10 Things You Need to Know About Your Preschooler

Even though pre-school has been back in session for over three months, still in the back of your mind may be the question, What Do I Need to Know for Kindergarten? and, Is My Child Ready for Kindergarten? 

However, for parents of even younger children, the question is, What do I Need to Know About my Preschooler to Help Him to Have a Valuable Preschool Experience?

While in a another post, I focus on the kindergarten questions, for now I will list The Ten Things You Need to Know About Your Preschooler. 

Here they are:

1. Infants can see color and shapes very early in life.

2. Preschoolers like to hear the same story over and over again.

3. A child in the womb grows accustomed to her mother's voice.

4. Preschoolers like to sing, chant, and tell stories.

5. Listening is a receptive skill that requires preschoolers to think and interpret.

6. Speaking and listening habits profoundly influence of preschoolers’ ability to write.

7. Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers understand many more words than they can say.

8. Preschoolers need to see that reading and writing are useful and enjoyable things to do

9. Preschooler natural curiosity and desire to make sense of their world are the only motivation they need to learn.

10. Preschoolers learn by doing things – – actively exploring books and print. 

Go to the The Critical Pre-School Years for more valuable preschool information on raising your pre-schoolers.


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Single Grandparents Raising Grandchildren - A Growing Situation

Across the country, more than 2,400,000 grandparents, regardless of income, background, or race, are responsible for meeting the basic needs of their grandchildren.

In Illinois more than 103,000 grandparents are responsible for meeting the basic needs of their grandchildren with over 41,000 of these grandparents living in Chicago alone.

These grandparents, many of whom are single, are caring for children whose parents cannot or will not care for them due to substance abuse, illness and death, abuse and neglect, economic hardship, incarceration, divorce, domestic violence, and other family and community crises.

If you are among this growing number, no matter why or how they came to live with you, your grandchildren will benefit from being in your home. When children cannot be with their parents, living with a grandparent may provide:
- Fewer moves from place to place
- The comfort of a familiar language and culture
- A chance to stay with siblings
- More contact with their parents, depending on the situation

 Nevertheless, despite these benefits, the children will face some unique challenges:
- They may feel insecure and unsure that you will take care of them.
- They may act out or challenge you.
- They will miss their parents.
- They may be anxious or depressed.
- They may seem young or act too old for their ages.

As grandparents caring full time for your grandchildren, you will encounter many of these emotional and psychological issues faced by the children. The world is much different for children now than when you as a parent raised your children. Consequently, you may need help not only in meeting the emotional needs of your grandchildren, but perhaps also with the legal, financial, medical, and educational issues that come with this new role. If you need help, don't hesitate to seek it.


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8 Ways to Help Your Child Remember Math Facts

As your child progresses from kindergarten through eighth grade, the knowledge and skill to be learned in math will not come become automatically unless your child is exceptional.

To acquire these skills require frequent practice and sustained effort. If you do not see your child consistently practicing the rudiments of
math, -- that is, working sets of challenging problems on a daily basis – then do not expect him or her to be particularly good math student.

Here are the 8 Ways to Help Your Child to Remember Math Facts: 

          

1.  Reward your child for improvement retention of math facts. Possible rewards include verbal praise (e.g. I am so proud of you for knowing five new math facts ” or a kiss on  the cheek.

2. Provide practice of math facts using a computer with software programs that provide immediate feedback for your child.

3.  Use daily drills to help your child remember math facts (e.g. written problems, flash cards, etc.)

4. Allow your child to keep basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division charts to use in solving math problems.

5.  Build upon math facts your child already knows, reinforcing facts your child has mastered. Add one fact at a time as your child demonstrates success.

6.  Have your child complete math facts and then have your child use a calculator to check and correct the problem.

7. Have an older brother/sister, an older friend, etc., work with your child each day on drill activities (e.g. flashcards.)

8. Review on a daily basis, those skills, concepts, tasks, etc., which have been previously introduced.

Overall, emphasize the importance of studying and the joy of learning through words and examples. Your children may acquire and keep this as a value for the rest of their lives.

What would like to add to these ways? Leave your comments below.

Rules for Teaching the ABC’s of Social Skills

My Playmate

Although you have a role to play in teaching social skills to your children, it is often best that you play it unobtrusively. 

In particular, you must guard against embarrassing your children by correcting them too publicly and against labeling them as shy  in ways that may lead them to see themselves in just that way. 

Children, then, acquire social skills not so much from adults than from their interaction with one another. They are likely to discover through trial and error which strategies work and which do not, and later to reflect consciously on what they have learned.                       

Children are much more comfortable when they know the guide rules for handling the social amenities. It’s no more fun for the child to be introduced to a strange adult and have no idea what to say or do than it is for a grown up to go to a formal dinner and have no idea what knife or fork to use.

