Needing some reassurance I'm not 'pushing them too hard'

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Thank you for posting!! I don't have advice, b/c I'm largely in the same situation but my DS is younger (3 in Feb). I also struggle w/ feeling "stuck in the middle" - DS is well ahead of peers, but not as wildly as many I run into in GT groups.

 

DS is learning to read, but did not magically figure it out himself one day. He needs (& directly requested) both instruction & practice. I feel like neither parents of kids who started this journey 2yrs later, nor parents whose kids self-taught at or before DS' age, really "get it" & it's frustrating.

[jetzmama]

I so admire all of you moms who are meeting your kids where they are and encouraging them to learn from that place.  I did this with my oldest, but because of several years of major life transition in the middle years, we had to make several decisions that put him with the 'pack' rather than the advanced place he truly was academically.  Even when he realized that a level was too easy, or too repetitive, we kept him in the pack rather than letting him move ahead.  Part of this was beyond our control, but part of it was listening to others who were supposedly wiser than we were.  Lesson learned: No one is wiser about your children than you are.  If it is too much, they'll let you know (either in words or frustration).  What I have found is that when it is too little, apathy sets in (and takes root pretty quickly). So if I see them beginning to not care, I know it is time for a heart to heart and to be open to the possibility of changing things up.