Freaking Out Less About Starting Kindergarten & Elementary School Academics: Voices 60 With Kelly Hiltz

The Mom Hour

Mom Hour Media

Parenting, Kids & Family

4.9 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As this incredibly strange and stressful school year winds to a close, parents are looking ahead to next fall and wondering: Should I send my 5-year-old to kindergarten, or wait a year? Will my first grader remember how to make friends since she’s been behind a screen all year? Will the struggle that was virtual learning mean my kid never learns to love school again? These are understandable worries, especially for those who are in the middle of their own first experience as school parents. This month’s Voices interview guest is Kelly Hiltz, kindergarten teacher who has seen it all this year – remote, hybrid, in-person – and mom to two boys in preschool and early elementary. Sarah and Kelly address the concerns parents have about kindergarten specifically, COVID learning loss generally, and what a 2021-2022 school year might look like for families. We also touch on “red-shirting” younger kinders, how to know what decision is right for your child, and what specific things families can do this summer to best prepare incoming kindergarteners for the fall. Join us!

LINKS MENTIONED:

Kelly’s first appearance on The Mom Hour is a deep-dive on kindergarten readiness – a must-listen if you haven’t already heard it!
Find Kelly on Instagram @askateachermom, or at her blog, As A Teacher Mom
All our school-related episodes are here

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Sarah and I'm Megan. We're two moms with eight kids between us from
0:05.2	little to grown. We're in different areas of the country and in different stages
0:09.0	of life, but we both know that motherhood's a lot easier when real moms share
0:12.7	tips and encouragement. And remind you that it's really all gonna be okay. We're
0:16.6	not experts. We're parents who've been there. We're not perfect. We're real.
0:19.9	Welcome to the mom hour. Hey everyone and welcome to the mom hour. I am Sarah
0:26.2	Powers here today with our monthly interview episode. So we do interviews only
0:30.9	once a month on this show and Megan and I take turns doing them. So if you're
0:34.4	new around here, keep listening for a great conversation with today's guest
0:38.0	Kelly Hiltz. But then also make sure to pop back on a Tuesday for one of our
0:41.9	more typical conversational episodes. Okay, if you saw the title of today's
0:46.4	episode and thought it might not be for you because your kids are either way too
0:49.9	young or way too old to think about kindergarten, this part is for you. Now of
0:54.1	course, Kelly and I do focus quite a bit on the early school years in today's
0:57.9	conversation. But it's really so much more about reframing some of the themes
1:02.0	that I've been seeing circulated for the last several months when it comes to
1:05.1	education at all levels. You know, parents are worried understandably about
1:09.3	the academic loss from the pandemic. They're worried about disruption to
1:12.8	social emotional skills building. They're worried about things like learning
1:16.4	differences and special needs, which have really been especially challenging
1:19.7	to navigate over the last year. And look, on this show, Megan and I try to walk
1:23.5	a fine line between assuring you that it's really all going to be okay, just
	...

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