How do you teach social skills to you children? Leave your thoughts below.

14 No Nonsense Ways to Help Your Child Read Better

As the former Secretary of Education William Bennett, once wrote, children learn to read by reading. Many American schoolchildren, however, read ten or fewer pages a day for school  and homework combined.

Your child will not become a really strong reader with such a limited amount of experience. He needs to be reading at home everyday. Especially if his homework is light, non-existent, or it's summer time, he needs to spend some additional time with books.

Here are the 14 No Nonsense Ways to Help Your Child Read Better:

1. Make certain your child’s reading material is appropriate for his or her level. If not, modify or adjust reading material to your child’s ability level

2. Have your child verbally paraphrase material just read in order to enhance his or her comprehension.

3. Teach your child to identify the main point in the material in order to enhance his or her comprehension.

4. Have your child outline, underline,or highlight important points in the reading material

5. Have your child read progressively longer segments of reading material in order to build comprehension skills (e.g.begin with a single paragraph and progress to several paragraphs, short stores, etc.)

6. Have your child list new or difficult words in categories such as people, food, animals, things that are hot etc.

7. When your child encounters  a new word or one whose meaning is not understood, have your child practice making up sentences in which the words can be used in the correct context.

8. Have your child identify one word each day that is not understood and require him or her to use that word throughout the day in various situations.

9. Make certain your child learns the meaning of all commonly used prefixes and suffixes.

10. Give your child time to read a selection more than once, emphasizing accuracy not speed.

11. Reduce the amount of material your child reads at one time (e.g., reduce reading materials to single sentences on a page, a single paragraph, etc.). Gradually increase the amount of material as your child experiences success.

12. Highlight or underline important information your child should pay close attention to when reading.

13. Make certain that your child learn dictionary skills in order to find the meanings of words independently.

14. Stop your child at various points throughout a reading selection to check for comprehension.



What would you like to add to this list. Leave your comments below.

17 Ways to Help Your Child Develop Better Study Skills

It is essential that you foster in your own home the principle that hard work is the key to school success. It is one of your most solemn responsibilities as a parent. As your child grows, let him know that studying is a top priority. 

There will be much enjoyment in learning, but at the same time there needs to be determined effort. And always praise the child’s effort. Make your child understand that studying must take precedence over practically everything else: watching tv, playing with video games, talking with friends, and playing sports. Cultivate such an ethos in your home by the ideals you express, the rules you set, the behavior you model, and the encouragement you give.

Consequently, the most critical task is to help your child learn how to study. It takes certain skills. Children aren’t born with them. They have to be developed, which means adults must take the time and responsibility to show youngsters the way. When youngsters routinely sit down the night before test, stare at the books, go to school the next day, and fail, often the problem is that no one has really taught them the art of studying well.

 Here are 17 ways to help your child develop better study skills:

1. Identify and designate a place for studying which is quiet and free from movement or other distractions (e.g. no tv, away from siblings, isolated from phone calls, etc.)

2. Choose a time which allows for maximum concentration (e.g. after an hour of play or relaxation, after dinner, etc.) This could be an individual preference.

3. Have your child study at the same identified time each day. In the event he does not have an assignment, the time can be used reading or reviewing.

4. It is vital that your child be required to follow a routine of studying and preparing for school each day.

5. Make sure your child is aware of those specified times when he can watch tv, play video games or visit with a friend, etc.

6. Work the first problem or problems with your child to make certain that he understands and follows the written directions accurately.

7. Make certain that the vocabulary used in delivering instructions, directions, lectures, etc., is appropriate for your child’s ability level.

8. Provide your child with a shorter task which does not require extended attention in order to be successful.   Gradually increase the length of the task as your child demonstrates success.

10. Provide time at the beginning of each activity/day for your child to organize his materials (e.g., before school, after school, end of the day, etc.).

11. Act as a model for being prepared for activities.

12. Give your child fewer concepts to learn at any one time, spending more time on each concept until your child can learn correctly.

13. Have your child highlight or underline key words, phrases, and sentences from reading assignments newspapers magazines etc.

14. Have your child review new concepts each day for a short period of time rather than two or three times per week for longer periods of time.

15. Require your child to use resources, including the library and the internet, to provide information to help him be successful when performing tasks.

16. Provide your child with opportunities for drill activities in the most interesting manner possible(e.g. working with a computer, using a calculator, playing educational games, watching a film, etc.)

17. Allow your child to use devices to help him successfully perform specific tasks (e.g. calculator, multiplication tables, dictionary, etc.)

Overall emphasize the importance of studying and the joy of learning so it becomes such a personal value for your children that it will remain with them their entire lives. 

What would you like to add to this list? Leave your comments below.