Today’s blog post is brought to you by: what happens when you make my five year old practice his letters.
Penmanship is boring.
Really boring.
But every once in a while, I’ll try to get my five year old to practice his letters.
It always begins normally.
Then the tedium sets in.
By the time my son hits the end of the alphabet, all bets are off on attempted penmanship.
Imagination takes over.
I shall submit exhibit A for clarification.
Last week, as I looked at my son’s reproduction of the end of the alphabet, I saw this:
“Um… You’re supposed to copy the letters. I do not think they match what you think they should match…”
“Why does the “v” look so funny?” I asked.
“V has a backpack to take on the plane. See, it’s right there.” (he points to the non-letter shape on the edge).
“Why are there random “o’s” in there?”
“That one (he points to the small one) is a rock. And that one (he points to the large “o”) is a boulder.”
“What happened to the “x”?”
“X jumped off a boulder and landed on his head.” (insert uncontrollable mommy giggles)
“And this?” (I pointed to “y”.)
“Y is doing a somersault.”
“And “z”?
“Z is stuck in a cave. The big one is telling the little ones how to get out.”
What the letters do with their down time.
Penmanship has never made me giggle before.
Five year olds are da bomb.
Dances with Chaos 
Ten times better than my penmanship. And funnier.
Tackler is going to be really bored in school.
You have just mentioned my biggest fear: The Tackler being bored. Bored too much, and he’s like to go crazier than a monkey on PCP and espresso…
It sounds like your penmanship is about on the same page as mine – thank god for typing.
Hopefully in another year, I’ll finally be able to submit to Stuff Kids Write – because right now I just have “stuff kids draw”…
I LOVE LOVE LOVE his imagination.
Ohmygoodgolly how fabulous!
And I agree with Chase that he (academically) will be more advanced (probably) than most of his kindergarten peers.
However.
Socially, he may meet some other crazysmart kid(s) who “get him” and who spark his imagination and offer the kind of companionship we BIG people simply can’t provide. My son Jack was/is crazysmart and I will never forget his first grade teacher saying this to me:
“Jack and John need to be friends. You should do whatever you can to nurture this relationship because no one else gives these two what they get from each other.”
So. John’s mother and I got in touch with each other and our families have been close close close friends ever since.
I know. Just one silly anecdote. But since then, Jack has made a few other good friends his age with whom he can be weird, funny, smart, challenged and I can’t imagine his adolescence without these boys.
Anyway. Just my two cents. You can always supplement and stimulate and enrich at home. But it’s hard to replace the socialization of school. (Then again, I’m a teacher. So. Grain of salt?)
XO
It sounds like you had a very wise first grade teacher for Jack.
I am still in the air on what to do with my son, but know it truly boils down to the teacher.
How many would foster the creativity he demonstrated here, and how many would berate him for not doing what was asked?
I don’t want to lost that imagination spark he has, which frankly puts mine to shame.
I love it!
Thanks!
He’s funnier than I am, I admit it.
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