4.5 and no interest in learning

NJLH

My girls are 4.5 but miss out on kindergarten due to fall birthdays, So they will be entering preK. They did no form of learning or writing last year in preschool, which was disappointing. My one DD enjoys practicing letters and workbooks at home. My other one...zero interest. I try to sit with her and work on letters. She'll throw the crayon and run off. I've tried all kinds of games, workbooks, bribes, fun things...nothing. I guess I dont technically have to force this stuff til school but I'm worried she'll pull this in the classroom. She's always been on the immature side. I'm already envisioning her being left back before kindergarten and being the oldest. Anyway, sorry for the long vent. Anyone else's kid like this? Thanks

LoveEeyore

Oh man, I feel you.  My twins are almost 4.  DD#2 will color and do art all day but anything related to letters I ask, she refuses.   Her twin brother wants to write and is trying.  That said, I worry that we may have to split them due to his delays and I'm upset about it.  I don't want that stigma on him forever.

I know they have a year to grow so I focus on alphabet games and pre-reading games.  Like when we water the garden, we will label what is in each spot and she guesses what letter it begins with and then I hold her arm to guide the watering can through the letter C motion to water the carrots.  She waters the radishes in the shape of R, etc.  I take them all in the bathroom and turn off the light and we "write" our letters with glo-sticks.  We try to do it so fast it looks like a letter (an activity inspired by a library book in which a naughty lightening bug tricks people by writing words in the sky like traffic signs).  I still cram it down their throats, but never even try pushing writing.

 I also know from my kids, things they refuse to at home are often not issues at school.  Good luck! 

NJLH

Thanks for all the suggestions (love the light stick idea). Hopefully she'll be more willing at school. I think my fear is her attention span....not so much how well she writes and reads. But yeah, I shouldnt push her too much if she's not feeling it.

Princess_Lily

DS (4yo) is willing to work with me at home in preschool books, and fun board games.  He will sit an average of 20min at a time with me.  The average at this age is 3-4min per year of life.  We are working on writing letters A,B & C right now, and he practices his days of the week, he knows his colors, how to sing the ABCs, counting to 20, etc.  However, up until 6mo ago he wasn't really interested in learning this - so I would teach him through fun songs, not books, and he was in a "learn-through-play" preschool.

Now, outside of the home he seems to balk in gym class, specifically.  He loves the kids and teachers, but when asked to do something like climb a ladder, etc. he balks. Now the preschool he was in for the Fall through Winter he LOVED though - the activities, the teachers, the students!  Which leads me to believe that physical strength isn't his forte, and maybe gymnastics may not be a good fit anymore.

I would like to keep him in the preschool he loves, but the only problem is that it doesn't provide academic learning.  Now, by law we can do this, but he may be behind other kids come Kindergarten, which is what I don't want.

 

In the beginning of our preschool journey, we enrolled him into one school which it was clean, great security features, etc. but he simply wasn't ready for it mentally nor emotionally.  He didn't speak much and relied mostly on communication through physical actions - biting, hitting and kicking both teacher and classmate.  We have had him in speech now (going on a year) and he has come so far, 5-6 word sentences, a vocabulary that I can't even count how many words he has...even his classmates understand him!  I'm so happy I want to cry. There is just this little part of me that is terrified of him having a bad experience again.

I think I'm going to try this one non-contract preschool in town, which provides all social and academic needs I am looking for.  Of course I will give him a few months to adjust and see how he does - and if not - we will go back to the old small "learning through play" preschool program. 

Can you try a preschool in your area and see how they do? 

ss+el

Does she like to do the activities presented to her during the preschool day?

I have noticed that DS does a lot of things at daycare that he refuses to do for me. I think the factor is that there are other kids alongside him doing the same thing.

stever

Give her time and keep offering learning activities to do.

I sometimes get disheartened because I'll be "Let's practice writing our letters!!!" with DS1 and he'd rather play with trains or dirt. But I figure he's normal. Sometimes he wants to learn, bur he mostly wants to play.

jlw2505

Kids act totally different in school and especially when mom/dad are not around.  You will be amazed.  Even if she tries to pull that stuff, it won't fly at school.  I would concentrate on making learning fun - go to hands on science centers and things like that.  Make learning letters and numbers just part of everyday - ask them to read you the numbers on a clock, read the carton of whatever food is on the table and things like that.  Have them help find things at the store.  We include learning in everything we do, we read nightly.  While we have workbooks for the kids - I don't force them to sit down and do them.  We keep them in the car for long rides or to bring into restaurants and they do use them in the house on their own and I help with them as needed.  We have educational games on the iPods for the girls to do so it makes it way more fun and they don't realize they are learning.