Brinley Child Summary: 5 Years 10 Months Old

Inside: Five year old girl information. Five year old schedule.

Inside: Five year old girl information. Five year old schedule.

This is a summary for Brinley from 5 years 9 months to 5 years 10 months old.

SLEEP

Sleep is great! Brinley goes to bed around 8:30 and gets up at 7:30. She does not take any naps in the day. 8:30 is later than I would ideally like for her age, but this last month has been so busy and crazy that 8:30 has been the norm.

EATING

Eating is great.

EMOTIONS

Things just get better and better each month with the emotions. I have really come to see Brinley is a different person with and without video games. Even the three older kids have noticed it. We do a technology fast each month where we do no tech at all for one full week each month. During that week, Brinley is super pleasant and rarely emotional. During her weeks with video games, she can be a wreck. The three older kids even suggested we get rid of all of our technology a couple of weeks ago because they can see such a strong difference in her when she has tech and when she doesn’t. That option is on the table still. We don’t mind having some video games, and we only allow 3 hours a week, but we don’t want crazy grumpiness going on, either.

EXTRA CURRICULAR

Brinley did the same things this month as she did last month.

 

KINDERGARTEN REFLECTION

Brinley is a late summer birthday, so she was one of the youngest (if not THE youngest) people in her grade. This was a decision I pondered on from the day I found out I was pregnant with her and calculated the due date. I didn’t take it lightly and I did a lot of research and interviewing. I wrote all about why we ultimately decided to send her to Kindergarten on time.

As I look back now, one school year later, I am so very glad we sent her on time. As we made the decision, one of the factors was academic ability. Brinley always tested way above benchmark and was at the top of her class in understanding concepts and reading ability. There were zero concerns there.

We also looked at social skills. Being social is a gift of Brinley’s. She just has great social sense. At the first parent teacher conference, her teacher said she never saw Brinley without a group of children around her. She is a leader and people are drawn to her. I am really glad we sent her on time for this reason. If she were also the oldest in the class, I could see her getting a little bossy and “wise in her own eyes” socially. Being young helps there be a little bit of humility. Maybe. Brinley has made some great friends. She knew no one when she started school and has just thrived.

We also looked at maturity. This wasn’t an issue emotionally nor physically. Brinley was actually one of the tallest in her class.

I am confident that any person in the classroom who didn’t know birth dates and was asked to put the kids in order from oldest to youngest would guess Brinley to be one of the oldest in the grade.

I will continue to update at the end of each school year. So far, I couldn’t be happier with this decision to send her on time and have no regrets.

In saying that, I do not at all intend to imply that this is the right decision for all people. What I do hope to do is encourage parents who really feel their child is ready to go on time to have courage to do so.

SCHEDULE

7:30 AM–wake up, get ready, eat, scriptures, practice piano

9:00 AM–school

12:30 PM–home and eat lunch. Homework. Then she can watch two 30-minute shows on PBS  and has independent playtime if desired. Two days a week she has her extra curricular activities. I scheduled her stuff during the other kids’ school day so we didn’t have our family time so interrupted.

4:00 PM–Siblings home. Sibling play and family time.

5:00 PM–Dinner in this hour

7:00 PM–Bedtime process begins.

8:30 PM–In bed

RELATED POSTS/BLOG LABELS

Leave a Comment