In a few weeks, schools will resume and a fresh crop of students will flock the halls. The happy and not-so happy faces of the kindergarten-bound children will be something for which parents will be on the look out as the new little school-goers get to experience their first institution of learning. In our summer issue, we wrote about how to prevent summer fallback for already school-going children (that article can be accessed here). Here a few things to consider when preparing your child for his/her first schooling experience:
Basic Skills
There’s some anxiety in regards to level of readiness among parents and kids. The way forward is taking them through basics of learning the alphabet to holding a pen, crayon, and pencil to writing the names of family members. For those wanting to go a step further, if you have access to kindergarten teachers, ask them what are some of the basics they will be teaching in the coming year as each time it can be different. Then use those tips to start getting relevant materials for your child. If you have access to a homeschooling community, that’s another valuable resource get suggestions on giving you child a good start.
Independence
Parent and child need to gain independence, which can be achieved through small steps but having parents letting go and learning to be a wallflower. Start having problem solving discussions and come up with scenarios that will allow children to take an active role in coming up with a solution. The need to quickly rush in and aid when stuck in a situation is a example of parents taking a step back then standing by the side to wait and see how the child figures out a solution to the problem. This will also help with critical thinking skills that’s a large component of learning in most international schools.
Make Learning Fun
Kindergarten is the beginning of the longer academic journey that’s going to be part of the family life. It’s important to make learning something new fun, as a way to encourage enthusiasm that might continue throughout their lives. The most important point to always remember that coming off as too strong can have the opposite effect. You can still make everyday activities or day trips a subtle learning experience for the young ones.
Sourced from parenting.com
Photo: schools.district279.org
