if your LO is in FT daycare/preschool - do you extra stuff at home?

KathrynMD · January 2012

My SIL (who was a SAHM) gave me a bunch of educational videos over the weekend that she did with her kids - alphabet/counting, etc. type stuff. I know DD is learning all that at school, so I've never thought to spend anytime on tasks like that at home - I incorporate it into our conversations, daily life, etc. but we've never done flashcards or sat down to "learn" something together in any formal way.

Do other people do this with their kids?

Cytina · January 2012

I don't do anything "formal." We have some educational toys for alphabet, counting but that's part of playtime more than anything else.

livinitup · January 2012

Yes, I make a point of using educational material to use for 'toys' and 'games'. I've bought age appropriate material at teacher type stores and try to use the same themes in her classroom (weekly theme, weekly letter) at home. I don't consider our home time as structured as preschool or an organized SAHM - but I do think it is an opportuinty for learning, especially reinforcing that our family considers learning these things important.

howleyshell · January 2012

My oldest? Yes. He LOVES to sit at the table and do "homework" like his older brother. Who am I to say no to that? Work book type stuff amuses him so we do it while his younger brother is sleeping.

The youngest? Not so much. He's just not into focused type learning like that so we don't push it.

What we DO do with both of them is reading and working on sounding out words. The older one loves it, the younger one will do it but does not have the same attention span for it. So we've bought BOB books, etc and do focus time with them on sounding out words.

KatFCo · January 2012

The best thing you can do with your kids at this age is to play with them and read to them. Surround them with print and authentic opportunities to learn about their world.

Educational videos might be fun for kids, but any TV time limits face to face time. Overly focusing on learning can make kids hate "school" stuff. There are some kids who love those activities, but some may develop an aversion to it.

You can learn what topics they talk about each week in school and incorporate those topics in daily games, experiences, but kids this age need creative play.

kmhunt11 · January 2012

KatFCo:
The best thing you can do with your kids at this age is to play with them and read to them. Surround them with print and authentic opportunities to learn about their world.

Educational videos might be fun for kids, but any TV time limits face to face time. Overly focusing on learning can make kids hate "school" stuff. There are some kids who love those activities, but some may develop an aversion to it.

You can learn what topics they talk about each week in school and incorporate those topics in daily games, experiences, but kids this age need creative play.

Perfectly said. DD loves "workbooks" so she has a couple in her drawer that she will pull out on her own. I don't believe in educational TV as a tool. I read several studies in grad school about Baby Einstein videos, etc doing more harm than good. Help your DD love learning by following her lead- let her pick what learning activities to do and when. Even if they are too easy, encourage learning in general.

pea-kay · January 2012

nope. they're in a language immersion school, so i figure they just need to chill at home. they get enough at school, even if it is mostly play.

Wally3 · January 2012

Not really. We talk about letters and he likes to spell his name and mommy. We look at signs when we are out and talk about waht they say. We count things if we are playing or eating but not any videos - I do have 1 wipe board book for letters, but got it on sale and he just grabs it when he feels like it.

DragonflyBelle · January 2012

We did flash cards when she was struggling with two or three letters of the alphabet, but most of her toys are learning-type toys anyway, so we don't work on things intensively unless she's struggling at school.

shouldbworkin · January 2012

DD likes to do worksheets when DS is doing his homework. She likes to practice writing, she likes to cut paper and color and we talk a lot about letter sounds. She just started reading BOB books. We watch SuperWhy, Word World and the Letter Factory videos (they're all on Netflix, btw) a bit. That's pretty much it.

katmacwv · January 2012

DD has a couple of pre-school level computer games, we practice writing names, she practices writing words in several dry erase books that we have where she largely traces the words and then writes them on her own, she plays some Mobi-go games that are educational, we help her sound out short words in books and her magazines (Highlites and Little Kids National Geographic) and she loves the Starfall ABCs app on my phone that is actually pretty educational. We occasionally do flash cards, but we don't drill her or anything.

franciscaz · January 2012

During breaks we get all formal doing craft times, meetups, etc. During the school year we just sort of let it go.

Pesky · January 2012

I have a book about alphabet that is a dry-erase one she likes to play with adn try to incorporate some stuff into our reading or playing games but otherwise, I don't push it at this point. My great-aunt who taught elementary for 38 years advocated not pushing her too fast, so I've tried to listen.

Paigeo · January 2012

We don't do flash cads but yes I make learning a part of her home routine. I just incorporate it during her play activities. I honestly loved school growing up so I think it is fun to teach DD.

cecee36 · January 2012

I don't do anything "formal" with my daughter, either. But, she's very curious and enjoys learning so I take advantage of that. I buy things that are fun but educational and whenever I can take a few minutes to do one of those activities with her, she really has a good time. For Christmas, she received a dry-erase board from Crayola. It teaches her how to write letters and shapes. Since she always wants to play with it, I usually sit with her and help her practice her writing.

She loves to put money in her bank so I use that to teach her about the different denominations of money and how much they're worth. It's a work in progress but just exposing her to things like that is "teaching" to me. If I tell her enough, eventually, she'll get the concept. (At least, I hope...LOL!)

DeputiesWife · January 2012

We have work books and I do activities with her at home. We do the work books sometimes on the weekends. She loves to do them. We dont practice her letters or numbers, only if she asks to write things.

I did flash cards with her when she was younger. Most of the learning stuff we do at home is in Russian ..DH is Russian and we are teaching DD the language and alphabet as well.

I also incorporate it into our conversations -- or at meal time, we count, add, subtract things. When we are reading -- I stop on the words I know she knows so she can read them.

rspiegel · January 2012

My DD attends a 3 year old program full time. I love her school, but they stress that they do not teach the alphabet or teach them to write....it is all learning through play. My DD loves drawing and was the first kid in her class to write her name. In working with another student, she learned a few more letters.

So to support her interest in letters, I bought some workbooks and even a new ipad game to teach her to write and recognize letters. We also read together and discuss books, or anything she wants.

I live in a big city with huge concerns surrounding education. Most parents I know do some sort of supplementing, because although we love our pre-school, we know that we have many bumps ahead leading to kindergarten!

the_jackpot · January 2012

We don't use videos but we do a lot of other things. I am a teacher so it could be because I teach other kids all day that I MUST take time to teach my own. I also know that he is such a sponge at this age that he will soak it up. Also I prefer to know what he knows/ doesn't get than have someone else tell me.

Just pick a few things that you would like to focus on or follow a educational blog for toddlers and you will have a bunch to do with your lo.

shannm · January 2012

I let DS be the guide. He has always like writing, letters, words, etc.. So he has some preschool books and flashcards and will ask to play an "activity." He takes the lead. When he is done with it, we stop. We don't push him at all because he is currently ahead of the game and I want him to continue to love it.

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if your LO is in FT daycare/preschool - do you extra stuff at home?

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