Three Questions

www.starfall.com

My 3 1/2 yr old uses this website all the time and he loves it! It is very easy for the kids to navigate on their own and there are many different activities for them to do. Letter recognition, reading readiness, calendars, clocks, etc. It is a really great site and it is approved for classroom use.

Also, I have to strongly disagree with the person that said 3 1/2 is too young for fine motor skills like writing. My son is writing his name on his own and has been for several months. All children develop at different stages so you cannot just simply state that a specific age is "too young". His name does not always come out very clear or even in the right direction but he is forming the letters on his own. Like anything else...it takes practice. It helps if they visually see their name often in several places too. For instance, my son's youth chair has his name on the back of it and his name is in wooden letters on his bedroom wall. The teachers at his pre-school also work with him often on writing his name. Good luck...he will get it when he is ready!

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Check craigslist for the big wheel. I have one I would be willing to get rid of, but i live in Algonac.

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T. One thing my friend did was watch morning game shows that used letters on the screen. The ones where they spelled out words. Also Sesame Street works with letters everyday. You could check your local PBS station for shows for kids that teach letters, numbers, and words. I hope you get a better teacher for your son next year.

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My daughter attended preschool in Dearborn at Long Elementary and it was FANTASTIC. I would highly recommend it for 3 and 4 year olds, particularly in light of the all-day kindergarten thing in MIchigan. Anyway, we got our daughter (almost 4) a LeapFrog "Word Whammer" magnet set last Christmas and both my kids play with it almost every day. It's on the side of the fridge and has space for 3 letters and several functions that allow kids to put the letters in the larger frame and push the letters and it sounds out the letter and plays a song. Fun for my 14 month old, fun for my 4 year old... and yes, I play with it too sometimes... :)
My daughter knows her letters, but wasn't really interested in WRITING anything until this past week. I worried about it, particularly since there are some kids at church who can write their names and they're within a few months of my daughter in age (older and younger). It just depends on the kid. I feel like the LeapFrog magnets make letters fun-- and my daughter's more receptive to it since I am not the one sitting with her at the table, trying to get her to write when she doesn't want to (and then the stubbornness kicks in-- on both of our parts).
If you're not into magnets, you could try foam letters for the tub. We also have a CD and DVD from They Might Be Giants (not everyone's taste, but fun for kids) called "Here Come the ABCs" with songs and videos about letters.
As for the big wheels, my mother-in-law checked out the ones at Target (made in USA!) and at Target.com and ended up NOT buying one because they got really poor reviews. A lot of the reviews said the new big wheels are poor quality, not like the ones we had when we were kids. Still, they are around $40 new at Target and occasionally they'll run them on sale for $25 or $30.
Good luck!

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I have a couple of sons who are left-handed and want to recommend some books that may be of help to you: "The Way They Learn - how to discovery and teach to your child's strengths" by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias - "Left-Handed Teaching - Lessons in Affective Education by Gloria A. Castillo. You may be able to pick these up from your local library. I particularly like the first one by Cynthia Tobias. It is easy to read and understand and will help.

I have a home-based business with Discovery Toys which is an educational toy company. We have wonderful learning products for kids 0 on up. Check out my website: www.discoverytoyslink.com/kathykibby All of our products give children opportunity to learn the basic skills, reading, writing and math while having fun.

I wish you much success in teaching your son these early skills. Contact me through my website if you need further assistance.

Kathy Kibby

This responds is for question #2.

I just purchased my 2 year old son a Fisher-Price Go Diego Go Tough Tike and it's very similiar to the big wheels that were out when I was a kid. It only cost $25 at Walmart. Here's the link:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4938641

For starters I like the leapfrog 5 disk. One of them goes through alphabets than theres one that shows you how letters go together to make words.

For the 2nd one I believe Meijers has them for 25 dollars or check garage sales.

