Slightly freaking out: From preschool direct to year 2.....

[QuintessentialOldMoo]

Holy cow, what are we letting our son in for...

He is bright yes, but he is a sporty and active sort of chap, just turned six, with little patience for sitting down with letters and numbers. Now that we are moving back to London, he is joining year 2.

He is still in preschool here in Norway. He has done some letters and numbers. Reading is a foreign concept. He knows the alphabet, and he can write his name, he recognizes capital letters, not small ones. He can do simple sums in his head, adding and subtracting numbers with two decimals. He can count to 100.

Preschool education has been more centered around the natural sciences, with plenty of field trips to the forest and the beach and to nearby farms.

He is not great at getting himself dressed, and changed. He takes for ever, and enjoy winding up people waiting for him.

I am trying to do 15 minutes a day with some letter and maths work, but I honestly dont think we have patience for more. What else can I do?

He'll be fine if you focus on the basics, reading and writing particularly. Do you still read to him ? There was a thread last week with similar concerns

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that thread, it is very useful!

Sounds like his maths is up to scratch. DS is in his last term in year 1 and they are just starting to do adding and substracting 2 digit numbers. Sounds like he has had a great fun education so far anyway and will catch up really quickly I'm sure.

Yes a lot of positive stories on that thread.

Your DS is at an age where it won't be difficult for him the catch up.

Get the summer workbooks and do your 15 mn every day. Try a reception book first, to build up his appetite before getting on to the Y1 in case its too difficult (litteracy mainly as I understand he can not write sentences yet)

I would suggest you carry on during Y2 to help him adjust.

There are 2 little workbooks which you could use at home for assessment purposes
-The "premier maths" or "premier english quick tests" for key stage one ( published by Lettsandlonsdale.com)

• The Andrew Brodie Get ready series (reception through to year 7)

Good luck

Neighbours of ours arrived from France with three children, up to Year 4, non-English speakers, who went to the local primary school. Hard at first, but have very quickly settled down. I'm sure, with some gentle support, you son will have no problem.

We visit friends in Norway often and find that our hosts' children appear to be on a fairly similar academic level to ours, despite the lack of formal education. Maybe a little behind but not drastically. I'm sure you will find that, at his age he is ready to learn and the Norwegian system is so very good that he will be capable of slotting in without too much trouble. He will have a longer day than he would have had in Norway and more school based sports and clubs etc. Good luck.