When Gabe and Dan were little, I read an article in Mothering Magazine that mentioned a book called Better Late Than Early by Raymond and Dorothy Moore. I got the book and read it and it made a lot of sense.
The Moores' premise is that children won’t thrive in a formal learning situation until they are developmentally ready. A lot of things have to come together for a child: eyesight, hearing, coordination, ability to focus, emotional stability, and others. The amazing thing is that for many children, especially boys, this doesn’t happen until they are at least 8 years old, sometimes 10.
There has been a push in recent years to start formal education earlier and earlier, the idea being that the sooner children are taught to read, write, and do arithmetic, the more mastery they’ll have of these subjects. One hundred years ago in some states it was against the law for children to go to school until they were at least eight years old. Kindergarten wasn’t even mandatory when I was a child (which wasn’t quite 100 years ago!) and we didn’t begin reading instruction until first grade. Now my niece, who is in kindergarten this year, has a spelling test every Friday.
Raymond & Dorothy Moore spent years investigating the results of early education. They examined other studies and did their own studies. They found that in the early years, up to somewhere around ages 8 to 10, it is best for children to be at home in a loving and supportive environment. They found that children who are kept home until they are ready for school quickly catch up with the early starters.
The Moores' premise is that children won’t thrive in a formal learning situation until they are developmentally ready. A lot of things have to come together for a child: eyesight, hearing, coordination, ability to focus, emotional stability, and others. The amazing thing is that for many children, especially boys, this doesn’t happen until they are at least 8 years old, sometimes 10.
There has been a push in recent years to start formal education earlier and earlier, the idea being that the sooner children are taught to read, write, and do arithmetic, the more mastery they’ll have of these subjects. One hundred years ago in some states it was against the law for children to go to school until they were at least eight years old. Kindergarten wasn’t even mandatory when I was a child (which wasn’t quite 100 years ago!) and we didn’t begin reading instruction until first grade. Now my niece, who is in kindergarten this year, has a spelling test every Friday.
Raymond & Dorothy Moore spent years investigating the results of early education. They examined other studies and did their own studies. They found that in the early years, up to somewhere around ages 8 to 10, it is best for children to be at home in a loving and supportive environment. They found that children who are kept home until they are ready for school quickly catch up with the early starters.
Since our guys were late talkers and showed no interest in wanting to learn to read at age 5 (although they loved being read to) and because of the history of dyslexia in my family, we decided to go with the “better late than early” philosophy. Like other parents, we wanted to give them every advantage. So, when the yellow school bus stopped in our neighborhood, our kids didn’t get on. We decided to take it one year at a time; little did we know that “better late than early” would turn into “better never than early!”
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