Last Sunday there was a fascinating article in the NY Times called "Fast Track to Kindergarten." It described the new rush to enroll children as young as 3 in tutoring programs in NY.
The article says that parents of pre schoolers must commit themselves to spend 20 minutes a day on "homework" with their children. As far as I can tell from the tidbits of description in the article, the homework consists of worksheets that the children must complete, undoubtedly with their parents standing over them, alternating between the carrot and the stick. ("Write that number neatly and I'll give you two stickers." or "No DVD until you finish your homework.") This cannot be much fun for anyone. But then no one ever said homework was fun. My approach is a little different, although I think 20 (or even 10, or 5)
minutes a day with a parent is indeed the key to kindergarten readiness. We sit on the floor with blocks, or chips, or other small objects that are almost, but not quite the same. (little trucks and cars of all colors, multi colored dominos, even buttons or macaroni). The first step is to look closely at the objects, and then begin to sort them. My goal is to have a short teaching session, where the child and I are working together, and where the child eventually will follow my lead, let me teach her so to speak. If the child throws the stuff around, the session is over for the day. No punishment or bribary, just try again tomorrow. It can take several weeks before the child is hooked in enough so we can work together. I suppose one way to harness the attention of a young child is to give her a piece of paper, and say in essence "Do this, and I will give you a sticker." The underlying message, is "This is an unpleasant task, but there is a reward at the end." The child will inevitably try to get the job done as quickly as possible to move on to the sticker or the DVD. I wonder if there are parents out there who would like to try a whole different approach. Small, pleasant, interludes that start by helping the child to slow down and pay attention. No hurry to finish or move on - a message that says "Look at this stuff. It's interesting. Let's examine it together...." I also just read some interesting research with monkeys. If they practice a new skill quickly without full focused attention, they remember it for a while and then forget it. Skills that are practiced with full attention last much longer, they are wired into long term rather than short term memory.
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