That face.
That is the face he makes every day when I say, “Let’s do some learning!” Some days he lays down on the floor and kicks and screams. Other days he yells out, “I don’t want to learn! I’m nver going to Kindergarten!”
It is a struggle every single day.
One of the reasons we didn’t put Owlie in Kindergarten this year was because he is a reluctant learner. He has little to no desire to learn letters, read sight words, count to twenty or try to rhyme. It’s a little frustrating, honestly. It’s hard to tell whether or not he is truly struggling with the learning process or just being the most stubborn five year old on the planet. Often when he finally relents and works with me, we have fun and he does great, taking pleasure in his accomplishment.
I’m putting out a call for help today. Do you have any fun ways to help small children learn? What has worked for you with your kids. Retaining information seems to be a problem for my boy. Any thoughts or tricks you have to help us would be appreciated.
7 comments:
I'm no help and feeling guilty. I think he received too much of his maternal grandmother's genetics. Love that bright boy.
It may sound like cheating but Claire loved the letter factory DVD and I give it full credit for helping her learn her letters and their sounds.
My kids rally liked the mix and match games like Equals and Opposites and number puzzles like the Melissa and Doug train puzzle. Also dominoes and scrabble. I bet you could do some fun things with your scrabble tiles. Oh, and there are always the ever so countable m&m's and skittles. Forget the learning ;) play games and eat candy.
I would try not saying anything about it being learning time and try and make it more of a game time. You could put some sand in a shallow baking dish and see how many letters he can draw in 30 seconds then do the same with numbers. It might get messy but it would be fun. Have some music time and make a game of him coming up with words that rhyme and then make up a silly song. Stubborness is hard to deal with! Christina tended to do better when we played games.
Normally not my first choice, but have you tried computer games and apps? He might not realize that he is "learning" and you may be able to distinguish what he's truly having trouble with if he's practicing independently without the power struggle. (May help him with insecurities if he is working on his own too--he can make mistakes privately but some of the educational games have feedback pages that parents can check.)
I have several ideas that might help.
1. Read together often. He will learn lots from hearing the word patterns and letter sounds.
2. Have a letter of the week. Look for that letter when you are in the car. Look for things in the house with the sound of the letter. Have snacks that start with the letter.
3. Put shaving cream in a baggie and seal it good. Have him write the letter of the week and other letters you have worked on. Another day you could have him write the letter with different color crayons, then a pencil. Just 5 min. at a time.
4. Choose one sight word, (high frequency word) such as "and" that is used often in a book you plan to read. Show him a card of the word then have him find the word on the page. Read the words to him but have him read the sight word. Try to add a new word at least once a week. Have him read to Dad, brother, sister to repeat as often as possible.
Hope these ideas help. Keep it fun and activities short. If I can help more contact me at grandmahelen9@gmail.com GOOD LUCK
I think Susan is right. Don't tell him it's learning time. If it's games it changes everything. I have stubborn ones too...
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