Today David and I met with Nathan’s preschool teacher for his parent-teacher conference. I must say that although I was extremely pleased with Ms. Jan’s assessment of Nathan, it also scared the heck out of me. I had no idea it would lead to the discussion that it did.

You see, Nathan has a September birthday so I’d always assumed he would have to wait an extra year to attend Kindergarten because of this God-given fact. Let me just say that his teacher today made it very clear that it is her professional opinion that David and I should seriously consider petitioning to have him start Kindergarten next year! YIKES! WHAT THE HECK???!! She said that he could walk into a Kindergarten room right now and still be ahead of the game with his current skill level.

Yes, Nathan has completely mastered every single item on their assessments. According to his teacher, he also frequently reads for her and to her. He is doing exceptionally well with everything this year so far and can pretty much just have “playtime” the rest of the year. Yeah, right, like I would let that really happen! His patterning and reading skills are above where they need to be and his teacher suggested that we step it up a notch at home just to keep him challenged. She also alluded to the fact that if the schools were really hard and fast about the birthday rule, and if he were given no other option than to attend a Pre-K program, that he would DEFINITELY need extra academic activities at home or outside of Pre-K just to keep him challenged and learning new things.

She basically said that he’d be bored in Pre-K and it wouldn’t be enough for him. She suggested and volunteered to check the public school about the hard and fast rules concerning his birthday and for us in the meantime to be thinking about what we want to do. I am also going to check around at a couple of other Kindergarten program options just so David and I can make the best decision for Nathan. David of course wants to hold out on sending him (even though he’s clearly ready) just for SPORTS related reasons! Crazy daddy! But, after talking about off and on all day long, he really just doesn’t want Nathan to be bored if we do end up waiting and sending him on schedule. We’ll see though, as we may not even have an option for sending him early if the schools aren’t willing to budge on their date policies.

It’s just so scary to imagine that my baby is more than ready for big school! I certainly am not ready for that! I think David and I are really in for a challenge in quenching Nathan’s constant thirst for knowledge. His teacher told us that he’s SO excited about learning and so eager about everything and that his enthusiasm in the class is so refreshing. She said he’s very bright and that he’ll do well no matter what option we choose but that he’s definitely ready to move on at this point.

Anyway the Senior Frogs class is doing great and I know it will be a fantastic year for the class! And, I am so excited to see what the future holds for Nathan.