Pre K - Macomb,MI

There's a reason why "preschool" starts at age 3... before that, they simply aren't ready for structured learning activities.

The best thing you can do is read to your daughter each night. Expose her to letters and numbers. Build her conversational vocabulary and DO THINGS with her! Take her to a children's museum, take her for long walks and narrate what you see... experiences and early vocabulary are strong perdictors of later success!

She's only 18 months old. Aside from reading and talking, let her play and explore.

When she's 3- consider a preschool program.

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don't push your child! Let her education occur naturally & you'll all rest easier. The simplest way to do this is not to push the computer, flashcards, or worksheets at her.

Let her learn by being with other kids regularly - because socialization comes first. She has to know how to function within a group setting before she can learn to sit still & follow directions. At her age, you can expect to keep her fully-engaged for about 5 minutes....if you're lucky! She's still a very young toddler!

Actual academics can start between age 18-24 months. Start with colors & simple shapes. It's easiest to begin this process with sorting activities - using blocks & other manipulatives. Something she can actually hold in her hands & understand what you're talking about! Wooden puzzles are also great tools!

From there, you can use the same basic supplies & teach #s & simple counting. Letters can begin as early as age 3, but not all kids are ready for them.....starting the process closer to age 4. None of this is "set in stone", but are simple guidelines based on my 25 years of working with children!

Seriously & honestly: kudos to you for wanting to teach your child....but please be patient & allow it to happen gently/naturally! If you incorporate basic skills into everyday life experiences....then she'll learn easily. :)

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I don't believe in pushing kids too hard at that age. Right now you can start by making sure you read to her for at least 15 to 20 mins a day. Start on her ABC's, counting and colors. Just don't push her. I work with a lady that pushed her daughter. We all told her mother that they were pushing her too hard too fast but she wouldn't listen. Now the girl hates school and doesn't want to participate at all. Let her be a child too.

I started reading to my daughter when she was an infant and we read every night. We worked on letters and numbers. I would request educational toys for her birthday and christmas. She is 4 and know all colors, how to identify letters and numbers. She can write the alphabet and numbers. We are working on site words now. My mother made flash cards of first primer words so she is learning those and I am teaching her to write them. She goes to Pre K and is doing very well but I never pushed her. We work at home for about 20 to 30 mins a day and she is doing very well. Hope this helps.

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If I read your post correctly, your daughter is only 18 months old now, and I don't see the need to start "teaching" her anything, other than just naturally having toys that stimulate her interest, reading to her every day, and pointing out things as you go along. You can take her along on a grocery store trip and point out the red apples, the yellow bananas, the green peppers. You can read her Dr. Suess's ABC and get the alphabet letter magnets that go on the fridge, or the foam letters that go in the tub. Give her crayons to scribble with and Play-Doh to smoosh. You can do activities that start developing her fine-motor skills, because she will need those when it comes time to hold a pencil and cut with scissors. Look into any programs in your area for toddlers that you can go to with her that give her a chance to explore a classroom type setting and play with other kids. Take her to story time at the library. Eventually try to get her used to be separated from you, even if it's just for a minute, so she can be more independent when she's older.

Pre-school is not just about academics, it's so much more than that. It's great to give them a solid foundation at home but the whole reason we send them to school is so they can learn letters, reading, etc. IMO, she does NOT have to be getting her learning off of a computer right now. My daughter is 4 and I've only just started letting her on the computer recently - we were doing all that other stuff well before that. And this is a kid that knew her alphabet letters, numbers, colors and shapes at 2, and then upper and lower case letters at 3. All without any pushing from me.