Thried I can't help you on sorry

Good luck

Hi T.,

My son is a lefty as well and as a right handed mother I had to practice myself holding a pencil with my left hand so I could show my son how to do it. Other than that it comes natural for him just like it does for you.
I would just make coloring fun for him. you do not have to bribe him with food but he has favorite toys or tv show that he likes to watch. Im not sure about websites but you should check out the baby einstein series my three year old is doing great and hasnt been to school yet.

As far as the big wheel I would say go to a couple of yard sales you just might find one.

The best website I know (and the one we use in the classrooms at school) is starfall.com - it is AWESOME for beginning learners! Another one that we use after they are familiar with letters is abcya.com - this one has fun learning games for kindergarten and up! Good luck!

I found a Big Wheel (looks like the one I had as a kid) online at Target.com for $34.99

Craigslist may have something as well.

Don't you just love those 'good ole toys'. I just got my daughter a sit-n-spin at Walmart the other day. I did not put the batteries in however to play the music. ;-) She loves it anyway!

Hi T., I can only comment on the left handed thing. My hubby and I are both right handed, but 2 of our 3 daughters are lefties. I never gave it a thought when they were little. We would write letters and numbers on a piece of paper and they would just figure it out. No worries!

http://www.hwtears.com/ is great. They have workshops around here, too. Good luck!

T.,
I'm sorry the only thing I can help you with is the big wheel. My husband bought our daughter one last summer for her birthday. (even thought I bought her a bike) he wanted her to have a real big wheel like when he was younger. He had no problem finding one at Meijers, it's a barbie one and I think it was around 30.00. But I have also seen it at Target. I would check those 2 stores first I'm sure that they have boy one as well. But since we have 5 girls and just had a little boy in March, we are not on all the boy toys yet. I'd say Target, Meijers, Toys R Us/Babies r US. Good luck!

Three and a half years is too young for fine-motor skills like writing, particularly for boys.

If he were interested and exploring this on his own, that would be one thing... but what benefit do you see to forcing his development faster than his brain and body are growing?

Look around at the adults in your world... can you tell which ones of them learned to write their name at 2 and which learned at 7? While you may be patted on the back for creating a child who can do things before his development enables him, do you have any idea what kind of damage you could be doing?

At one time in Chinese history, it was considered very, very important for very, very young children to be skilled in the art of conversation. To this end, parents spent enormous efforts and resources, and it was largely effective. Children barely past their first year could hold a conversation with ease.

A great flurry of distress arose at the same time... children as old as 3 were not learning to walk.

Everything we impose from the outside on a child's developmental pace has an effect. How long does it take to find out what the effect is? Who knows? Does early-reading focus cause autism? Who knows. They both seem to be coming up in huge numbers simultaneously... and it generally takes huge numbers (like the flat-headed baby problem of putting babies on their backs all the time) to find out what the effects are, that are not random or individual differences.

For sure, making left-handed people write with their right hands causes stuttering --that is: Brain Damage in the verbal processing centre of the brain caused by forced use of the non-dominant hand... it's one of the reasons there are so few people under 60 who stutter, or ever have. It only took 40 or 50 years of tormenting lefties and doing brain damage to untold numbers of children to figure that out.

I despise mommy competitions (whose baby sleeps the longest, whose baby potty trained the earliest, who walked the soonest, who has the first teeth) mostly because those milestones have *nothing* to do with anything mothers do, but also partly because it de-humanizes the child. Did the child naturally potty train without stress? Great! Does it matter at what age that happens? Seriously? Enough to create stress in the child over it?

And, seriously -- in 13 years, when all the kids can do it, the one who wrote his name at 11 months is *not* going to win any prizes for it, because they'll be indistinguishable.

It just does not matter, now or in the long run.

I'm thinking that pre-school and Kindergarten are for learning the letters. If he's not interested yet, that may not be his forte - THERE'S NOTHING RIGHT OR WRONG ABOUT THAT. If he was showing interest and wanted to do this, well, I'd say encourage him to learn all he can. My son was not all that interested in writing but he learned to read fairly early by learning the letters on his Thomas trains.

