Fellow dads, we started school recently whoop and here’s a couple things I wished I had been told about/googled before starting:

[goddey]

1)The basics of alphabet/phonics, digraphs, and blending.

2) The importance of transitions and how to work them and how to contribute in a positive way to the eg,this article was useful to me.

3) Strategies, or just being prepared, for after school restraint collapse.

Lmk yours in the comments, thx.

Much aloha

 

[jerseycindy5]

@goddey As a former teacher, counting is such an undertaught skill. Count with your kids from day 1, doesn't have to be anything higher than 10 before they start school but bloody hell will it help them.

 

[stephx]

@jerseycindy5 I was shocked when my youngest son entered 4k this year and the teachers told us they were going to learn letters and numbers. My kid legit could count to 100 and write his name, fairly legibly. He could also do single digit addition (using his fingers). He was beyond bored at school. He said all they do is color and play with toys and thought school would be more adding and writing. He has older siblings and has grown up playing "school" because the older kids wanted to be "teacher", but school hasn't been anything like he wanted. So now every day after school he comes home and we do writing, counting, adding, and reading so he can get what he wants. It's so disappointing that he's gone all day (he's in an all-day 4k at our nearby elementary school, Mon-Thurs) and doesn't like going because they "don't do anything" there all day and then I have to use our free time at home to supplement. It's wild. I cant fathom that there are kids who go into 4k not knowing how to do something like count.

 

[matthewsjc1]

@stephx This is what I'm afraid of.

Im a nerd's nerd. Physics PhD, programmer. It's what I was always going to do.

When I was a kid, my mother spent so much time teaching me the basics - counting, basic maths, the alphabet, digraphs, days of the week, months, seasons, weather, etc. I went to school and that's all we were being taught.

I got bored. I got disruptive. A couple of years later, teachers caught on to what was happening, and let me read ahead on my own. This was great until high school, when the cycle began again. A couple of years later, I was back to just reading books at the back of the classroom, acing tests, doing next year's coursework, etc.

So here I am with my toddler thinking of all the fun ways to teach him stuff, especially when he gets to 3 or 4, and then I feel the need to restrain myself or I'll just give him a miserable school life.

 

[goddey]

@jerseycindy5 Thanks, great advice, thanks for sharing!

 

[arcadius]

@goddey What’s a digraph

 

[goddey]

@arcadius It’s the sound that two letter’s make when placed together, e.g., th is the digraph of the phonemes t and h. Jack Hartman Kids Music Channel has some fun digraph videos.

 

[arcadius]

@goddey Yooo that video is sweeps

 

[kissthedream]

@goddey Read to your kids. Early and often. Read even when they are too little to know what you're saying. They will learn to love books and even the reluctant ones will eventually Read. My 8 year old hated reading because it was hard and now he is tearing through books every evening.

 

[sun_shine1617]

@goddey After school restraint collapse?

 

[dianne_missionmobilizer]

@sun_shine1617 I read it as they’ve been working hard all day to follow rules and behave in a way they aren’t used to, so when they get home they’re mentally and emotionally exhausted and let loose.

 

[goddey]

@sun_shine1617 Yes. Was talking to other parents a few weeks ago, we all noticed our kids being less well behaved following attending school. Looked it up and apparently this is a thing, and as parents our response to it should be a bit different because it’s driven by the little ones exhaustion from using self control and restraint during their school day.

 

[sun_shine1617]

@goddey That's so relatable it's hilarious.

When I get home after a long day all I want to do is loaf.