Last Friday, the Girl started Reception. These are exciting times for all of us: she is so proud of growing up (4 going on 14….), and we are proud of her, but also nostalgic for our little baby, who is indeed, bigger and smarter all the time. And these are particularly exciting, but also slightly daunting times for me: not having been educated in this country, I know very little about primary education, about how reading and writing are actually taught, so I feel I will have as much to learn alongside her as she does herself.
The difficulty is that, although one would expect that, as parents of a new Reception girl, we might receive a lot of information and advice about how we can support her at home, consolidating the school’s work and constantly helping her to expand, this is not in the least the case… At the end of her first day (Friday – a slight odd day to start), she came home with a book in her book bag. There was also a new reading journal, in which the book was listed together with some comments about how the ‘reading’ session had gone at school. Last year, when she was still in kindergarten, we only got one book home each week, and we were asked to write in some comments beside each new book title. So, since there were already comments next to the title in the reading journal now, I didn’t know what else I was expected to do, and although we did go through the book together at the weekend, I wrote nothing in the book.
To my surprise, on Monday morning I learned that I was supposed to write some comments of my own about how our reading session at home had gone, and I was supposed to sign it. Well, one might have thought this tidbit of information might have been included with the book in the book bag?!? Not to mention the fact that the act of reading itself is quite different from what I am used to, as the book has only pictures and no words at all…
So, because I am sure that I am not the only mother who will have questions and doubts about how this type of books is to be dealt with, as well as how many other educational activities are to be pursued, I have decided to record my findings in this blog, in case they might prove useful to others as well.
I did not set out to be a pushy mum, but it looks like my determination to be there for the Girl as best I can, and my commitment to becoming involved in her education as much as she needs me to, are turning me into one… and I have decided to embrace it!!
woodsofwhite 
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