I need advise. I am new at having a child in school and I need advise from you Moms who are more experienced. I was wondering when you do homework and for how long. She is only in Kindergarten so I started out thinking that it wasn't going to be too involved. I have realized that I was going about it all wrong. When she was in Preschool I didn't think it was that big of a deal that she didn't exactly color in the lines or recognize patterns etc. Well, I now realize why it matters. Coloring and drawing pictures are the precursers to hand writing - DUH! I don't know why I didn't put it together. Audrey is having a hard time with writing and I really do think it is because she didn't do more coloring and tracing when she was younger. The other thing I realized is that learning patterns are the prliminary to mathematics! She was trying to count by fives and it is 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 etc. It is a pattern. Just an FYI to put out there for you girls with Preschool kids and under. Get out the crayons! Teach your kids how to makes patterns with buttons and blocks. You would not believe that difference it will make when they start school!
Hey Niki, obviously my boys aren't preschool or kindergarten age yet, and I hesitate to give Noah crayons because he usually ends up drawing on the walls instead of on the paper itself, but here's a trick to coloring and writing letters and numbers I've learned from my mom, my sister, and my sister in law- all of whom are teachers to either kindergartners, 1st graders or 2nd graders. Take some Elmers glue- you know the white stuff in the bottle, and take the picture you want your daughter to color and outline the picture in the glue- make sure you leave enough glue residue behind so that once it dries it dries a little raised up. Then once it is dry your daughter can color it. The raised lines will help her know she needs to stay with in the line and sooner or later she'll pick up on the concept. You can write letters and numbers with the glue too and then have her trace them. It's tedious work on your part at first, but it helps.
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wow that was good advice above. i hope i have this kid thing figured out by the time we get around to that:) I have no advice for you, sorry. But i appreciate you sharing so that I can remember how important it is for my kids. I miss you. It was so fun to see you and I want to see you again!
ReplyDeleteHey, Niki. I think that's a really cute idea, with the glue. My mother in law is a preschool teacher and has started a government funded tuturing business. I'm sure she would have some good ideas. Everytime she visits she shares new ideas. Makayla used to trace letters all day long. It's simple and seems boring but she would pretend to be doing homework. If you go to www.handwritingworksheets.com There's stuff you can print.
ReplyDeleteI have a ton of free learning websites and ideas from grammy. I'll call you monday and email you somestuff. I know Audrey is a little more like Isaac than Makayla (of course more well behaved) so it gets tricky.
We're obviously in the same situation, but Haisel's teachers suggest only doing homework for 10 min at a time. It works for Haisel if we have a snack after school and some play time, and then she does homework while I cook dinner. A routine I guess is what I'm saying. Also, Haisel loves anything grown up. So I wonder if Audrey would want to practice writing more if she had a fancy journal or cool pencils or something. Like I said, I don't really know. But good luck though, she'll get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen Kylee gets home from school we eat lunch and do homework. She still seems excited about her day and wants to show me what she has learned. I find that if we wait until dinner time I am always on edge and just want to get the kids fed and ready for bed. We spend about an hour working on homework and reading. It is great for me because the baby is usually napping and Nick likes to be involved and read with us. He usually gets out paper and crayons and tries to do what she is doing. If you have school all day it might be a bit more difficult but this is what we found works. I agree with you 100% - work on those patterns with your kids! They use them every day in Kindergarten!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have gotten some great suggestions. Thanks for passing along the advice.
ReplyDeleteSo I finally had a little time to see all your pictures from your trip out here and they are all so cute. I especially love the pictures of Adam chilling in the car and at your parent's house and the latest ones of him getting into mischief. I am all too familiar with the dishwasher and sink fascination, among many others with my boys. I honestly can't do dishes when they are around. In the picture of you, Cami, and Diana, who is the other girl? Is that Megan?? That's a great picture of Jose and I'm glad you and James were able to get away for your anniversary although you were distracted by work problems. And I really do think your house is beautiful! Kurt was very impressed too.
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI have the same system as Katie. As a general rule "they" say every grade's homework should increase by 10 minutes. Sarah is in first grade and overly meticulous. I have the opposite problem getting her to stop coloring the kittens at the bottom of the math sheet and go on to actual work. She wants everything to be perfect and erases her work over and over till its perfect! It takes forever so our homework time is much longer than it really should be. I can tell Rachel is going to be more like Audrey, she could care less about lines on the paper, she is going to color however she wants, if I can get her to color at all. The best thing for me to realize is every kid is so different and years from now it really won't matter that she didn't color in the lines. Everything equalizes the longer they are in school, most importantly make sure she can enjoy school and it doesn't become a sore struggle between the two of you or a frustration to her. Praise her endlessly and enjoy it.
I didn't know those things either.. Thanks for the heads up! Loved your update. Talk about weird traditions?? Mark and his brothers run down his mom's street yelling, "Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!" on NEW YEAR's EVE at midnight. What crazy cats! Love you sweetie!
ReplyDeleteP.s. It's danisdesigns.net to find the diaper bag!! Good luck! You get to design your own- I know you'll love it!
ReplyDeleteNiki,
ReplyDeleteI just barely saw your comment on my blog about graphic design school. I majored in Multimedia with an emphasis in Graphic Design, so I guess the answer is sort of. I'd be happy to try to help you with whatever question you may have.
Great advice about getting kids school-ready. I will have lots of time to get Allary ready for Kindergarten because her b-day falls right after the deadline. She will always be the very oldest in her class. Good and bad, I guess.
Love ya! - Brooke
Also, how do you know April Sullivan? I don't really know her, but I know who she is because I recognized the name from my old ward (the one I just barely moved out of). Small world. :)
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