How do you balance forcing a pre-K kid to learn with not making them hate school?
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Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| You don't. I'd stop completely or send her to regular preschool. |
Anonymous
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SHE'S IN PRESCHOOL!!!
Sorry, I rarely use all caps, but you clearly need to hear that. Leave her alone and let her do the things she likes to do. Worksheets in preschool? Come on! And for what it's worth, my kids are at a well-regarded private that starts in PreK but even then I wasn't expecting nor wanting them to be doing worksheets. And now they're in lower school and doing really well. |
Anonymous
You understand exactly why this is, yes? If not, do some research. |
Anonymous
What makes me CRAZY is that so many public preschool and prek programs - and private ones, too - are IGNORING THE RESEARCH and doing the above to their children, whether online (which is horrible) or in person. And these chidlren often do not have good self-regulation skills and don't persevere well- they quit trying very easily, whine at the drop of a hat, are still hitting and kicking others to get what they want in kindergarten and first grade, all because they are sitting down and being quiet, working on worksheets or sitting in groups doing letter/number games and trying to write (with underdeveloped hands) all their letters and get them in the right order, on a line, etc. INSTEAD of doing what they were SUPPOSED to be learning in the 3 to 5 year old age range of: social emotional skills, self-regulation, how to solve problems with other children without hitting or crying or whining or quitting, how to work out a problem (we want this marble to go down the ramp, go around that corner and drop into this bucket. It's not getting into the bucket. What can we try to get it to do what we want?" Oh, yes, and a play based program is also showing the children that learning is fun, reading is wonderful, singing, telling stories, counting how many seeds there were in the gourd they just cracked open (that they grew in their garden) - we want the children to want to learn. so now you have an overly stressed child who already "hates learning" at 4 1/2 years old! Stop. buy some letter cookie cutters, put those out with the other cookie cutters and have her use playdough. (if that's too easy for her, then buy sculpey - clay in cool colors that is so much fun, but is harder to squeeze, cut, etc and really builds the finger muscles they need to write when she is rolling and tumbling on a mat, hanging from the climbing equipment, pulling, stretching, climbing, hanging on the playground equipment, she is developing the core muscles that are necessary to be able to sit without falling over or sit with her hand under her chin to support her tired core. When you are driving, you could play "what starts with" game - if she isn't totally soured to learning. Our prek children LOVE to be challenged "what words begin with the 'b' sound like banana? Hmmm.... bike, banana, bumblebee ..... and even if she makes up a word if it starts with the 'b' sound, that is fine - you never correct her - the point is she is playing with phonemes, which is the basics of learning to read. another fun game when driving is to play the "what rhymes with" - Hmmmm.... I wonder what rhymes with cat? what other word has the 'at' sound? Hmmm.... bat, mat, sat..... then you let her fill it in.... it's a fun game! Again, she'll make up words 'wat'! and that's FINE - you don't correct, because she was right with the 'at' sound. And, if she can't do this yet, then you let it go because for some children (especially who are closer to 4 than 5 yrs old) this is hard. that's why you start with the 'what starts with' game Truly. Even if she is going to a truly academic kindergarten she will learn these things there. and, also, if preschool teachers don't understand the necesiity to create RELATIONSHIP between themselves and between children online, they are not good and focused on the wrong thing, probably because either they are undereducated about preschool child development AND/OR their school is not developmentally appropriate, which is not surprising. Many public preschool/prek have just "done the same as Kinder and 1st grade, just slower and for shorter kids" when CHILD DEVELOPMENT books tell us 3 yr olds are NOT just short 7 year olds!!! Oh, I get so frustrated as an early childhood educator who sees so much wrong and damaging in our public school system that I just can't even. |