Six year old just learned to write a sentence.

[clairemaddox]

I would like to gauge an idea of whether my six year old needs more work or not. She has been concentrating on sums and learning how to write.

She just turned six and she wrote 'i got a bag' on her own without help.

This is the first sentence she has written all by herself in her book unaided.

I know every child is different, but is this "behind" or not?

I would consider that behind for year 1.

In DS reception class, a couple of children were early starters and are reading at green/orange level, a decent chunk have just gone to blue this term, most of the rest are on yellow. There's a small group who are struggling on pink/red.

In writing, around 2/3 of the class would be writing sentences like your daughter has written, or longer. The better half of the class would be independently writing g (eg a caption for a picture) things like "it is a mummy bird/burd with her eggs/egs", or even adding a second sentence.

At our school (Ofsted good) by the last term or y1 they would be expecting several sentences and quite a lot of correct spelling.

If she wants to do science, will you be able to cover the curriculum as she gets older? Are you going to homeschool though secondary. Is your DD happy about being homeschooled?

Remember too OP, writing doesnt just mean "handwriting". Lots hate writing at 5 and 6 because they lack the fine motor skills to execute it, not because of their language or comprehension.

Have you tried sometimes letting her type, or dictate to you, so that she is also getting opportunities where she is solely focussing on sentence construction/content and not on letter formation?

How is her reading? Is she reasonable fluid and secure with phonics? Writing tends to lag behind reading so I would focus on the reading initially.

I haven’t read the full thread so apologies if I’m repeating what others have said
As a reception teacher I would say that writing a simple sentence ( using cvc words ) is only just about expected level at end of Reception . Obviously not all
children are at this level but anyone working here should be targeted for catching up in year 1
As an aside I find it unusual as a home Ed parent that you’re asking on mumsnet . Are there not specialist online groups to give support to HE parents for exactly this situation

Hi ,
I think your DC is a bit behind. My DC at reception in November- December, so 2-3 months after starting school, was given a project to right about a certain animal. The teacher wasn't very happy that he didn't describe each species in sentences...I was shocked, for me it was a big deal what he had done and I was very pleased, but of course the other kids were writing sentences by then.

My DD6 is not much beyond this but she has struggled with reading and writing (she's great at maths though) but she is progressing and is miles ahead of where she was at the beginning of the year and that's all that matters, she will catch up and she had a very disruptive first year obviously. I honestly wouldn't worry as long as you can see her progressing

Yes, but if she posted this there, she'd be vilified for doing 'school at home'. There is unfortunately a large online voice who are very against anything until late primary really. (Despite education being compulsory from 5). She'd get a huge flood of people telling her she's doing it wrong, let her play and it is way beyond expectations.

Home education/ homeschooling is more accepted in America, and Unschooling isn't as common there. I tend to get sensible answers in American groups but it probably hadn't occurred to OP so she came here.