How do you prepare your child for preschool or kindergarten?

I basically do the same as you do: play educational games on the computer, read stories together, give her worksheets that I have printed out online,use blocks for counting and mathmatics and have her practice writting her name. There are times where I contimplate if I am pushing here too much, but when I ask her how she feels about the work we do, she says she enjoys it. I too at times feel like I am not doing enough for her, but the truth is I am doing my best! I feel that it is only natural that we feel that way....It's part of being a parent and wanting to give all we can give even if we are already giving our best.

My daughter just finished kindergarten about two weeks ago. You're doing the right thing by practicing handwriting and phonics. They will focus on "sight words," which are words your child should recognize on sight (do, I, am, the, etc.). They also focused on vowels, both long and short. There is a great website, www.starfall.com, that the kindergarten class used a lot. It's interactive and my daughter really loved it. It has different levels of reading skills and talks to your child! Her teacher even had materials in the classroom that were used in conjuction with the website. There are many other sites as well, such as learningpage.com, and nickjr.com has printouts your child can do. I'm doing a bit of homeschooling with my daughter this summer, just to keep the momentum of learning going. I've printed out some worksheet from the Internet, bought a few word flash cards and made some, too. Writing, reading, journaling, and vowels are good to focus on; toward the end of the year my daughter starting learning how to tell time, focusing only on the "on the hour" times, i.e. 3 o'clock, 8 o'clock, etc. Trips to the library and checking out books on the first day of kindergarten, going to school, etc. are good. Dora the Explorer has a book on going to school, and I think Clifford the Big Red Dog does and Franklin the Turtle. Most of all, make it fun for your daughter and the rewards will be great - she'll fall in love with learning, and you'll have quality time with her!

Well, I know I felt the same way when I was trying to prepare my son for kindergarten. I was always doing stuff with him to try to help, but then I realized one day that he wasn't picking anything up. He'd go through the alphabet perfectly one day and not remember any of it the next. I thought I was doing something wrong until my mom started trying to help me. She noticed too that it seemed as though he had no memory whatsoever. After a few weeks of this I decided we needed to talk to his pediatrician. Of course, the pediatrician he had at the time tried telling me there was nothing wrong and that some kids just learned quicker than others. I bought that for a while until one day he just stopped talking altogehter. That was when I decided to get a second opinion. I chose a new pediatrician, had my son tested for various learning disabilities, and found out that he has ADHD and he's dyslexic to boot. So, after all the workshops, speech therapy, and doctor reevaluations, I'm happy to say that he's actually ahead of the children in his class now. I guess what I'm getting at is that we can try as hard as we can to prepare our children for the real world, but no one can predict ahead of time how they're learning capabilities are going to play out. I just learned to stop thinking that I was doing it wrong and focused on helping him get it right.

IMV, social readiness is much more important than academics. A child going to K should be able to separate from mom and handle it reasonably well (some crying is normal for some kids, but crying all day is concerning), function in a group, follow directions, play with other kids reasonably well, use the toilet and wash hands independently and dress/undress indpendently as needed for toilet and possibly gym class. Tying shoes is optional, but if she can't, the teacher will love you if you buy velcro.

You guys have got to be the best parents in the whole world! The only thing that my parents did to prepare me for preschool and kindergarden was drop me off at the school so that I could go. I never even had a story time for me. But this is a different time, school is more demanding for parent participation in their children's learning, they want their students to be more skilled than the average preschooler ten years ago. I think you are doing enough for your child, and I don't think it's a good idea to OVERDO it, but don't cutback on what you're doing now if you want to see her with a scholarship to the college she wants to go to.

you should sit with her after that first day of kindergarten and ask her what did you do and maybe you can understand better what she does and make sure to help her everyday if you can so she can be a better reader

My son is starting Kindergarten in September and I am trying to prepare him for it as well. Some days he wants to do activities and other times he doesn't want to and its hard to motivate him, without trying to force him to try the activities. At the moment we are practicing writing skills, to write his abcs as well as recognising and sounding out the letters. I still have a long way to go with him and not sure if I am doing it right either. He gets frustrated easily and gives up too quickly too. The thing he does like doing is painting, coloring in and cutting and pasting things onto paper. I read to him every night and try to have him recognise simple words like I, am, etc but he tends to forget these when we go over them again and again. He never went to preschool or pre-k so I am concerned I may not be doing enough to prepare him for kindergarten. I am enrolling him at the local community center tommorrow where he will be involved in a two hour session with other kids his age, learning arts and crafts, reading, songs and music, just to expose him to it. I just hope I am doing enough as I feel that I am not and may not be the best one to teach him these things either.

Your kindergarten there must be different to here, i did a heap of work experience at a few kindergartens here while i was in high school & most of the kids didn't need to know the stuff you guys are all talking about. Here it's more about socialising, playing & working together, they have nap time, have a group sitting where they are read a book, they learn to sing songs & things like that. Mostly group activities. The whole learning to ready & write doesn't start until primary school - our first year of primary school is called reception (usually at the age of 5) & that is where they learn the things you are all talking about. Isn't it odd that we have different names for things? After reception is Grade 1 which is where the REAL learning starts but reception is the initial stages where i think they do the same as what you guys do in kindergarten. I plan on getting my daughter a V-Tech or LeapFrog learning laptop for either Xmas or her next b'day (she's only just gone 1) & then she can have that to learn on - i'll also get her some of the other toys that will teach her numbers & letters between now & then so she should be ready when kindy or reception starts!