Hi, my son turned 5 at the end of August and we decided to wait to enroll him in K until next year. I was wondering if any of you have any good ideas to help prepare him for next year. He is a very bright boy but is REALLY active, and I worry about his ability to listen and sit still in class. Any moms who have been there before and can put my mind at ease? Thanks!
get some work books.....this will teach him to sit still & do some fun work....
Make it fun, make it move, and constantly repeat in short segments! Those are the best things I can tell you. The science is in, boys learn when they move. You want to focus on coloring, cutting, work on his letters and sounds while he is swinging.or throwing a ball with you (you throw, say "ah", he throws, says "a", etc). Practice writing letters in sand trays or in the dirt with his finger. Jump rope saying his ABc. Set up a little program, like every day, go to the park. The first 15 minutes and the last are 5 minute segments of different fun "school games". If he gets bored, change it and bring it back in a couple days.
Take this opportunity to remove all artificial colorings and preservatives from his diet. These add to hyperactivity. Also, get the processed wheat and other processed food to a minimum. It will help so much with his health and his attentiveness.
Best of luck, and have fun! J.
4K kindergarten is the BEST. Scope out a good program. If you are in SC--Easley area--Easley Presbyterian has a GREAT program for four year olds. If not, see what you can do to get him into a good local preschool. It was invaluable to my children and at the time the money was a stretch (although Easley Presbyterian is BEYOND reasonable!) it is worth is. Three of my four have done preschool and the fourth will too. They have to get a little bit of preparation now, because the public schools are doing a great deal in kindergarten that they did not used to do.
both my daughters went to montesorri preschool and it really helped them.. Not only with learing letters ect.. but learing to do circle time ect.. line up.. wait their turn ect. My daughters are so active.
Best of luck,
Lenc
Hi Amy,
Jonathan Lindvall is Superintendent of Pilgrims School in California and has an extensive background in education, pastoral ministry, and broadcasting. He homeschooled all of his own children who have each received an Ivy League education. He believes that boys are best suited to classroom schooling at the age of nine. Not that they shouldn't be learning before then because all kids do but they are able to sit still and learn very quickly.
I said that to say that preparation for learning is simply learning from mom and dad. Teaching good behavior and obedience to you leads to obedience and respect for their teacher. Being active usually is just a sign of intelligence. Don't squelch it, just focus it on the good stuff.
God bless,
Kindergarten is mostly play/learning. And there will be 19 other kids in his class with the same problem at first. They will ease them into the sitting still and listening part. I was worried with mine as well when my oldest went to K but she did fairly well for a kids with ADHD. I told her to wiggle her toes anytime she got the urge to wiggle when she wasn't supposed to be. And I'd recommend against the workbooks. If he gets too far ahead of the class he will get bored and that will cause even more problems. I speak from experience on this one.
My best advice is to have him in classes before Kindergarten. Preschool preferably, of course. Any class where kids have to defer to the teacher and sit and obey will help a lot (art classes, maybe?)