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She is soooo young. Start with the basics, colors, numbers, letters, naming animals and their sounds. Around 3 I would get her enrolled in a Pre-School program, even if it's just a coule hours a week. By the time she is 4, I would have her in a Pre-School on more of a Full Time basis....maybe 4-5 1/2 days. Read to her, do puzzles, do art projects...coloring, pasting and so on. And do NOT teach her double negatives like "they don't know nothing"

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Look up school readiness to see what types of things she will need to know. Then just incorporate them into daily life. If she needs to know her colors, point out the color of everything you see. "Hand me the blue cup." Most teachers say the most important thing you can do is read to the baby while she's in your lap. Kids that do well are the kids that get read to.

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A. - you don't 'have' to purchase anything. My best advice would be not to push your daughter, or she won't like school when she does start. Work on colors, letters, numbers - have her find a letter on the sign for you, have her spell the name on the front of the store when she knows her letters, count with her while you are waiting in line or at the stop light, pick out the 'blue' car, which car is bigger, which one is smaller, etc. Find shapes on signs, boxes, etc.

A lot of the schools in our area use Zoophonics and they have some fun things you could buy to use at home, if you wanted to start working on letter sounds (if I remember right, they start with sounds then do names when they are that young).

Doing things like this she will learn and have fun too!

J.

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Relax!
Read to her daily.
Read LOTS of books to her.
Every day.
Let her look at books, chew on them, even if they're upside down.

I think it's a little ridiculous to think anyone can "prepare" a 2 year old for Pre-K! Or that she will "be behind" at all!
At 18 months, her *job* is playing!
Let her play with blocks, shape sorters, play doh, dolls, and snap beads (the big ones).
Seriously, don't waste your time worrying about this one. No need.

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REad to her .. every day before nap and at bedtime.. go to the library for story time.. while you are at the library borrow lots of kid books.

find a playgroup to join. get her around other kids. have her take dance, gymnastics or swimming classes. get her scissors and have her practice cutting paper. color with crayons. sing the ABC song.

go to starfall.com it is a great website for kids.. she will learn the abc and it is freee..

It's :didn't teach them ANYTHING, not nothing. If you didn't teach them nothing it meant you taught them something. Proper grammar is the key to a good education....

Each school is different but if you just want to get her a well-rounded head start, you could start by teaching her how to write her name and recognize the letters in her name. From there, go on to a bit of phonics and combine that with learning to read from sight. To do that, simply read to her a lot and while you are reading, move your finger along underneath the words so she starts to recognize the words. You'll be surprised how quickly she will catch on and before you know it, she will be reading to/with you! Also, don't forget about things like cutting with scissors and learning to color in the lines. Hand/eye coordination needs to be learned/practiced as much as reading!

1) each school's curriculum varies.
2) Aside from 'school' curriculum... for me personally, I ALSO teach my children things, at home. I home school them, even if they are in school and had been to Preschool. THUS... my kids, learn all sorts of things.

So to me, school AND a parent teaching them at home, is the best combination. It is not only the 'school' that teaches a child, academics. As you alluded to.

I know a friend, that uses Jump Start with her kids. They have fun with it.

There are so many programs out there.
But they key thing also: is to go according to your child's cues. And age.

Head, shoulders, knees, & toes, knees & toes.... Head, shoulders, knees, & toes, knees & toes... And eyes and ears and mouth and nose... Head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes!

Hola, Bonjour, Hello!
Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco....
Une, du, trois, quatra, cinc...
Yes, I realize I spelled some of those wrong.

Point is... We simply made games of things. While bathing, driving down the road. Swinging @ the park. At a red light. Red light means STOP! etc...

You don't have to have a "classroom" setting!!!

They put my son in PreK nearly a year yearly @ his daycare [dispite not being potty trained] because he was surpassing the 4yr olds in vocabulary and social skills!

Oh my word! She is 2!!!!! Relax lady! Let her be a little girl. I started 1st grade at 7 years old without ANY kindergarten, preschool etc... I did great. This was the norm when we were kids! It is also the norm for many privet schools. Pre school is BABYSITTING with structure and learning. Little children should be free to play, like little lambs, all day long. THAT is how they learn and develop!

Kids that had learning disabilities need extra help no matter WHEN they start school.