Two thoughts with a nearly four year old

[MegMarch]

1. What should I be doing now to get ready for HSing? We do regular learning as we play stuff now but I don't have any materials, research put into it, etc.

2. My friend who was planning to HS and possibly set up a co-op space at her (large!) home has decided her child is better served in a classroom environment. I'm pretty and need some sympathy please.

[melliethepooh]

When do you plan to start formal schooling? I always swore we wouldn't do anything until he was solidly 6, but Mr Smartypants needed more to challenge him.

I'd mostly have an idea of what you want to do when you do go. At four sensory play is still huge wrt learning.

[FlyingBlueKiwi]

The polite answer is probably read to them a lot.

The real life answer is try to survive the hellish year that is FOUR without hurting yourself or your child.

[CelticJourney]

Originally Posted by MegMarch

1. What should I be doing now to get ready for HSing? We do regular learning as we play stuff now but I don't have any materials, research put into it, etc.

2. My friend who was planning to HS and possibly set up a co-op space at her (large!) home has decided her child is better served in a classroom environment. I'm pretty and need some sympathy please.

1) You are already doing the right thing by playing....and I second the recommendation to read to her. I found that when I sat down and looked at regular kindergarten materials, they were things we already did or she already knew.

2) Hugs - sounds like jitters, but better to know now that later perhaps.

[jenny_islander]

1. Dirt, mud, rocks, paint, unbreakable fat crayons, and other messy things.

2. Some storybooks. If you remember them fondly from your preschool years, they're good.

3. A few songs, ditto.

There, covered.

But seriously, if I had 3+ to do over again, I would pick an outdoor spot that was easy to get to/from and visit it at least once a month, all year round, with appropriate clothing and some basic stuff in the car or stroller (like extra socks). My kids kind of picked their own; Sophia insisted almost before she could talk on making regular stops at a great big cottonwood tree that grows at the edge of a quiet parking lot downtown, and when she could talk she named it "Mrs. Tree." All three kids still visit the tree to this day, noting seasonal changes and tracking the progress of the two naturally bonsai-d rowans that grow in a fork in its branches. Keeping a small garden designed to yield through the entire growing season is another possibility if picky little fingers can be kept out of it (grumble grumble this is why I can't have parsley or chives grumble gripe). Whatever you choose, gently and briefly direct your child's attention to something interesting, perhaps tell a little story about what things were like a few months ago and how they may be a few months from now, then back off and leave room to explore.

At home, read storybooks and sing nursery songs. If you are self-conscious about your voice, find simple arrangements of the songs on Youtube (Super Simple Songs has some nice ones) and play them. Slowly and gently practice things like:

*Colors: Crayola makes bath color pills in red, yellow, and blue; this is good for teaching red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown. Plus at the end you get a clean kid.

*Numbers: Counting songs like "Five Little Speckled Frogs," giving a finger countdown for transitions between activities, saying "I'm cutting your sandwich into four pieces, look," etc.

*Letters: Think BIG. S-T-O-P, O-P-E-N. Focusing on big letters is less tiring for little eyes and brains. Don't try to teach all of the letters. At home, you might look at the alphabet games section at Starfall.com, which is free, and allow joint or solo exploration for a few minutes a day. But, again, the goal is recognition of some letters, and the bigger the better.

*Place in time: Seasons, the order of holidays, signs of impending weather, and the order of daily activities are about as detailed as you can get.

*Shapes: IME kids like to show off their shape knowledge at this age. Look at the gently presented shapes songs from KidsTV123 on Youtube. They have a lot of good stuff.

Keep it short, keep it simple. Five to ten minutes per day of directed learning--less if there is resistance or lack of interest--plus some good stories and songs and daily outdoor time if possible.

[MegMarch]

Originally Posted by melliethepooh

When do you plan to start formal schooling? 5? 6? I don't know

Originally Posted by jenny_islander

But seriously, if I had 3+ to do over again, I would pick an outdoor spot that was easy to get to/from and visit it at least once a month, all year round, with appropriate clothing and some basic stuff in the car or stroller (like extra socks).

