Tuesday, September 11, 2007

F is for Frustrated

Since Eli is now “pre-k”, I am really starting to work with him on his letters and numbers to get him ready for school. I really thought it would be easy. He knows all of his letters and all of his lower case letters. He knows how to spell his name, and lots of other words (like Starbucks), but when it comes to phonetics . . . this is not going to be as easy as I thought.

Let me tell you the exercise we were working on. There were four letters on the page A-B-C-D, and four pictures - astronaut, boat, cow, duck. Eli was supposed to draw a line from the picture to the letter it begins with. Easy enough, right? Wrong.

I went over several times the sounds that each letter makes, and then I would say “A-a-astronaut. What letter does that start with?” This is the conversation that followed.

Eli: I don’t know. C?
Me: No. C makes a “k” sound. Is there a “k” sound in astronaut.
Eli: I don’t know.

*grrrrrrr* I decided to try it the other way.

Me: Okay, let’s try the B. B makes a “buh” sound. What word starts with a “buh” sound?
Eli: Ummmmm . . . duck?
Me: Eli, sound it out. Du-du-duck. Does duck have a “buh” sound?
Eli: Ummmmm . . . yeah.
Me: Eli! Duck starts with a “duh” sound. Which word starts with a “buh” sound?
Eli: So it’s not duck?

AAAAAA!!!!! I know I don’t have a lot of patience, but this just might kill me.

7 comments:

Crazy Working Mom said...

Girl, I am SO with you!!! Patience is not one of my strong suits. :( Grrr...

withthanksgiving said...

Same here. My daughter was so much easier but my son had no interest. Even in coloring the letters of sounds he would do it as fast as he could right or wrong just to be done. Makes you want to say... Isn't that what we are paying teacher for. LOL. It is soooo trying.

Now... Daughter in 6th grade.... attitude worse. Homework = nightmare = kid knows all = parents know nothing

Mom not Mum (Sandy) said...

lol that is SO Why I could never teach kindergarten. Bring them to me AFTER they know what the letter P looks like.

Mo and The Purries said...

F is for frustrated.
Bwahhaha.

Neila: So what word rhymes with duck and starts with an "eff" sound?
Eli: So it's not duck?

Anonymous said...

LOL--I feel your pain. Just wait until he gets to middle school and asks for math help and you can't remember how to do it!! Embarrassing to say in the least.

Travis Cody said...

Sounds like a few moments when he wasn't quite ready, and just decided to guess.

Don't worry, he'll get it.

Patois42 said...

Hmmmm. Do you have a speech impediment that your readers might not be aware of? Really, don't worry. It'll all come together.