Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Preschool Boredom

Samuel started school a little over a month ago. He goes four days a week from 9:30 to 1:30. It's a pre-k curriculum, which means they are trying to get the kiddos ready for kindergarten. His teacher is Ms Kelli. She's a loud, boisterous teacher that commands attention. As soon as I met her, I knew that Samuel would test her. For some reason he seems to test the loud teachers. Last year he had a sweet, quiet, and genuinely nice teacher. He gave her no trouble. I waited two weeks before I talked to Ms Kelli about his behavior. Preschool teachers usually don't tell you much unless you ask. They expect some behaviors because these kids are only four. I approached her and asked how he was doing. She immediately said, "He's very bright and maybe a bit bored." Bored, in preschool? I know Samuel is smart and picks up things quickly. Every time I pick him up, I ask him to tell me one thing that he has learned that day. "Mom, I already know everything that they teach me."
His teacher did tell me that he has trouble listening at times. If he is busy playing with the cars or blocks, which he loves, and she calls him to the table to practice writing his letters, which he hates, he doesn't want to go. I get his work for the week on Fridays. Most of the sheets of letter writing have three or four lines that he is supposed to practice whatever letter they are working on. On Samuel's paper, he writes maybe three of the letters and then proceeds to draw pictures of whatever he wants on the rest of the sheet.
My problem with school is that they try to put kids in a box. Samuel is way outside the box. He thinks much differently than your average kid. Because of that, he needs a teacher that understands him, challenges him and accepts him. I don't want school to change him. Don't get me wrong, I would love for him to listen better. But he's a bright, creative, sweet kid who loves life. He looks at things with such bright eyes. Will school take this out of him? I hope not.

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