It is not easy to teach a preschooler.
About a year ago….
Looking at other kids of the same age as Jay, being smart and able to do a lot of things that he couldn't do makes me worried. I tried to teach him based on what I saw on the news feed (Facebook) about those kids of about his age.
I got frustrated when Jay did not understand what I was teaching, even after repeating it umpteen times.
I started screaming and shouting and then, he was about to weep.
I started mumbling to myself, “Why other people can do it and you can’t?”
(One of the things I he could not do was drawing diagonal lines…)
Soon, he disliked studying… Whenever I said, “Jaydan, let’s study now…”, he would find 1001 excuses to reject the idea of study….
At that moment, I knew I was wrong.. The method I was using was wrong… I had caused phobia in him which might hurt him for years to come….
Getting into paranoid mode, I started asking these parents how they educated their kids, and the answer I usually received was enrichment classes.
Well… I did not send Jay to any enrichment classes as (1) weekdays he needs to go to his childcare centres and he don’t nap in school, (2) weekends I would like to spend my time with him and (3) he personally doesn’t want to attend any of them.
I rethink about it…. Maybe he just wants to enjoy his time without being pressurise?? Maybe he wants to spend his “free time” with me???
I give up the thoughts of forcing him to the enrichment classes already…
However, I need to think of other means to teach him things which he could have learn from enrichment classes.
Through the wonders of internet, I got to learn a lot of interesting methods and ideas in teaching Jay. Also, I googled for “Things that a 3 Year Old Should Know”... and TADA! Google never fail me! I realised that Jay is just as normal as a normal kid.
(Mastering the drawing of diagonal lines will be about 5 to 6 years old)
We are on the right pace!
As for now….
The only enrichment he attends now is Art, which is organised by his childcare centre. I also wanted to put him in Speech and Drama (Most of his classmates are attending it!) but he strongly disagreed!
Through this 1 year of teaching my little preschooler, I learnt a lot of things and understand a lot of things about preschoolers. Now Jay loves me to teach him and always ask for STUDY TIME! He could study for an hour straight without complaining! At times, he even asked for extension of his studying time when I told him to stop. I felt contented that I had finally made learning a joy for him.
Some TIPS for parents whi are experiencing what I had experienced before….
TALKING WHILE DOING HIS WORK….
Jay is a chatterbox. He can talk about anything. He could ask questions based on anything he sees, e.g. Why is the boy wearing this blue shirt?, Why the boy is at this corner of the page? Why this boy is so small?
I usually let him finishes all his questions and I will answer. After answering, I would tell him, “You finish this page first then ask more questions, ok?” OR “You have to finish what you have to do first then we will talk more about the things you are interested in, ok?”
I realised that by acknowledging them is much more efficient than brushing them off.
UNTIDY WORK….
I always sit next to him and coach him. I get to monitor the way he holds his pencil and the way he write.
Sometimes being restless, he tends to hold his pencil without much force and hence, the lines were not drawn properly. In this case, I would give him a chance. I would tell him the next one he has to write properly, or else I will have to erase everything off. Usually he will write better for the following ones and I would just close one eye for those that he “doodled” previously. However, if he still does not write it properly, I would erase them off and get him to redo again. He does protest but I told him that if he do it properly, I would not have to erase them off.
Being a going-to-4 preschooler, he is still learning to write. Hence, a lot of things even he puts in a lot of effort, they still looks “untidy”. For this instance, I would praise him for the hard work he puts in and tell him that he could do it better next time. I do not erase them off for this situation. I would just look for similar activity for him to do again next time.
DISTRACTION…
Curious little rabbit! I tried my best to minimise the distraction while he is studying. Everything on earth catch his attention except his mother’s teachings. -.-”
One of the incidents (Out of the countless incidents we had)...
He was writing some letter “F”. Halfway through writing a “F”, Jayjay (his younger brother) was running around him. Immediately, he stopped his writing and looked at Jayjay. He started asking questions about his younger brother and had totally forgotten about his work. I had to attend to his curiosity then, divert his attention back to his work. He turned back and forgotten about the “F” that he did not complete, and continue to write the next “F”. I had to guide him back to where he stopped. Then he laughed and apologised to me (didn’t expect him to say sorry though).
I addressed to his curiosity and he was happy that his query was answered. He happily continued to do his work after the distraction.
What I want to say here is, although it seems to distract them, we have to acknowledge it. If we try to brush it off and get them back to work, they could not focus on what they are doing after that as their little brain has “question marks” all over. They might even become grumpy.
If we answer to their questions, they will be happy to cooperate with us then.
Through my experience, I get to know that while coaching our little ones, we have to remember the following:
DON’T…..
- Raise your voice throughout the duration of teaching
- Force them to do things that they do not want to do
- Give negative remarks
DOs….
- Give rewards such as allowing them to stamp their own work
- Praise them for their hard work even if you are not satisfied with the quality. DO NOT ERASE THEM OFF AND GET THEM TO REDO….
- Let them say what they want to say and acknowledge it
I am still learning and so are many parents.
I am still looking at other interesting activities so that Jaydan can learn through play.
1 of the methods that I like is Montessori. I would talk about it in another post.
I have some printables to share with my readers. Download them and let your little ones practice them. :)
*dotted font are taken from Frontspace while Phonics font from A-Z Fonts.
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