musicianmom Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 It's supposed to be summer break, but dd5 doesn't know that. She won't leave me alone for reading lessons or piano lessons. I didn't even think I would be talking about her on this particular board, but here she is in Singapore 1A, racing at breakneck speed through the 100 Easy Lessons reading book, and she burned through a Faber piano book in less than a month. And yet she still talks baby talk and clings to me and wants a sippy cup sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Sweet - sounds like she is doing well. My 5 year old also still wants a sippy cup and asks us to come and check up on her after we have put her to bed. Every now and then when writing in her journal she will purposely write in baby talk and then look at me and grin and read it aloud as though it is the funniest thing, but when she gets emotional sometimes she won't even use any words and needs help to express her feelings despite being highly verbal usually. Welcome to some of the asynchronous development that kids can show. Enjoy her being little - I suspect it won't last too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 My 6yo 1st grader does the baby thing fairly often. I assume it's her temporary reaction to social/emotional growing pains. She didn't really do this until recently. ... As for the "tiger kid," matter, that's great that she's motivated! Perhaps you could tell her that summer curriculum is more independent and she can do xyz 4 days a week and check in with you on the 5th day. My younger dd has been handling her own piano practice for the most part since she was a young 5, and reading at that age simply meant having access to books. If she's not reading independently yet, you could have her choose a library book, read it with help, make a list of words from the book to study, and work on it independently for a day or two before checking back in. If she can write, writing a sentence or two about the book, or using the "new words" in sentences, would be an option too. Sounds very "important" but doesn't require a lot of hand-holding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morgan Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I guess we should appreciated their self-motivation, but sometimes it would be nice if they would just slow down a bit. My dd6 got upset with me for mentioning on a Sat morning that we were just going to hang out since it was a weekend. She said, very annoyed "What do you mean, there is NO school work today?! That is ridiculous." My dd is really clingy too. I am not sure I have any suggestions, just thought I'd let you know you are definitely not alone. I find my dd6 high maintenance and very exhausting. There is no way she would understand summer break, she can't even handle a weekend :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uff Da! Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 My dd is really clingy too. I am not sure I have any suggestions, just thought I'd let you know you are definitely not alone. I find my dd6 high maintenance and very exhausting. There is no way she would understand summer break, she can't even handle a weekend :) This made me laugh. My 5 year old was driving me crazy yesterday and I finally gave her homework to do. She was a much happier and more independent kid after doing some homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I have a Tiger Kid too who wants to do school work even when he is sick and running a temperature. Oddly, his enthusiasm is equally distributed towards academics, extra curriculars and arts. We are on the go all the time or learning all the time. He might take a 10 minute break sometimes and then be back craving stimulation and something to keep him busy. I sometimes feel that so much learning going on in his life might not be a good thing and I enforce "quiet periods" or just simple things like riding a bike and a walk to the park in order to reduce the intensity. And yes, you struck a chord when you talked about "high maintenance and exhausting". I sure am exhausted! ETA: On further thought, why not call the child a "Tiger Cub" :) ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 FWIW, my DD started homeschooling at age 5, on a Saturday, at 6:00 in the morning, the DAY after her last day of PS K. She was just plain eager to start. She still does quite a bit of academics during the summer, but she seems to be enjoying taking a break from more formal stuff this year (although her idea of "taking a break" wouldn't appear like one to most kids her age). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 And just tonight I caught my 6yo reading in bed with a flashlight. (I often find her in the morning surrounded by a scattered pile of books.) What ever happened to chilling out on Friday nights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 And just tonight I caught my 6yo reading in bed with a flashlight. (I often find her in the morning surrounded by a scattered pile of books.) What ever happened to chilling out on Friday nights? Relaxing with a nice book - isn't that "chilling out"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) And just tonight I caught my 6yo reading in bed with a flashlight. (I often find her in the morning surrounded by a scattered pile of books.) What ever happened to chilling out on Friday nights? Chilling out at that age for me was curl up in the sofa with a nice cup of hot cocoa, plenty of snacks, a stack of library books and falling asleep after sunrise :) My boys are crocheting instead of sleeping. Hubby bought them a kit and YouTube is their friend. They made a necklace, bracelet, rings and a heart and are still wide awake. Edited May 25, 2013 by Arcadia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifebreakingin Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 My daughter has a whole list planned for summer--studying Italian and maybe some Latin and math and grammar and poetry... Luckily she also wants to swim all summer and is interested when I say gardening, sewing, cleaning, cooking, yoga... Just so she can tag along with me a bit too :) And she totally baby talks all the time. It's gotten so bad we had to outlaw it when she speaks to us. Go play and baby talk, sure, but not to us. She could speak clearly before two but now we can understand her?! :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Chilling out at that age for me was curl up in the sofa with a nice cup of hot cocoa, plenty of snacks, a stack of library books and falling asleep after sunrise :) My boys are crocheting instead of sleeping. Hubby bought them a kit and YouTube is their friend. They made a necklace, bracelet, rings and a heart and are still wide awake. So today I tell my daughter to do her piano practice, and she says, "what if I fall asleep while playing?" So I point out that she wouldn't be tired at 2pm if she hadn't been up reading into the night. Her response: "I'm nocturnal." Ugh. So am I, but I still have to do stuff in the daytime! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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