What can parents do to better their children for kindergarden, and college?

Answer 1

Instill a sense of work ethic and self confidence. Sounds easy enough huh? Let me break it down.......
1. Read to them daily
2. Stay involved in their education
3. Support their teachers
4. Do homework with them
5. Positive Reinforcement
6. Make school a priority in the home and their life
7. Set aside time every day for school work. The same amount everyday no matter how much homework they do or do not have.
8. Keep education going throughout the summer with fun education settings like camps or sports.
9. Keep them physically active. Video games and TV shorten a child's attention span making school more difficult
10. Keep them on a low sugar diet. Healthy eating aids in memory and concentration.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Well being involved with your children in their early development is the key. Use toys that induce learning, praise your children, make sure they spend time with other children in a learning environment a few hours a day like a montosorri school, or good pre-shool that has a defined ciriculum of music, art, discipline, meals, rest and recreation. Then when they go to kindergarden they will be prepared for it and will do well.

As for college, thats a whole different story, below is the answer I gave another questioneer.

The first thing is you cannot be an absent parent, you must be involved.
Make sure your children have a healthy meal in the morning before going to school, its a known fact that this helps concentration.
Talk to the child's teachers and counselors, find out what is coming up and how your child is doing with various subjects. Use this information to assist your child with their homework every evening, be patient, make learning fun. Take breaks during study time.
Go back and check with the teachers if there is anything else you can do to help. However make sure you do things that will not embarrass your child at school so they start hating the idea that you are there.
Be there for all your child's activities, (sports, plays etc.) encourage them to participate in sports. Participate in recreational activities on weekends with your children.
Use your own experience with memorization and study to teach your child these things. Get them interested in reading, make it a point to visit good bookstores like Borders or Barnes and Noble to read and pick up new books.
Last but not least, make sure you have meals with your children in the evening as a family. If you have to put your social life on hold, so be it, until your kids go to college. Parents just have to be involved and not leave their children to their own devices

Answer 3

Read to them, answer their questions honestly. Don't belittle them with baby talk, it stunts many children's vocabulary. Always let them know how smart they are. It takes the average two year old up to ten times before they may try something new, so expose children often to new experiences. When taking family trips and vacations always include some educational things with the fun, you might be surprised how well those thing combine. Don't be afraid to admit when you don't know something, children like to know that you're still learning too, then use that to show them how you can go about finding the answers. Show them several different ways to find answers, this will help them to know that solutions aren't always found within the small confines of a "box". Spend at least 15 minutes a day where they know that they have your undivided attention. Allow them to contribute in meal preparations(with in their individual abilities). My friend's two year old is already past most children in kindergarten because she is involved with him and all the activities he takes part in, he can already read some.

Answer 4

For kindergarten, I think the best thing a parent can do to help get them ready. Is to help them understand what to expect. Let them know how excited you are that they finally get a chance to help their brain grow. As far as academically being ready.I have found these really great workbooks at like walmart type stores. They have different skills for different ages. This helps them understand the kind of things they will be doing in school. As well, as helps them get a jump start on learning. I always tell kids reading helps the brain grow, but when you can't read yet. Then just let them know that you can never learn to much. Help them stay curious about things they don't know. Like maybe the summer before kindergarten trying learning about something new every week. Kids are naturally curious and the more the parents get involved the more likely the kids are to get involved. As far as getting them ready for college. Well, that's a whole other ballgame. At this point your once curious child has now become a not so curious adult. They know the drill, and may even think they filled their quota with high school. The important thing to prepare them for is there new found independance with college. Which I'm sure most kids can't wait for. Let them know they are embarking on a whole new adventure. Share your experiences of your first time independance. As far as academically getting ready for college. Try spending the summer before getting a handle on what type of studies your child plans on taking. Then do a few activities related to the subjects. Most of the preparing for college has more to do with the change of lifestyle then actually preparing for what your about to learn. Just make sure they understand college is completely different from high school. Your expected to show up and do the work. But, no one is there to babysit you and make sure you do it. Thats why alot of freshman get off track the fiirst year. So just make them aware of what to expect. There is only so much you can do before you have to just let them go at it alone. Hope this helped :)

Answer 5

Kindergarden and college seem so far apart, but I believe the thing that parents can do to prepare them for both is the same. READ. Give them the gift of love of literature. It will help them with spelling, vocabulary, reasoning skills, and writing. All very important in scholastic achievment.

Answer 6

If you have the time (and if you don't try to make it) work with your kids in the general areas they will need in school. Another way to help your children is to investigate schools and find one that really does care about kids and cares about things like critical thinking. If you spend the time to prepare your children for school you need them in a school that will help them achieve. School today care less and less about achievement today and more about memorization and test scores. If you teach your child at home they will be bored in most schools, learn little, be in trouble, and become apathetic.
If you want to prepare your kid for college I would suggest you make them take a year off between high school and college and put them through a "real life experience." By that I mean get them a lower paying harder working job or send them on a mission trip to another country. In my opinion most kids can easily pass college classes but simply don't try because of lack of motivation. If they spent time working a tough job or seeing how people outside America live they might respect the opportunity more. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Wow!
there is quite a difference there what you do for kindergarten and the long term plan for college are quite different for kindergarten from what I can tell a couple of factors come into play 1 education 2 interaction if you expose your kids in a FUN WAY to colors and numbers and anything else that they can grasp that's great and will give them a head start but they also need to be around all kinds of kids and learn sharing personal time, whats wrong and right . as for the way to college there are so many things that can go wrong or right but the best is what my mom did for me she involved me in everything from laundry to what we could afford for dinner to deeper subjects like sex and drugs etc. I think I came out OK with a good understanding of what it was like to be a responsible adult

Answer 8

To prepare a child for any school system the best thing a parent can do is to teach their child to love learning.
Read to them from birth on. When the child can't read, let them explore the pictures and explain the story or tell their own as they see it. When the child is old enough to read themselves let them read to the you, the parent.
My son is 13 and we still sit and read to each other often.

Also explore the world around them together. Encourage curiosity and the things that you might not understand help your child to learn the answers together.

A child that loves learning and is encouraged to always be learning, will do well in any school setting through out their life.

Answer 9

Before children even seem able to understand all the words, read to them. As their attention span and curiosity grow, encourage "them" to read. Get a library card and take them to the library at every opportunity. Beginning reading at the earliest age possible will increase vocabulary, knowledge, grammar, and curiosity, all resulting in self confidence. While a child may develop a natural favorite in subject, encourage variety. Reading is a natural road to success, no matter the age or school level.

Answer 10

I have a child that is going into kindergarten starting in the fall. We spend time going over the basics: letters, numbers, shapes, colors. I have also gotten a few workbooks that teach opposites, what comes next, etc. Flashcards are a good thing too. He is also in daycare that really prepares him for kindergarten. My son loves school and doing his "homework". After seeing his last progress report, I know that he is more than ready for school. I just hope that his enthusiasm continues on through college. Hope this helped somewhat.