I love this idea!
At home, read storybooks and sing nursery songs. done

*Colors: she knows them. MIL cracked up this weekend that DD was able to tell which of two blues had more green in it. She also thinks everything silver is dangerous though

*Numbers: She recognizes 0-9 and can count to 14 and then it all gets nutty. I want to work with her on slowing down when counting because she gets so excited that her mouth runs faster than her counting fingers or eyes.

*Letters: She knows these and most of their sounds and can write probably over half. She likes working through words in print, signage, etc finding their sounds but isn't ready to put the sounds together into words yet. I'm not pushing on this stuff, just encouraging and informing as she's interested.

*Place in time: This is not our strong point. I'm not good at schedule and routine and DD has a harder time with this kind of concept. I think we can find some ways to add this kind of idea into our play.

*Shapes: That youtube channel sounds good

Keep it short, keep it simple. Five to ten minutes per day of directed learning--less if there is resistance or lack of interest--plus some good stories and songs and daily outdoor time if possible.
Does directed time work best at the same time daily? As far as stories, she tends to dislike "scary" stuff like giants and bad guys. I want to introduce some of the good classic stories without things being too intense for her. Should I wait a bit on those? Right now it's all Fancy Nancy and her toddler books. Outside time is one area I really struggle with. I know it is so good for us both but I really dislike the bundling, sunscreen, and whatnot. I think if I make it a goal for 4 days a week instead of daily it will take the pressure off

So that's kind of where we are now. We do Music Together class once a week probably half the year and otherwise just play. I started freaking out a bit last week when DD's friends' moms started talking about all the stuff their kids are doing in preschool, trying to move to get into pre-k districts, etc. They are all intense and I'm like "we played Legos and colored last night."

[jenny_islander]

Remember: Unless you are talking about a bona fide prodigy or someone with serious deficits due to issues in the brain, your kid and their kids and everyone else's kids will be at the same place academically by about 8 no matter when they start. Personally I do not like to push.

[Soliloquy]

Find things you both enjoy and enjoy them with gusto. Read books. Play outside. Take walks. Look at things.

[melliethepooh]

It sounds to me like without a specific philosophy, you'll do best just living life the way four year olds do best: lots of time outside, reading books, asking questions, playing with other four year olds.

[Johns_Gal]

Four you say.

I'd read to her as much as I could and leave it at that.

Because yeahfour. tothekiwi

[MrsDuck]

Adding my voice because it's admittedly different... So clearly not what most do...

At four we bought Timberdoodle's pre-k boxed curriculum. It was mostly fun hands-on stuff like cutting, pasting, construction, etc. DS1 loved it. The parts he didn't card for we didn't bother with, and it was really, really good for ME to start getting my head around how to be a parent and teacher at the same time. It helped us a ton to start on the right foot (school is FUN!) and also get a bit of a rhythm to our days that had been missing.

[joyinthejourney]

I mostly let my children play at that age. I took them to parks, read lots of books, and worked on getting a rhythm to our day. Such as, do we get dressed before or after breakfast? Do they pay attention to stories better during mealtimes or during play? I taught them a routine of brushing teeth, dressing, and learning to make their beds with help each morning. I designated an outdoor playtime, to make certain we got out enough each day, and established screen time and quiet time rules.

Then, I tried to meet my own personal goals, such as trying to bake with them once in awhile, involving them with simple household chores sometimes (like folding wash cloths and socks, dusting furniture), and helping me spot things in the grocery store from our list. I used those early years to create some family holiday traditions. I also wanted them to get to know my grandmother, so we visit her often.

One website I enjoyed whenever I got the itch to do something more was Pamm's House Curriculum. It's designed for an in-home daycare, but has so many fun, but easy/simple ideas. Bible stories, color of the week, poems, paper crafts, etc.

Most of all, have fun. Like someone else said, you spend a lot of time just getting through the age/stage. But I enjoyed using that time to figure out how I wanted our days to look going into the future, too. Things change all the time, but having certain things you do daily helps.


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