What can your 6 year old boy actually do?

[makawaka8]

Can anybody out there share what their 6 year old boy can actually currently do in terms of reading and writing? I'm not a pushy parent or into hot-housing my child. If anything I think I might have been a bit too relaxed about school, thinking my DS is still very young and will just get there with it all. I have spoken to his teacher today and basically he is not making a lot of progress in terms of his reading and writing. She doesn't seem that concerned because he is clearly learning in a general sense but he is below expected levels. He is in year 1 and has just turned 6. He is honestly a very bright child with a great vocabulary and he can talk about lots of complicated things. He is very poor still at writing and while he loves being read to, he is just not bothered with reading. He is progressing but slowly. His teacher today did seem to imply that this can by a "boy" thing at his age, where they are not as interested in sitting down and applying themselves? Now I'm wondering if I have been too laid back about it and should I be concerned here. Would anybody be willing to share what their 6 year old DS is actually able to do?

Mine is just about a free reader, brilliant at spelling and his handwriting is ok. Maths he's quite advanced too. He's in year 2, he couldn't even write his own name at the begining of year one. Children all learn at different paces, some are more forward in areas then others. My 4 year old is different, less mature yet more advanced in other ways.

There you go op. I expect that has helped put your mind at rest now that the average harry potter free reading brigade have arrived to share their experiences

Art I think you should be pleased to say that your ds is very bright, why deny that and downplay it?

My ds - we've been told he is pretty good with his reading. We aim to read every day (but being working parents it is usually 5 times a week instead) and he's on the school reading scheme still not a "free reader". He can have a go at reading stuff alone but he doesn't like fiction much. Which is not a surprise as a lot of stuff aimed at his age is crap. He prefers history and science. Maths - he can do addition, subtraction and knows some of his bonds but be really doesn't like formal learning so won't be hot housed at home.

I'm not letting him read Harry Potter 😝 as it is too scary for him.

He's very much a hands on learner - he is brilliant at Lego and loves being outside. So school isn't really for him yet (he finds it boring!)

He is 6, in year one.

This contrasts with my 4 year old who can already read basic words and I suspect if i taught her all of the phonics sounds she would be a free reader in no time. She isn't at school yet but will be one of the oldest when she does start. She can also do basic addition and subtraction but very basic. She's incredibly bright - her preschool have commented and give her work to take home. Which she loves!

Actually I am a regular poster, who name changed recently because I going to post something sensitive and personal and then decided not to. Just haven't got back round to changing it to my usual name.

But thank you so much for looking me up, I feel really flattered.

My six year old (y2 but August baby so like a y1) can read fluently but is in no way a free reader. He's still slogging through the reading scheme and the school say his comprehension is not where his decoding is. We don't have the standard book schemes at our school but he's probably about gold/white? He could read all the words in Harry Potter but wouldn't have a single notion what was going on.

For maths he's getting to grips with all his times tables and can arrive at the answer for all of them by counting in 5s, 6s, 7s, etc but can't automatically shout out the answer. Some he knows, some he doesn't. He's confident with maths though - and prefers doing maths homework to reading.

His handwriting is joined up (has been since the start as that's how school teach it) but with a lot of variation in letter size. He's not a keen writer and although he could write a page of A4 it would only happen under duress and promises of sweets at the end.

At this stage, DD was flying through books obsessively. But she didn't have the same confidence with maths.

I hope that gives a fair sense of where some perfectly smart but not G&T six year olds are.

Free reading brigade? Who's competing, nobody but you! They are children for god sake, they all learn differently. Get a grip and stop being so touchy just because somebody else's child can read. It's rediculous. The OP asked, simple as.

Theres no competing here mooby. I'm too long in the tooth for the pfb competing phase thank goodness. Although I wasn't refering to you anyway, for giving an account of how your child now he is in year 2 compared to year 1. But feel free to be touchy and take offense if it makes you happy. I don't mind.

My ds2 didn't click with writing until later in y3. He's summer born. He sounds a bit like the OP's ds and he's doing just fine now. Extracurricular activities have helped him with his confidence so it's not all about the academic side of things, but I think that the confidence reinforces the academic stuff.

My 6-year-old DS is in Year 1 at a fairly intense west London pre-prep. He is a bright kid and his teacher is very happy with his work (with the exception of writing.). Still, he is nowhere NEAR what Art describes as a "normal" 6-year-old. His best subject is reading and he could probably read Enid Blyton with a reasonable degree of comprehension, but there would be plenty of words he would just guess at or gloss over. It is worth mentioning that he didn't really start reading fluently until the first term of this year, and he's one of the older kids in his class (November birthday). It just kind of "clicked" at that time. He is still not a free reader at school, though, and I'm not sure if there are any in his class. His teacher says that he still needs to build his comprehension and other skills.

He can add and subtract numbers up to about 20, I would say, but he still counts on his fingers to do it. He can do very very simple multiplication but only if it is presented like "I have 3 friends and give them each 2 sweets, how many sweets do I have?" I can't remember what else Art's kid could supposedly do, but I remember thinking he sounded incredibly advanced.

We are American so our attitude toward academics at this age is much more relaxed than a lot of English parents we meet. We are probably in the wrong school, frankly, but that's a subject for another post. We've never done a single drop of instruction at home other than reading to him and modeling our own enjoyment of books and reading. My top priority right now is that my children have ample time for play, exploration, building social relationships, etc. I think your child sounds fine, OP. Boys in particular sometimes need a bit more time to develop, but they all get there. I would NOT stress yourself or your son over this.

Mine is 6 next week and in year 1 of a prep which goes through to 18 and seems to get excellent a level results so what they are doing seems to work. He's on purple reading level and reads it fluently, manages simple comprehensions. He can double and half, measure accurately, count in 2, 5 & 10'a but has no idea how to equate it to a timetable. Content of writing is ok, spelling not bad and handwriting fairly dreadful. He's one of the top of the class and not even close to Art's child. He might be able to open a Harry Potter but he wouldn't be able to read it.

DS (Year 1, age 6)...loves school for the social side.
He can read well (Gold level) but hates it, has no interest in reading. We read 10 mins a day but given the choice, he wouldn't! Only writes when he has to at school, has illegible cursive handwriting.
His maths is good and he does love Sumdog, but only because he wants to beat his friends scores.
Good general knowledge from watching science type documentaries on TV.
He'd rather ride his bike, play in the garden, do Lego, play football etc.
His teacher says he's doing very well, he is on the top table, but he doesn't care for school or academics.

Ds is in year 1 and soon-to-be 6. We had parents evening last week and he is above expectations for maths and reading. His writing is okay but not great - spelling excellent and content good, it's the letter formation itself he struggles with. Very inconsistent with it by the looks of his books - sometimes it's neat and small then last week it looked like we'd gone on a time warp back to reception.

OP the thing that rings alarm bells for me is that you feel that his reading and writing is not on a par with his other abilities. Now if he was a couple of years older it would sound like dyslexia. But because he's six he may just not be ready for reading and writing. Personally I would leave it until the start of year 2 and then start pushing for additional help. If he catches up then great but not all children do.

In relation to art my 6 year old can do what hers can, but she is above average in year 2.