I have a 3 year old cousin who is the smartest little kid I know. His vocabulary is ridiculous and his comprehension is amazing. While sometimes it’s humorous, it’s also very admirable, because he’s only been in pre-school for less than a year, and doesn’t even go full time. My cousin is as smart as he is because his parents, our grandparents, and everyone else around him advocates learning outside of school. He watches educational children’s programs, he loves to read, and I even envy the games and toys he has that taught him his letters, numbers, and colors. As a parent, you can’t just rely on teachers and schools to teach your child. Take matters into your own hands before they step foot into a classroom:
- Read to your children: Reading is one of the most important skills a child can learn, and the earlier the better. You should start reading to your child while you’re a newborn. When they’re able to talk, go over the alphabet, get their first books to read for themselves, and practice building their vocabulary with simple words.
- Count everything: Math tends to be a rough subject throughout a child’s school career and that’s because they weren’t prepared. Start counting everything before your child enters preschool. Go over numbers 1-10 faithfully, counting on fingers, counting forward and backward.
- There’s an app for that: New developments in technology has allowed parents to go the extra mile to educate their children. Applications on smart phones and tablets make learning fun and easy. There’s a variety of games geared towards children that can keep their interest and help them retain the knowledge. If your child is already tech-savvy (my cousin already knows how to turn the computer on and navigate the Nick Jr. website), see what kind of apps there are out there.
How did you prep your child for school?
Make learning a way of life not something just done at school. Do this by answering all their questions. If you are tired (long day at work) or don’t know the answer tell them you will look it up and tell them later.(Don’t forget about it!) This also teaches lifelong learning because even mommy and daddy enjoy studying new topics. And don’t make it too long. For example:
“Mommy, where does the sun go at night?”
” Its actually the earth that is moving around the sun and the sun stays still. The other side of the earth can see the sun when we see the moon. Let me demonstrate with these two balls.”
And PLEASE!!! Get books that LOOK like your children and are about their lives and experiences… and better yet take them to the library at an early age on a regular basis and buy BOOKS as presents…Great books are out there…”Uncle Jed’s Barbershop” Aunt Flossie’s Hats, Sweetie Potato Pie, Aint No Mirrors in My Nana’s House, Night Shift Daddy, Visiting Day, The BIg Shiny Nickel, Anansi stories, etc…
This is wonderful!!! My son just made 3yr 12/31/11. He knows his alphabet, colors, shapes, counts forward and backward, can spell his name. He has an extensive vocabulary with comprehension skills and uses words/phrases in the correct context. Also, he knows how to work our iMAC better than I do as well as my phone. He loves his new leap pad. He caught on to working it on Christmas day. This kid loves taking photos and videos. He’s the family photographer. I could go on and on, but the one thing significant is that he has never been in school, daycare or anything. My husband and I have always talked to him as though he could grasp what we meant and we always stayed ar least 6mo-1yr ahead of where he is “recommended”. (Hence the leap pad which is for 4+) the kid is potty trained. I haven’t boyfriend a pull up almost a year! 😉 Good support, encouragement and patience can go a long way! I wish more parents would do these things and not depend on teachers and such. My son does watch lots of tv, he loves nick Jr. He learns so much from there also. We watch episodes with him and we use that to also put emphasis on learning and the topics on the show. He loves it!!! I adore a little smarty pants.
i work with my daughter everyday about everything their is to know for her little self and more,she also loves to read,draw, riding her bike,dance and helping others.she explains to you how things are and what they mean to her, maybe what it may mean to you also. (Your Baby Can Read-is also the greatest investment i have done with my children) this is my baby girl three years old and a special part of me!!!!!!!
I do not intend for our daughter to attend school until she is 7 as she needs to develop social and interactive skills as a young black lady that schools cannot teach. She will learn to read write and maths at home. She is already learning one foreign language and we speak two languages at home. She is 2 1/2 and clearly advanced but a little too much for me. But she is a madam in her own right.
This is so true, I strongly agree, especially since I could read and write before I started kindergarten.
One of the most rewarding experiences I have had as a parent (of two young boys) is reading with them at bedtime. But we often ad-lib our own made-up bedtime stories. When they asked me to write one of the stories into a children’s book, it melted my heart. Writing a book with my father was one of the unfulfilled wishes I had at their age. So we just finished writing Puddle Boy as a young children’s video book (bedtime story). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNkfZ59DNWM
Now that we finished one video book, my sons’ minds are abuzz with newer, bigger, better stories they want to write. I’ve never seen such creativity from them. So my new opinion is that reading with them is great. But writing with them is even better! How do other parents feel?