Home Tutor for Kindergarten Readiness

In addition to what those have said about Mom and Dad time, and not wasting money on a tutor, I'd add playdates to the mix. A lot of a kid's success is kindergarten is going to come from social readiness- not always acting on impulses, sharing with other kids, and getting things done when other kids are around. Fine motor skills, using the small muscles in the hands especially, are important for writing later on, so use lots of toys, playdough, and crayon time.

The best home tutor is mom and dad spending time with the child. Read books. Have converstions. Teach age appropriate skills. Don't lecture, but be constantly aware that everything you do with your child is a 'teachable moment'.

I am a elementary school teacher who has taught Kinder, 3rd and 4th. Is your child in preschool? If they are they are getting what they need that will prepare them for kindergarten. If they are not, that is ok, just start reading to your child everyday. Don't waste your money on a tutor, your child is to young. Let them learn at their own pace. Do not pressure your child or feel pressured by others around you. We as a society put to much on little ones these days and they become way to stressed out as they get older. Let your child be a kid, they won't be one forever.

You don't need to hire someone, you can work with your child. You can take Dora's Backpack quiz to see what your child needs to work on.

http://www.nickjr.com/dora-the-explorer/beyond-the-backpack/

If your child needs a tutor to get ready for kindergarten... then they should not be entering into kindergarten!

Remember, the places that you are looking at are businesses... they are there to make money!

Relax... all children enter kindergarten at different levels. By third grade, they pretty much level out. Make sure you have our child in preschool. Listen to what your preschool teachers tell you about your child. They usually have a pretty good handle on which kids are ready for kindergarten or not. It is early in the school year. Meet with them and share your concerns and get their feedback.

Seriously... this is just the beginning of a long road of your child's education. Parents are their first teachers! Read to them, enjoy being with them, do science experiments at home, take them to museums, make learning new things fun! Have fun being with them...

I hope this helps!

If you child is in Pre-K then this should be all the Kindergarten readiness he or she needs.

Attending pre-K will be a much better preparation than a tutor. (From a mom of a K student and a private tutor myself)

Some time in a pre-school is a must to get your child ready for Kindergarten. Kids need to go into K knowing what we went in to 1st grade knowing so there's a lot of academic pressure and expectations. Also, for many kids they need to get accustomed to the structure and chaos of a classroom and being with 19 other people their size. My son did very well academically in a small pre-school run by his in-home daycare but I noticed he would freeze up in groups of more than 6 kids. So, we put him in the pre-school that is run by our school district and he really blossomed. An added bonus was he knew about 4 kids in his Kindergarten class so it was a lot less scary.

From my experience, what the kids really need to know going into kindergarten is their ABCs and be able to identify each letter -knowing the sounds is great but they will teach them that. They should know how to count up to 100. They should know their colors and their shapes. Now this being said...they will go over all of this in K b/c some kids are not prepared and do not know this.

One of the biggest things that a pre-K program teaches are the dynamics of a classroom. If your child is not going to a real program I would work on classroom skills such as: teacher is in charge, you don't speak out unless you raise your hand, when you sit in a circle you keep your hands to yourself and you behave, take turns, clean up after yourself, etc. You may think these would be instinctual but I have heard one of the biggest problems that our K teachers have is bringing the children who have not been to preschool up to speed on these things and limiting the disruptions that doing this will cause.

I am also looking into a tutor specifically to prep my child for the entry testing to get into several schools we are looking at. They have to do the test on the computer and respond to sight words, the alphabet in a funky font, numbers, and some basic math. Since there are tutors around here that are experienced with prepping pre-k kids for this test, we are going to utilize their experience to help our child feel more confident with testing on the computer and the order of the test.

Is there an issue that you are worried about? If not, then you do not need this service.

For children with speech and language issues, behavoiral concerns (such as anxiety, "immaturity" or impulsive behavoirs beyond typcial 4-5 year old impulsivity) suspected congantive issues, or sensory and motor issues, you would do much better to have the issues assessed by professionals to find out how much of an issue your child has in any one area. Follow the professionals theraputic advice, and access public school intervention services early if neccessary. When you suspect any one of these things is an issue, you are best to send your child to kindergarten ON TIME so that they do not lose an entire year of targeted intervention services and you do not put them just out of reach for ANY service EVER, because they are older than their peers and do not qualify for a needed service (until it is too late) because they are just not far enough behind kids that are a year younger than they are. Service is always based on grade, not age, so it is a devistatingly bad educational strategy for children with issues to hold them back.

I am guessing that none of that applies to you, but your child really does not need anything other than an enriched enviornment to be ready for kindergarten. Read to them, let them see you reading, talk to them all day long, provide some opportunity to practice social skills and play with peers, and give them plenty of opportunity to see and investigate new, and everyday things. If you have a typical child, your child will be ready for Kindergarten without any tutoring, or even preschool, at all.

M.

Save your $$ for college.

Don't spend your money on stuff like that for your child. As others have said all they need to know are the basics. As long as your child can follow directions, take turns, sit quietly for a short time, hang their coat, wash their hands after restroom, eat by without assistance and can recognize alphabet letters, numbers 1-30, basic shapes, and colors then they are fine. Also, the academic stuff they teach in Kindergarten.

IMO all this stuff is taught at home and the best part...it's free!!

You can even call the school and ask them for a list of expectations for entering kindergarten.

My kids went straight into Kindergarten without preschool and they did great!

Put the money aside for college instead =-)

Kindergarten is sometimes the first aquaintance a child has to school. If your child hasn't been in pre-K and still knows the ABC's, how to count to 30, his colors and some nursery rhymes he'll be fine. In fact he'll be fine without these things. This is what Kinder is for, teaching the very basics, learning to sit still while teacher reads a book, listening to others.
Since you seem concerned then I assume you have already been teaching your child the colors, shapes, numbers, ABC's, etc.
I see no reason for pre-K tutors.