What I should be teaching 2 year old?

Question

I planned on sending our son to pre-school next year for academics as well as socializing. But it looks as though we will not be able to afford it. We live in a small town so most likely it would be a small mom and pops daycare/pre-school. I refuse to send my kids to a christian school of any kind. Without getting into detail I just wanted to make that clear so that takes out many of our options. Is there things i can be teaching him at home? i can keep him social but can I teach him letters and numbers at home ? I know yes I can but how? And how many of you skipped pre-school? When your kids entered kindergarten did they have to catch up to the pre-school kids? Are their any websites with guides?

Answer 1

numbers, letters, shapes, colors, left & right

Answer 2

how to paddy or p i dont know

Answer 3

I used blocks to teach my Daughter her colors and ABC's.  She had fun and learned at the same time.  Reading books is also a good way to teach her about animals, colors, shapes etc.  By the time she went to kindergarten, she knew how to write her name and was started reading, she was ahead of most of the others!  They suck knowledge up so fast at this age, you could teach her about anything you want!

Answer 4

Teach them how to count, by telling and counting with him. Soon he'll memorize it, and learn to do it on his own. Same as the alphabet. You also need to teach him, colors, shapes, left/right/up/down, and surely Kindergarten will teach him further, and more.  

Answer 5

Pre-school you mean kinder-garden? ok lets see thats a cage for children were grown ups keep they're kids so they can do what ever they want  teach him math like how to count to 10 teach him to how to read because that will save him time when he goes back to REAL school  

Answer 6

really, you do not need to focus too much on structured academics. the best thing you can do for him at this age is provide plenty of time for play and exploration (which i am sure you do). buy some musical toys (percussive ones are often the biggest hits) and teach him how to play along to music -- music is among the biggest brain builders at this age. work on rhythm and melody and use the precussion to engage him in movement. letters and numbers -- of course you can teach him that. again, don't sweat the structure/program too much. count things often. how many chicken nuggets on leighland's plate? one, two, three! etc. buy those magenetic letters for your refirigerator. also, there is a great ABC dvd (not to push dvds, but for extra support) called "sesame street's all star ABC's." all of this is to say, the best thing you can do for him, and the way that he will learn best and most, is to incorporate the "teaching" into everyday activities and play. that is what the best preschools do, anyway. as a teacher, i can tell you that you needn't worry at all about him being behind other kids when he gets to kindergarten. an engaged, interested parent is the best preschool teacher anyway. (at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite in the future, ruby will be going to preschool because she is an only child and rarely around other kids -- purely socialization. i don't care about the academic part so much. she is also enrolled in kindermusic this fall, but, again, mostly to socialize and because she is obsessed with music)

edit: oh, also: if you are able to find the sesame DVD, let me tell you what ruby and i do: once she was super engaged in it (she LOVES LOVES LOVES it), i started bringing her little foam letters (we have an alphabet set) and putting them down on the floor around us. when a song comes on that she really likes (each letter has its own), i started matching the tangible letter to the one on the screen. now she does it! well, she can do it for a, b, and d. but that's pretty good for 14 months! give it a try. big fun.

Answer 7

numbers, letters, shapes, colors  

Answer 8

You bet...homeschooling preschool is very much something that can be a success.  :-)  Really, most preschools do not focus on academics...so most cognitive areas are taught at home.  Preschool's focus is on social-emotional development.

I don't know where you live but I live in the U.S. and you can get the Kindergarten Curriculum guidelines off of our state website and that will give you a good idea of what to teach.  :-)  Just keep taking steps forward from where your son is now to where you want him to be at when he enters into Kindergarten.  

At two, basic concepts: colors, shapes, feeling words, etc.  Really, a lot of this is taught by just integrating it into your day.  Sounds like you are a stay at home mom?  Talk all day with your child...about everything..describe everything, sing concept songs, go to the library check out concept books, do a LOT of reading together.  As you read, track the print with your finger.  If you come across a big letter in the title that is the same as your child's first name, point it out.  There are computer games out there for toddlers...check out JumpStart...of course they will benefit from having an adult nearby at this age.

At two, provide a lot of exploration...different types of writing materials and tools (not just paper and pencil).  Provide many opportunities for fine motor development---small peg puzzles naturally help the child with an appropiate finger hold.

Provide art exploration...painting, collages, etc.  There is such a variety that can be done with painting...finger, brush, homemade tools, at an easel, cardboard on wall, outside, string, sponge, paint with texture etc.  A LOT of basic concepts can be reinforced here.

A simple way to reinforce name recognition is to do hand over hand, capital letter first than lower case letters, on every piece of "work".  

Musical instruments---homemade or purchased...definately benefits in a variety of ways.  

You can do a lot with nursery rhymes.  It's nice to do one a week.  You can find letters in it.  You can find rhyming words, you can do sequencing (there are many a website out there with free printables for you), you can note the capital letters/lower case letters, you can note that words are seperated by a space, you can work with retelling the "story".  The list goes on and on!

Let him bake/cook with you.  A lot of math/science and a great language experience if you are descriptive in your talk.  Remember that children that have a high comprehension of vocab tend to be more successful with reading.

Scissors... even at 2 they can begin cutting with supervision.  Cutting playdough with plastic scissors.  Cutting foam or straws are a nice cutting media...then heavier papers.  As your child progresses...Kumon has a nice scissor progression activity book.  They also have a nice writing book.

Writing:  A comment about writing...remember that before a child can write letters and numbers they needed to be able to draw different types of lines.  Allowing him to "mark" paper is your best bet.   When he gets older there are a lot of free printables that you can print out and place in sheet protectors.  They usually have vertical lines, horizontal lines, swirls, mountains, valleys, dashes, circles, crosses, etc.  

A tip... be sure that what you are teaching has meaning for your child...and make sure the activities are very hands-on for this age.  :-)

Good luck!