More or Less

Taking a quick break from writing the story of little one's first months.  I've been homeschooling her since last November.  The reason for that will be told in an upcoming post because it's pretty involved.  Suffice it to say that I got to the point of realizing that she could continue on in her inclusive Kindergarten setting without making academic progress and not being supported by staff to the degree she needed, or I could be proactive and take on the job myself.  I'll write much more on that later.  This week we've been working on the math concept of "more" and "less."  What I wanted to write about here is the understanding that all young children and especially young ones with extra chromosomes, need a lot of time to process new information and the learning curve is not straight but can be very bumpy.  Two days ago she seemed to have mastered the concept of more and less, using pictorial representations and also manipulatives.  I drew 4 stars on one side and 7 on the other and showed here that one group had less and one had more.  We did this over and over with varying quantities in each group.  Then we used the little counting bears and also colored disks.  After teaching her for a while I started "testing" her and she quickly got most of them correct.  I was thrilled.  Yesterday morning we did the activity again and lo and behold, she missed every single one.  She kept saying "less" for the group that had "more."  My thrill from the previous day was gone.  When this sort of thing happens, and trust me, it happens pretty often, I have to check my emotions (hard for me!), and get on with the task.  It is very difficult not to get overwhelming emotionally tied up in your child's ability to learn.  But, when this happened, I put away the materials and knew I'd come back to it later.  The day went by, we had a playdate with her old babysitter and her 19 month old (cute as a bug!), and then late in the afternoon I brought out materials for more and less again.  Guess what?  She got 9 out of 10 tries correct!   I'm not convinced she has mastered the concept yet, but we'll keep trying.  It takes faith in your child and motherly perseverance, but our kids can achieve much in life!  And, whether or not we continue on the homeschooling path, I will always treasure the blessing of being the first person to witness my child grasping new concepts and accomplishing a goal.  That truly is priceless.