Introduction

I’m not as belated as the viewer from Wisconsin. I’ve been browsing the site for awhile now, but only checked out the forum a few days ago. I have two preschoolers-ds just turned five, and dd is 19 mos. Ds is in a preschool for developmentally delayed three days a week, but otherwise I was probably doing CM type stuff without realizing it. I was introduced to CM through the crosswalk.com forum, and debated for a time about whether to use it. I thought I would have to do either AO or SCM without any variations, but after reading some of your posts, I realize that is not the case. My son is very intelligent in some ways–he can recognize numbers through 999 and can count past 50 (exactly how high I’m not sure). He knows his basic shapes and some not-so-basic (like a hexagon). He knows his letter sounds, including some blends that he’s not “supposed” to know yet. His delays are in fine motor and language primarily, and that’s what concerned me about CM. I thought I’d have to start copywork with entire words, have weekly drawing lessons, and have him narrate right away. But some of your responses have shown me that if he’s not ready for it, hold off until he is. His preschool uses Handwriting without Tears but he’s sloppy. I’ll probably backtrack in that area, have him draw shapes for art (since that’s where he is; a few months ago he was still scribbling) and wait and see on the narration.

Thanks for this site! Even if I don’t do CM 100% as I get started, I’m sure I’ll find plenty of tips here.