I had a chance to chat with Jordan’s lead teacher at school… I don’t get a chance to have quiet one-on-one time with her often. The classroom is FULL of assistant teachers and kids. And right now the classroom is down a part-time employee so that leads to a very overwhelmed lead teacher. So I completely relished in the opportunity to chat with her.

I was curious about Jordan’s progress with reading. I see signs here and there, but I haven’t pushed it very hard. Her brother was a hard core reader by now… but I’m trying not to obsess or compare. Every child is different. What surprised me was how Jordan’s teacher reacted to my questions. She told me Jordan had to work on a different skill before we focus on reading. The first thing she needs to be able to do is LISTEN.

Apparently Miss Jordan sits down to lesson time with her friends and is so busy talking that she finally quiets down just when the lesson is wrapping up. She’s missing some great opportunities to learn because she’s a social monster. Her teacher tells me that is isn’t a problem… YET. I guess we have a bit of time to work on this before Kindergarten.

In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of quiet time to work on letter sounds and words. Our book time before bed is officially my time to work on word sounds and encourage Jordan to use those sounds and deduction to identify words. Tonight she did a fabulous job figuring out the words “alligator” and “jaguar” while we read a Curious George ABC book. She’s willing to buy into this reading process when she slows down… but I make high speed children. I take full blame for that tendency.

I have been away for the majority of the last month. It’s hard to spend so much time away… And at the same time, distance helps me look at my kids in a different light.

Jordan’s growing up. I mean really growing. She’s really interested in letters. She can identify most upper and lower case suddenly. I mean it just really clicked. She’s writing her name. She’s excited about it all. I’m thrilled. It is a huge step. She’s pretending to read to the dog and to the family… really to anyone willing to listen. I love it. She’s also speaking even better… if that’s possible. Jordan is verbose and articulate for a four year old.

Anyway – I wanted to make sure everyone knows we haven’t faded off the face of the earth. I’ve been swamped with life and work. But I’m back and we’ll return to telling stories of our life again very soon.

But Jordan didn’t really notice. It’s kind of strange to start a new school year and Jordan didn’t move classrooms at school. That’s the cool thing about the development lab she attends on campus. She has the chance to work with the same teachers until she goes to Kindergarten. The kids in the room range from two and a half to five years old. Very cool. But the start of the school year didn’t seem that cool to her.

But to me… I’m ready to get to business. I’m spending a lot of time trying to work with Jordan on letters and numbers. She does not have the hunger to memorize and digest the information that comes from those symbols. Jordan understand that the key to reading is understanding letters and the sounds they make. But she hasn’t jumped in and really worked on the skills it takes to know what sounds each letters make. Her brother was obsessed with it by this age. Jordan’s more interested in pretending with her friends. I realize she’s only three and a half – but I think it’s time we really start getting down to business. Today I spelled family names and worked on showing her which letter was which. Jordan was kind of interested. But that’s all. Her teachers know she understands more than she is willing to display. (She knew her colors for months before she was willing to really display that knowledge) Dang independent kid. She’s going to do everything on her own terms. Even letters and numbers. (What’s that sound? It’s me beating my head on the wall)