when do I know she is ready?

[craftymama]

Hi
My dd just turned 6 this past Feb and is itching to "do school". She wants so badly to learn to read and she is often copying signs, banners in our church and asking how to spell certain things.
We have the enki kindy books but really haven't done much of anything with them. My circles always feel so contrived and she goes through waves of wantig to participate and then being "bored" and having no interest.
I'm also entering my 2nd trimester of pregnancy and between the 1st trimester ick and my extremely active 2 yr old I sort of gave up on doing anything.
I'm feeling better now and would like to get going again but between her desire for more and I'll admit I'm tired of people telling me I need to take advantage of her desire to learn and start teaching her formal lessons.
So I guess what I'm wondering is would I be pushing if I started 1st grade this fall?
Thanks
Anita

[Donna]

Hi Anita,

A child who turned 6 just this past February will be right on target for first grade in the Fall.

But as I say in my kindie book and in my audio downloads (and elsewhere!) a 6 year old kindergartener is very different than a 5 year old kindergartener. She definitely needs challenging - she just doesn't need academics! Things like projects (crafts, handwork) that take several days; responsibilities around the house; more complex fairy tales (not just the very one dimensional simple ones).... you could also set up puppet plays for both of you to do based on the stories you read/tell her; you could also make a book together - tell her a story and then she does a series of illustrations and you write in the story or excerpts from it.

[bendingbirchhomeschool]

Hi Anita and welcome to the forum (I do hope you will join us!)-
There are some of us on this list who have 6 or 6 and a half year old verbal little girls who appear on one hand anxious to get started and on the other, not so willing to participate. I think one mom referred to this age as sort of the "Braxton-Hicks" stage of getting ready for academics... The longer projects, more responsiblities, more complex crafting, games are really so wonderful for the six year old. We too will be starting Class One in the fall - my daughter will be seven then- and I am thrilled to have given her this time to just be.
I love this quote from Donna on page 62 of her Kindergarten book, "Take it slow! The world our children will inherit will be even more fast-paced and challenging than the one we have now. By carefully building up a child's inner foundation, by ensuring she has plenty of time to develop all of her capacities, then we help that child grow into a strong, centered and balanced adult, one who truly will be able to deal iwth the difficulties and demands of life in the future."
That quote really speaks to me (Thank You Donna!:)) If you join the forum, there have been several thread on the Early Years Forum of what kinds of projects folks have done with their six-year-olds. It may spark some wonderful ideas for you as to what to do in these coming months of homeschool!

[craftymama]

Thank you Donna and Carrie for your insight and response.
I hope to join the community soon.
Sometimes I feel completely lost on other boards but Donna's explanations and thoughts feel like I'm finally getting information in layman's terms :)