My little Montesaurus

I took Finn to school this week and found a note stating they would like to offer Finn an extra morning per week at school. I should clarify, this is preschool, but in Montessori, they go in cycles, and so there is 3, 4 and 5 year olds in together. The 5yo are full time prep equivalent - prep in Victoria is called something else in other states, its the first year of primary anyway!) and the first years do 3 mornings, the second years in cycle one do 4 mornings.

It said I could meet with his teachers to discuss so I did that yesterday. They said that he had already mastered a lot in the room, and seemed to be moving on to concepts that would be best worked with given more time - he is writing letters and words, learning phonics and numbers etc.

He loves watching the older kids make sentences and so on and will then try himself. The teacher was teaching the older children to write numbers from 1 to 20 and turned around and there Finn was, having written 1 to 18 and upset that he didn't know how to write 19. She said "Upset?! Here I was teaching these older kids who didn't know!!" So that was cool!

He seems more relaxed with them and in the class at the moment. We have noticed at home, he has drastically stepped up the desire to do more proper activities and structured play.

My only reservation is that he still seems to get upset sometimes and miss me. Before I could raise that, they did. She said that they felt an extra day would actually benefit that, because the smaller gap between going would get him more used to it, rather than it sort of be a bit more of a big deal with 3 on, 4 off all the time. That actually resonated with me as making sense where Finn is concerned.

So, we agreed to it... sob... When I took him today, the teacher said, oh we'd like to start him the 17th as the extra day, not the 31st... Its so much sooner! It means I only have 2 Fridays left with my baby at home with me! Sigh... STOP GROWING BOY.

What does please me, however, is that these teachers know him so well. They know he loves routine, they know he takes time to get used to new people (and said he had really improved there also) and that he likes to watch before trying things for himself. They know he is capable of more and are wanting to help him maximise his potential. They recognise his strengths and help them, and they see his weaknesses and work with them... it is really incredibly impressive. It goes beyond the staff in his room too. The principal, knows him and the administration/finance woman, knows him and its such an intimate, nurturing environment. I really am so happy and impressed with it all. Just, so good for Finn. Its exciting! (and yes, a little sad and bittersweet!)