What age would you say my child was

[Therewerenosnowdaysinthenineties]

From this?

Please be honest.

My dc has been ill since June and unable to attend school, I’ve been doing some work with her at home, however, she’s too ill
most of the time and my main focus is on getting her better. Her educational development is niggling away at me a little now though. She reads well, is eloquent in her speaking and her maths seems good. Her writing to me seems lower than it should be, will she catch up when better?

this.

it sounds like something serious to have missed school since June. Focus on your daughter and her recovery. She’ll pick things up as she goes along.

sending love!

I'm a teacher. Looking after health is the priority. If she wants to write by making lovely lists for you, all well and good. She'll catch up - there's loads of time. Enjoy time together for now. She's obviously a very caring and cared for dd xx

My profoundly dyslexic 14 year old, who will happily put you right on economic policy and the history of socialism, produces stuff like this.

Where I am from, formal education starts much later than in the UK, and we all end up in the same place! There is a lot of emphasis on education starting very young here. Just wanted to add

I really apologise OP, I’ve reported my previous comment to have it removed - i can now see that it came across really callously. I read your post too quickly, missing the details about how long your DD has been off school. and made a snap judgement that was incorrect, and now feel terrible that it’s upset you.
Honestly, her writing is lovely - my DS is just a little younger and his letters are less well formed than hers, and recently had a commendation for his writing at school so I wouldn’t be worried at all, quite the opposite. It’s concerning to hear that the school are putting pressure on her at this age. When they’re this little, the differences in development throughout a year group are huge, but they catch up quickly as times goes on.
The main thing I was getting at before is it’s clear from this lovely letter that your DD really loves you, so that’s the only thing that matters. I hope she feels better soon.

6, year 2 maybe.

Honestly don't ask on here. It is the home of child geniuses! Some of the suggestions I've seen on other threads are ludicrous.

She can form her letters quite nicely. My seven year old does random backwards letters even in her own name. But at parents evening I was shown her work and it was much better than anything she can do at home because she tries that much harder.

I'd concentrate on reading and starting to spell phonetically and number bonds to 10.

If she has decent building blocks she'll soon catch up.

Do a bit of silly imagination stuff. It's a lot of getting them to think about descriptive words. You can do this kind of thing waiting for hospital appointments. Make it a challenge - three words to describe this chair, the view out of that window etc. Or start silly stories and get her to do the next line 'it was raining and the frog didn't like being wet so he hid under a..... Then he saw......

You've both got a lot on your plates. Encouraging a love of books and her imagination will keep her engaged with learning which is the main priority.

My son was six in lockdown and quite behind as he struggled anyway. I found the Apple Tree farm books really good for bringing him on and he loved finding the ducks. Thoroughly recommend those.

Wow that is lacklustre for two. How do you sleep at night @TeddyBeans ? ( ETA I’m sorry teddy: I read that as age 2 and thought you were joking! It doesn’t look too bad for year 2 to me. It would be phenomenal for age 2!)

Op please don’t worry one jot. Unless your Dc is at senior school, it is all recoverable. Many, many children catch up and overtake those who shine at those early skills. Health must be the priority.

@Calliopespa she said year 2 not age 2.

@Calliopespa year two, not two years old!

The S and J are the wrong way round but otherwise her handwriting looks good to me. My DD had the same issue through year R and year 1…she got d and b and q and p mixed up too. It seems to be straightening out in year 2 and I’ve just had a parents evening where her teacher said that she was achieving above expected in everything and that her main concern was that she had already hit end of year targets and would be bored waiting for others to catch up.

That is such a cute list! She sounds like a lovely kid who has had a difficult time.

Whatever her age she’s clearly young and has years ahead of her to perfect her handwriting. Although my 19 year old’s is still almost illegible and he uses a laptop at school and still got great grades and is now at Cambridge. When he was at school age he easily had the worst writing in the class!

You also sound like a caring loving mum.
Just let her recover and enjoy writing you lists as it brings you both joy.
And remember doing things like drawing and painting or cutting with scissors and threading needles etc are all fun ways to work on fine motor skills which will feed into writing ability in the long run.

when you do go in and see the work displayed in a primary school the range of handwriting ability is so wide it’s untrue. And I’m quite sure it isn’t a sole predictor of future attainment.

I would cherish that little piece of work. It’s been done with a lot of love.

My son has been ill since March and hasn’t been to school either. He’ll be 9 next month and missed the majority of Year 3 and all of Year 4 so far.

It is worrying, especially as I feel like he was finally catching up after all the Covid disruptions which he really struggled with.

But getting him healthy again is the most important thing, everything else will follow.

Hope she’s better soon.

Yes I saw as I posted and edited!

”Lacklustre!” At 2 - thank goodness for the beautiful reading 🤣

My son wrote his name . He took a Quick snap of the last few letters. He’s just turned 6..I’d say your child would be about 6/7

Yes! I noticed the “ year” as I posted snd have edited! 🤣

When writing by themselves infomally like this children revert to a more basic style writing in my experience than they would produce in a formal setting at school guided by the teacher.

I'd say this is typical of Year 1's writing but there would be children from Reception up to Y2 and 3 that may write like this because their development is very varied.

Reception isnt aged 6 though?
Do you know ages of school years before you comment? The child is doing good spelling, id say at least Year 2, ignore some of these people OP, speak to her school teacher for support and comparison if you want to but honestly if shes recovering and showing a good interest I wouldn't stress too much

No one is 6 in reception

Haven't read the full thread but thought I'd throw my opinion in as a primary teacher.

Definitely not a Reception child (4-5). The only way it could be is if they are copying the words as "care" and "bear" contain digraphs not learnt until Y1. "For" is also a HFW they wouldn't learn yet.

For this stage in the year (3 weeks into term 2) I'd be very happy with a year 1 (5-6yo) producing this independently.

Could easily see it written by a Y2 child as well (6-7yo).

Bloody hell. Yes I know the ages of school children, I have 4 of them, the writing looks like my 6 year olds (year 1) I meant year one 🤯 it’s been a long day, forgive me.

I'd say age 6. I am q surprised some people are saying reception as my 4 year old is nowhere near that!

Please don't worry about her education she will and can catch up. Dc1 was ill all through school particularly years 7-9 (when we were told dc would fail all gcses, but actually passed all with grades 4-6). I told dc (much to the teachers annoyance) that health comes first we can be educated at any age if we're well enough. Yes it's harder but her health is your priority and I'm sure you've got enough to worry about without worrying about education to. When she's well enough concentrate on reading, writing and maths plus what ever she's interested in (because we all learn much better when we're interested).
Dc is now 21 bought their own home (with no help), is working as an apprentice while attending uni one day a week. It's not been easy but it goes to show you can catch up.

Hi OP, I’m sorry your DD has been so ill. I feel for you.

I was seriously ill at around the same age/a bit older. I was a voracious reader but I fell way behind in my schooling, especially in maths.

However, I found any discussion of school work when I was sick and in hospital incredibly stressful. I had enough to deal with surviving, and dealing with the assault on the senses that is children’s hospital.

I’m very against hospital schools for this reason.

I liken it to going to going to visit a friend in hospital and giving them their laptop and a pile of work to be getting on with. We just don’t do that to adults so we shouldn’t do it to children (not that I’m suggesting you’re thinking of doing anything like that)

My advice is, when she’s fully better, get her a maths tutor to catch up. Maths is cumulative and it’s harder to catch up when you’ve missed out.

I was going to say 6 too as pretty much identical to the writing on a thank you card from my bright and articulate 6 year old niece. Really hope your daughter is back to full health very soon.