starting kindergarten?

Question

my son starts kindergarten next year. i stay home with my kids rather than sending them to preschool or daycare. i have already had 2 go thru kindergarten, but with my son it seems he doesnt focus enough for me to try to get him ready for things he will be doing. and im talking about recognizing abc's and his hand writing. he gets incredibly bored with it. he likes to do educational things on the comp, but not with me an y suggestions and has that been normap for you?

Answer 1

Every child learns differently. It sounds like your other two children must have picked up reading/writing skills early on. For you son, maybe his strength is something else-- maybe artistic or kinesthetic or mathematical. This doesn't mean you shouldn't try to help his language skills and attention span develop... but it just means that his own learning style is different from his siblings.

As for getting him focused, motivated, and ready for kindergarten.... Maybe you can get him to try ABCs with paint and markers. He might love the hands-on appeal of creative mediums.

Also figure out what types of pictures books interest him and read to him for a little while every day-- let him choose the topic and book so he has ownership in it.

Lots of praise and reward when he does stay focused and show and interest in letters and words. Make a big deal of it and he'll want to keep it up.

Aside from ABCs, getting him involved in craft projects (cutting, coloring, and gluing) will prepare him for kindergarten as well. These days reading and writing is a big part of kindergarten, but he will also fall behind if he doesn't master the basics of scissors and glue bottles. :)

Good luck.... I know you probably already knew a lot of this, but I hope it helps a little anyway. Wishing your son success!

Answer 2

My daughter was the same way, and we kept her back a year, so she'll be six when she starts. I have noticed a huge difference in her just within the last six months. We bought her a Barbie computer that does letters, numbers, shapes,etc. that she loves. I'm sure you could find one for boys. If you don't think he's ready, wait. Everyone that I have told we waited, said I will never regret my decision. I also talked to a woman at a baby shower recently that does the testing for kindergarten, and she said the same thing. Good luck.

Answer 3

My son wasn't interested learning with me either. But he did love learning in school. So go ahead and give him 30 minutes of learning each day even if you don't think he is really learning. You might even spilit it to 15 minutes in the am and 15 in the pm. Let him go to Kindergarten and betcha he will shine like a star :)

Answer 4

Don't worry about teaching too much academics. Your son will be learning these things 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 usually end up bored. Social and emotional readiness is more important than academic readiness. 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 his age as much as possible. It will really help prepare him for kindergarten.

It is common for children to not want to learn from mom. Do you think you have gotten yourself into a bit of a power struggle (He knows you really want him to learn and refuses because he can control it)? If so, let it go for awhile. 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 in my little eye 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. Play some counting games with him as well. Count how many cars go by, count the blocks, or count out how many forks you will need for dinner. Keep it fun. If he feels you are trying to teach him, he may resist.

If he cannot hold a pen or pencil properly, take it away from him so he does not develop bad writing habits. To help build hand strength, get him some manipulative toys such as Lego’s and K’Nex. Have him use play dough. He can use a little scrub brush to scrub potatoes. Let him use tweezers to pick up small items such a beads or cotton balls. He can also make letters in a small dish of cornmeal or sand. Once he has developed some hand strength, get him a pencil grip so he can practice holding a pencil. Write his name on a piece of cardboard (or letters) and he can trace them using tracing paper.

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, know 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/

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

He may not be developmentally ready for kindergarten. You may want to consider holding him out a year and enrolling him in a mothers day out or preschool to help him get ready. Some children benefit from an extra to get ready to learn. It has nothing to do with intelligence it a developmental issue. Children must be ready developmentally before learning.

Answer 6

My youngest son was like this and still is. I found that "playing school" with his older siblings interested him. You might also want to try learning games that he can interact with you directly.

Answer 7

Since you mentioned he has two older siblings my quess is that he is bored and needs to be challenged a little more.