As for holding a pencil, I'm a lefty and hold between my thumb and my middle finger with my index finger curled - don't worry about conventions of the thumb/index finger hold, just let him dictate what's right for him.

I have to agree about www.starfall.com being good. My son's school uses that and HeadSprouts in their K and 1st grade teaching plans. Also, the Reader Rabbit software is great.

for your first question: i am left handed and my girls are right handed, there was no problem teaching them how to write or hold a pencil. now when you teach him to tie his shoes that is a different story:)
2nd question: check salvation army

If your son is not interested in writing his name it will be very difficult to teach him.. he does not NEED to know this to go to preschool.

My 2 year old loves letters and knows more letters and letter sounds than my 3 year old. My 3 year old is more interested in having tea parties with her stuffed animals.

I think lefties hold the pencil exactly the same.. just in the other hand.

But if you try to teach him and he is frustrated just wait.. His small motor skills will come along in time.. have him paint... do sidewalk chalk. do playdoh all of those things use the hand muscles and get the child ready to write..

If I have learned anything so far in parenting my kids is to let them lead on learning.. if they are interested in something they will pick it up in no time.. if they are not interested. it will be a struggle..

When my son was learning to write I found a pen that lit up when the tip was pressed against the paper. This effect encouraged my son to write. Don't worry about how he holds the pencil or crayon. You can show him how but he will eventually learn his own way.

Being a lefty myself I often found the reverse to be true how to teach things right handed. Just try it yourself making circles with a crayon in your hand, have your child face you while you use your right and he his left. don't worry so much about actual writing try drawing side walk chalk etc. Also some left handed folk do things ambidextrously. I bowl with both hands, cut with scissors, throw right handed, so let him explore it. also don't worry to much about stuff like that. Measuring sticks on learning don't mean much as the different learning styles children have influence when and how they catch on. My daughter is a kdg teacher so i've been learning alot about learning and she doesn't worry about handedness much

Flash cards work well for teaching kids letter recognition. Make a game out of it. Buy some or make your own from index cards. Write his name in pencil and have him trace it. He might figure out how to hold the pencil on his own. Mine did and they are righties. I found some dry erase books at Meijer in Kalamazoo (Walmart might have them too) that were great for teaching my 4 year old how to write her letters. Just remember, make it a game with no pressure or they will just resist!!!! top right hand corner is a spot that says "my profile" I think you can change it in there.

My daughter received a triangular pencil (the cross-section is a triangle) at kindergarden round-up that is supposed to help with their writing grip; you may find helpful tools at a teaching supply store. Also, we use the website www.starfall.com for letter recognition/early reading. Good luck!

Personally, I'd abandon the notion of "teaching" and certainly abandon your time limit. Why does he need to know that for pre-school? Make a game of drawing letters that he copies. No "good" or "not right" responses. And be willing to drop it at any sign that he's feeling pressured. If you want reference, I'd look into books about young children and parenting rather than how to teach a lefty. There's one called "You Are Your Child's 1st Teacher" that I read. You don't want to put any negativity on homework or learning. Make it fun, or don't do it.

Try contacting the mamsource "help".

To get rid of your business you just contact Mama Source and ask them to remove it and they will. At least that's what I did last year for one I had. My son wasn't in to coloring and stuff either and one thing that was suggested to us was you yourself sit down to color and act like you're having fun with it. Usually kids will get curious and come over to watch and wanna join in. What preschool did you take him to before? Have you found a better one? What city do you live in?

To erase your business you have to contact Mamasource ( if you have it listed on the business review section) then they will remove it for you. I had mine listed but my company doesn't allow us to post our information on any web site but a web site we purchase from them and I was in a panic trying to remove it then I emailed mamasource and they explained that they would have to do it. Sorry I can't help with the other questions although my sister is left handed and she worked with my kids when they were visiting her or when she watched them for work or for me to go out they are all right handed and she didn't seem to have trouble teaching them. Good Luck.
K.