How to get my 4 year old ready for school?

Question

I have a child who will be 4 in five weeks. Because of her late September b-day, she will not be able to start Pre-K until next year (when she will be nearly 5.) Partly because I know she will be older than most children in her class, I really want to prepare her for school. And I just really want to prepare her period. So what are good ways to teach her to learn to draw shapes, write numbers, letters, etc. Things that she will have to know in school. She knows her alphabet and can (most of the time) count to 10 or higher on her own. I almost want to have a little class schedule so she is used to the routine of school. She stays at home with me and has been for two years (3 years by the time she starts school) so I want her to adjust easily into a new routine and help her however I can. I do work with her now but it's basically me drawing/writing something and telling her to recreate it. Which, if you've tried, is not very successful. Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Buy or make some fun flash cards and place two of three of them on the floor and have her point them out.  For example ask her "Which one is the square?"...and if she gets it right...give her a small treat like 1 m&m or something she loves.  I use to do this with my daughter and she thought it was alot of fun especially getting the treat, so she would work harder to get it.  When she gets good at this game...try placing 3 on the table and have her close her eyes while you remove one..then when he or she opens their eyes, they have to guess which one is missing.  This builds memory and concentration while having them picture the number, letter or shape in their mind....just do this a little each day and have fun and don't get mad or pressure them if they get confused or get the answers wrong.

Answer 2

Just keep working with her. Buy flash cards and workbooks and make it fun! My son will be 5 in October and still cant draw shapes, numbers and some letters. That will be taught in preschool and kindergarten. Don't force her to learn, it will all happen in time.

Answer 3

My son had to wait till this year because of  his late September b-day and what I did with him when he was here I helped him learn the ABC colors, draw inside the line it was a lot of fun and he loved to learned.

Answer 4

Both my boys are excellent in school and both never attended preschool. Like you I did my best teaching them myself ( in my case before Kindergarten). Here are some of my techniques: have posters of shapes and colors... can be purchased at an educational store like "Education Works" and tell her what they are, then later have her tell you the names of the shapes. Next step is to introduce her to shapes within shapes. First draw it for her... say: big circle- small circles (draw a big circle and small circles inside)... do this with other shapes. Next draw for example a house and tell her what the different shapes are on a drawing of that house. After this, have her discover shapes in real objects. Play  the I Spy game.

You can purchase a preschool kit. I did. It was called preschool in a box for $99, which I purchased at a homeschooling conference. All the items that I have in there can be purchased at Education Works. There might be a store like that in your town. Look it up online. The kit has very helpful things that will help her learn pattern, abc's (lower case- puzzle), shapes, and basic Math.

My boys are both awesome in writing. The reason for this is because I provided them with things that are good for developing great fine motor skills from very early on. So many adults (teachers,substitue teachers, parents) compliment my son's awesome handwriting

(grade 1). He is good at it, because he plays with non-drying clay in his spare time every day (it's amazing). He makes toy parts out of clay dough, animals like beetles, sharks, etc. He can make a Japanese beetle with all its details in seconds. I have a table for him and all the essentials he needs for drawing and writing. He is very detailed in drawing, too. What I did with him was this: we would draw a picture together- after he aready loved drawing his very own pictures (that's important, because kids are supposed to learn to be more and more detailed by themselves)- by me drawing a beautiful picture (to model him what we humans are capable of) and by asking him to add to it whatever he felt like. For example I would draw an underwater picture and he would add to my completed picture a rock, a shell, a fish, a turtle, or whatever.

Also: read to your child a lot! Have a box or a basket with books that you can either buy from a library booksale or that you both get together at the library. Make sure to have her see you reading a lot for yourself, too. I love to read, so that came natural to me. My child has a reading log for school. Today was only the 19th, but if he reads 4 more books tomorrow, his log for August will be full. We went to Borders and he read 4 books there today. When he got home he grabbed another book before going to sleep. I have a bookshelf with books in it that I read to him before he knew how to read. These books are How to Deal With" books (how to deal with bullying, etc... by Joy Berry). Now he reads them to himself and learns valuable lessons for life, because repetition is essential for kids. I don't even have to tell him to grab a book, he just does so routinely. After he read he asked me to read to him. And I did. (We are Christians, so I read to him from a Children's Bible) Reading to your child will help her comprehension, which will lead to love of reading and love of learning.

Relax and make everything playful for now. (after all your child is only 4) That's very, very important for the very young learners. Most preschools don't really teach all that much at all to make kids ready for Kindergarten. It's quite something that you are so tensed about getting your child ready for preschool. Chill and do things more relaxed, because kids can get overwhelmed by a very overly eager parent. I have a 1st and 6th grader, so I know what I'm talking about. You as the parent have a very big role- you are your child's first  and "forever" teacher. You can instill love for learning or the opposite. So know your child. Of all people it's you who will know first what kind of learner you have. Educate yourself on that topic, so you know how to teach your child best. I homeschooled my older child for three years, but realized after 3 years that he is best when he is around many kids of his own age. He qualified for  both enrichment classes (Math & English) that are being offered at his school both last year and this year. This is his second year back. He was with the ABEKA curriculum (you can order a preschool curriculum from them, too), so going back into a regular school schedule was easy breezy.

I typed way too much already.

I hope I was able to help you a bit.

Aloha and good luck.