Reading & Writing

My daughter is in Grade R and they learn the alphabet letters the way I did when I was in grade 1.
They did not start with A but with the small letter o then they did a etc. they also learn to sound the letters. 'klank"in afrikaans.
to me if you can't sound a word it would be difficult to read. she is already sounding words and "reading" them. they are also learning to write them at the same time.

I spoke to my sister about this this morning (her school had to be closed due to intimidation -2 buses of SADTU members arrived and were threatening to burn cars etc if the teachers and pupils didnt leave immeadiately - lovely at a school with 5 years olds)

She teachers Grade 1 and I asked if it mattered if I child could read or had been taught in a different way. The aswer is no. In a good school they will put them onto more "advanced" readers earlier and should give extra work. Usually the other kids catch up by the end of foundation stage (unless the child is very bright, in which case it wouldnt matter if they were able to read early or not) As for whether it matters if they were taught differently, thats not an issue either. Current teaching methods allow for the children to leanr in a way that they understand (eg they dont teach traditional long division any more, but my some children find that this is the only way they can do division, so as long as the reasoning and their understanding is there it doesnot matter how they get to an answer. If you didnt allow for this there would be a problem when children transfered from different schools, provinces, countries (JUdy had 2 transfers from the UK this year)

The way writing is taught differs from school to school, and she feels as long as the letter formation is correct and work is set out appropriately then does it matter how it is done (that said she is finding the 2 UK kids very difficult because they never used lined paper before).

That said she works at a very good school with max 20 kids in a class and a teaching aide per class. They also have an onsite OT and a speech and language therapist that comes in 2 times a week.

I also could read before going to school and cannot remember that there was a problem. I loved school the first few years.

the only thing that I feel is important is to make sure you are teaching reading in the same way that schools do it so that your child is not expected to 'unlearn' something they have already mastered in order to cope and be evaluated fairly on the same basis as the others. in schools there is a system which is not deviated from for 1 or 2 pupils as this then negatively affects a larger group.

I also could read and write before I went to school and it didn't harm me in any way. I can hardly remember the SubA days and I think if I was bored I would remember it clearly?

I don't think learning a kid to read and write before going to school is 'pushing' them..if they're willing then I can't see any problem with it? If they hate it and cry everytime you try to teach them, yes obviously, but as far as I know all children are keen to learn new things. Especially if you make it fun?

Hopefully by the time my child is 5years old I'll be a stay at home mom and will have the time and patience to teach my child how to read and write.

My reasoning for not pushing them too early is simple - there are 3 possible outcomes (that I can see).
1. your child lives up to your expectations and does well (yay - best case scenario)

2. Your child feels pressured and because she is too young, does not cope and feels she is disapointing you, causing massive issues with acheivement later on in life. She will spend her entire school years trying to learn and get the best possible marks to please you, yet her emotional and social development will suffer and she will land up as a teenage suicide statistic, anorexic, nervous over achiever with an ulcer (worst case scenario)

3. She will do as you say, get bored in class, disrupt the class and later on in life to "prove" to you what a "disappointment" she is she will rebel and give you hell.

Others are welcome to add their "outcomes" and opinions

Amandalynn - are you sure of this? My best friend's son was in Redhill private school for Grade R and half of Grade 1 - she's now moved him into Linksfield Primary and he is struggling. He can still not read. The teacher actually told her that she's worried about him not coping. Private school kids might get better treatment and less kids in the class but they are not always 'cleverer'. But at the end of the day it's up to you. We all want our kids to be the best and we all think our kids are better and more equipped than other kids. I just think that we sometimes put too much pressure on them for what we want.

I will be putting her into a private scholl that over extension sfor kids like her who will be able to read and write by the time they go to school.