any advice on getting my five year old to want to learn.?

Question

he can count to 10 in english and spanish, but i can't get him to do the alphabet. i have tried sesame street and other videos.

he isn't in school because his birthdate falls past the cutoff date. he is also learning sign language.

Answer 1

Don't stress too much about this! Your son will be learning academics in kindergarten. You wouldn't learn German before you took a German class right? A lot of parents worry about this. They feel their child should know the curriculum before they enter kindergarten to give them a "one up." These children often end up bored. If your son does not have a lot of exposure to other children (one on one and in small groups several times a week), consider enrolling him in preschool (no more than 4 days a week and no more than 3 hours per day). If you cannot do this, do whatever you can to get him exposed to other children as much as possible. It will really help prepare him for kindergarten.

He should learn just a few letter sounds and numbers (every state is different when is comes to how high children should count. Some say to 6 and others say to 20. Check out the requirements for you area). You want him to have the basic knowledge that a given symbol represents a given sound or number. You can play games like "I spy" with him. "I spy something that starts with the letter "mmmmm." Teach him lower case letters! His teacher will expect him to learn lower case first since these letters are in most of our writing. You can have a flash card with the symbol for him to recognize as well as object for him to match the card to. If you wish to purchase an electronic game, I have known a lot of children to learn a lot using Leapfrog game systems. Keep it fun. If he feels you are trying to teach him, he may resist.

These are some basic skills that you son should have before starting school: hold a pencil in an orthodox way, recognize his name, write his name (upper case first letter followed by lower case), know 8 basic colors, no his address and phone number, cut with scissors, dress himself, open his lunch without help, and take care of ALL bathroom needs. Here is a link to some more readiness skills http://www.srvusd.k12.ca.us/schools/REGISTRATION_INFORMATION/KINDERGARTEN/Kindergarten_Readiness_Skills/

Here is another great site!
http://www.enchantedlearning.com

Relax and good luck!

Answer 2

One thing we learned in my educational psychology courses was that early learning could often be curtailed if the parents didn't take time to answer a child's questions on the child's schedule. This tells the child that learning is wrong and/or inconvenient. I'm not saying this is what is happening in your home since your child has learned to count in two languages. Perhaps, his math skills are more fun for him than his grammar skills. Try taking him higher than 10 with the numbers.

Answer 3

The fact that your child can count to 10 in English and Spanish is fantastic! Obviously you have created a great environment. Continue to provide avenues to find what your child WANTS to learn. Anyone who was taken a foreign language knows that people learn in different ways. It will come. Just because they don't want to learn the ABC's doesn't mean they don't want to learn. Try taking your child to a Mexican restaurant and have them count for a native speaker. When they receive affirmative reactions,, they will naturally want to learn more.

Again,,, nice job parents!

Answer 4

ok i dont really know why you are getting a lot of negitive answers it is a common problem. i tried eveything to get my daughter to learn things like spelling her name and learning the alphabet until i finally got her the leapfrog video game system. it sound silly but i let her play for 1/2 an hour and then sit down with her and we talk about what she played and quiz her on things she learned. she gets to have fun learning and i still get family time.

Answer 5

At 5 he should be counting higher then 10 and know the alphabet. Have you looked into a pre-school program?

Answer 6

flash cards. have mommy and me time,make it a fun game! play with them everyday,sing a silly song. make it fun!!!!! : ] do it daily or a few time's a week. (AT MY SON'S SCHOOL they wan't them to count to 50 + count by 5's to 100 the same for counting by 10's. basic math. whats funny is my son went to pre school and he was taught how to count to 16 in spanish and some french. (private school) but he didnt know how to count past 6 in english lol : ] kid's are so funny!

Answer 7

cjuyi is right that singing and enjoying it is a great help. Also try Dr. Seuss's ABC book, or fun books or toys that sing the alphabet, or alphabet puzzles. He sounds like a smart kid, he just to be convinced it's fun.

Answer 8

He should go to school, by observing other children, he will pick up the alphabet and learn to write also.

Answer 9

yes, make it fun! Get blocks with letters, flash cards, a small chalk board, or anything else that you can think of to make it fun and play a game with letters. Sound them out, and spell. Start with simple words like cat... sound the c out like kkkk and the t like tttt, then spell it. From cat, do bat, then rat, hat, sat, mat, pat, vat, etc. each time stressing the letters, they will catch on quicker than you think. (especially if you make funny faces while pronouncing each letter)

Answer 10

same with my daughter so i turned it into a game. every chance i got alone with her in the car where ever i would sing the alphabet. and exagerate parts until she wanted to sing it too, now i can't get her to be quiet with it