Well... a super-de-duper nice version of toe-to-toe, lol.

I've already had a phone conference with this teacher and told her my concerns about having him do worksheets. She agreed that they're really not developmentally appropriate for most of the kids. I was really nice about it and told her that we ARE working on things, just not writing letters because he is just not there yet, nor are most 3 year olds.

So last week, I get a note that says "Matthew said he couldn't do this paper. He wanted to do the block center. Please work with him." Along with it, was a "please sign and return" sticker.

I asked Matthew why he didn't do the paper and he said "Mommy, I just can't draw those pictures." He knows all the upper and lowercase letters plus most of their sounds, and can DEFINITELY spell/recognize his name, but I don't even think he sees those dashes as making the letters.

Looking at the paper, he did try to trace his name. It looks bad, but he did try.

So I wrote her a note telling her that we will not tolerate him being disobedient to her, but that he said it was too hard for him, and I think this task is still developmentally off-target for him. I asked her what her thoughts were on it, and that it's one thing if he can't, and another thing if he's defying her. I told her to feel free to make him sit until he gives her his best effort, and that I certainly hope he wasn't allowed to play block center instead (I'm willing to bet he was).

Her solution was to work with him first thing in the morning before they start going to centers. Whatever, we'll see how it goes. I was proud of myself for standing my ground without being b!tchy or rude.

Good for you. I just don't understand why they are insisting the kids do these worksheets when they agree they are not developmentally appropriate. It just seems like a sure way to make kids hate school when school should be fun.

good for standing your ground. If he gave it a try that's all that matters. The more he try's the more he will start to figure it out.

Hopefully, it's productive - sounds silly for age 3 to be doing that stuff - I know Ashley wasn't. We are now seeing a lot of worksheets for the 1st time at age 5!