As a former teacher, there are many things you should know before you send your little one to school. The first and most important:

You are their first teacher

I want you to really take this to heart. You are your child’s first teacher. You are the one showing them by example. You are the one teaching them the way the world works. You. This does not have to be complicated. You do not need a degree. You do not need a lot of content knowledge. AND these are lessons that can and should be taught to ALL AGE GROUPS. Here are the vital lessons you can teach:

Waiting

School (life) means waiting. Waiting in lines, waiting for the teacher to call on them, waiting for the mail, waiting for decisions to be made, etc. Teach your child by showing your child sometimes they need to wait. They can hear not now. They can wait in lines. You can tell them will be with them when you are done.

Perseverance

School (life) means pushing through when things are hard. It is very unlikely everything will come easy and the first time, but Make them do the hard things. Make them try a couple times before helping them. Make them finish a game they are losing or a sport that wasn’t what they expected. Push through it, you will grow in more ways than one.

Self help

A teacher cannot possibly help every student simultaneously. Teaching your child to wash hands (properly) on their own, dress (including winter clothing) themselves, undress themselves, getting and collecting own materials, and (after attempting on their own and persevering through a couple of attempts) communicating the need for help.

Responsibility

Children will need to learn to take care of their own things. That means putting their own belongings where they go, taking care of them so they don’t get broken, and having to do work and complete it. Make sure you let them know what they are responsible for (and that you and the home depend on you for those to be completed) and then hold them accountable for it.

Independence

Kids need to be able to play with others and to work with adults, but they also need to be capable of doing things on their own. Teach them to play and then back away and let them play. Give them a task, teach them how to do it, and then let them do it. If they can, they should. Yes, it will take longer. Yes, you will wonder how one takes so FREAKING long to put on a shoe. Yes, you will want to help because its faster–but if you teach them its their job and make them do it they learn the independence as well as the skills above.

Kindness

Your children will come across others who are different. They may be taller, smaller, fatter, skinner, smarter, disabled (physically or mentally), different interests, or just plain different than them. Teach them by example that we can (and should) be kind to everyone. They will pick this up most from watching you and hearing you. If you treat everyone with love and respect, they will learn that!

THEN academics

When the above mentioned are established, you can begin to work on academics. There are many tools available to you to help your child learn. Remember the more fun a child has learning, the more they are going to remember it. Learning should be fun, learning should happen through play, and learning can be happening in more ways than you can imagine. Also remember, one needs to teach THE WHOLE CHILD, not just the academics. Children need motor skills (fine and gross), patterning skills, the arts, AND the academic areas of literacy, math, science, and social studies.

Chalkfullofdesign

I found the wonderful shop of Chalkfullofdesign.com on the instagram world. These products are amazing because they work on those fine motor skills, repetition/practice. She has boards that work on play (turn taking, rules), literacy, math, science, and social studies! They follow a steps system to help you find the fit for your child. They also have personalized ones for names and such. Names are often the way to open doors to letters and reading as it is a group of letters that means a great deal to the child.

For the week of August 1-7 2019 (and always the first week of August in future years) THE ENTIRE SHOP is 15% off. Visit Chalk full of design on instagram and get on their mailing list to stay up to date on future sales and new boards.

**I do not receive any form or reimbursement for this post. It was my own opinion and initiated by me.**

Kindergarten Toolkit

Another small shop I found that has great learning tools (more young focus) to help them learn the basics. You can do them in flashcard form or you can make a game out of them, put them in a (dry) sensory table, make a race to the letter in __s name game, etc. You can follow both Kindergarten Toolkit and Bitty Beginnings on Instagram

**I do not receive any form or reimbursement for this post. It was my own opinion and initiated by me.**

Amazon finds

(affiliate links)

Art

Letters and Numbers

Dramatic Play, Science, Social Studies

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!

I am a consultant for Usborne Books & More and I can guarantee you we have a book for everyone. We have activity books (dry erase, stickers, embroidery, paper airplanes, and more!), non-fiction, fiction, letters, numbers, chapter, reference and more! I can help you find the perfect fit (just email!) or you can do your own browsing!

Usborne Books & More Store