that she will have to go through her school years with the same social atmosphere I did. She will start school later than others her age for this reason, unless it is shown to me that she is more mature than others her age - which I doubt they will be able to show me.
Hullo Emily!
I remember you well! (And, of course, I couldn't have forgotten Brian...) It's good to catch up electronically a bit. Praise the Lord for preserving Noah! He is a beautiful little boy, and I see you both in him.
We have used different Advent liturgies over the last three years, beginning with one that John found from (I believe) an Anglican source on the Internet. I really loved that one, but we don't remember where we found it, and we lost the printouts during our last move.
Last year, John used another source that was also good, but I also don't remember what it was. Yes, there's a pattern here...
This year, John printed out some resources from fisheater.com, which is a Roman Catholic source. If you follow the link and scroll down, we used the Jesse tree reading at the bottom that stresses the history of the world. The girls and I read the scriptures during the day, and I often added a few more verses, and then we made simple crafts with construction paper and glue to represent the readings. At night, we'd observe Advent after supper as a family, when I'd light the candle(s), and John would read scripture and we'd follow the liturgy found at the bottom of the linked page.
The girls also opened a door in their Advent calenders to find a piece of chocolate after we blew out the candles, which is just plain fun.
Depending on the way your family worships, you may choose to celebrate Advent differently, but I've found the basic practice of tracing Christ's birth from His ancestors is so valuable for us and our children in preparation for Christmas.
Here's another Jesse tree source which looks good. It also provides daily Advent Bible readings.
Anyway, you could probably find these on your own, but I wanted to respond to your comment and let you know that I'm glad you follow shotsnaps occasionally and that you have a beautiful family!
I also think that this is the way to go. Even though it's a bit too soon to worry about this (Hallie turns two in June), I watch her with her 'peers' and realize that she's doing great, but that she's a bit younger acting than kids who were born within a few months of her (on either side, really). Giving him a nice set of different opportunities to socialize and also the one-on-one support of therapy will help Noah get to where he needs to be safely and securely.
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