Majoring On the Minors

When parents of preschoolers and early elementary age children ask me what they should be teaching their children to help them get ahead in school, they are usually shocked by my answer. They expect me to encourage them to teach their four year-old to read, count to 1000, recognize letters and shapes, or master educational computer games. My answer, however, is very different.

Each of the skills listed above is a great skill, but with the exception of reading are all simple memorization skills. Reading is a bit more complex, but it is still a skill that most children attain before leaving kindergarten. Instead of focusing on skills that your child will eventually receive anyway, give your child enrichment that will help them become creative and critical thinkers. This is something most students don’t leave high school with.

Story

So what is more important than teaching your preschool child her ABCs. Try reading books to her and encouraging her to invent and tell her own stories. Through books we are able to understand the world, we can explore cultures different from our own, and we can learn about systems that govern the world. We can ask questions about the characters in books and their feelings and encourage the learning of new ideas from text. Encourage your child to express her own understanding of the world and people by making up her own stories with original characters and plots. Synthesizing a story is a very complex and insightful activity. By contrast, knowing the letters of the alphabet is a fairly basic skill that tests your child’s ability to recognize and apply meaning to a symbol. Encouraging critical and creative thinking skills will give your child an advantage in education and in life.

Vocabulary

I also believe that a strong vocabulary is essential if our children are to find new and interesting ways to express their ideas. Instead of drilling your child with vocabulary tests, however, begin using advanced vocabulary in your interactions and discussions with her. Find new words in books and use them in new contexts. This will give her a solid basis for expressing ideas.

The other day a friend of the family was at our house and asked my four year-old son how he was doing. With a sly grin on his face, my son said he was feeling 'mischievous'. My friend looked at me and asked, "Are you prepping him for SAT vocabulary already?" Actually, the day before we had been reading Curious George books and talking about how George was a curious and sometimes "mischievous" little monkey. Using and explaining new vocabulary will help your child to incorporate the new words in his own vocabulary. You will be surprised at how quickly your child will incorporate challenging vocabulary.

Technology

Contrary to conventional wisdom, I also advise parents of young children to turn off the computer - even for educational purposes. The computer is a passive teaching tool. Young children need to be actively engaged in what they are doing. They should be thinking of their own games to play, building with blocks or Legos, and engaging in dramatic play with other children and with you. A new piece of software is not going to be near as beneficial as a puzzle, building set, new book, or even as a new card game that requires skill and strategy. Some parents are concerned that their kids won’t gain the computer skills they will need unless they start early. With the prevalence of computers in today’s world, I am not so concerned.

One appropriate way to use technology with young children is to use the computer as an "encyclopedia". The Internet allows us to have the world at our fingertips. Whenever I tell my son that I don’t know the answer to a question he is quick to reply, "Lets do research." Unlike a video game or tutorial, this use of technology allows you to learn together and discuss topics as you discover. It also teaches your child that you don’t have all the answers, but you can try to find them. You will have the opportunity to explore fascinating pictures of volcanoes, dinosaurs, or planets. You can leave your back yard and explore the world.

Numbers

Now what about numbers? Most parents tell me how "high" their child can count. This skill is only a memorization skill - even less complex than being able to recognize letters as symbols. I advise that parents begin by focusing on the numbers 1-10, making sure that their child understands the concept of numbers. For example, the symbol for the number two is what you write when there are two objects. Two fingers, two paperclips and two pillows can all be described with the number two. Work on one-to-one correspondence with their child, being sure that the child recognizes that numbers actually stand for quantities or amounts. Then move into adding single digit numbers by demonstrating that when you combine two amounts, you get a larger amount. Once they understand this concept then move into the more abstract addition sentence to solve problems. For example: 2+3=5.

Questions

The final piece of advice I will leave you with is to ask children higher-level questions. Ask your child how the different kinds of weather make him feel, how whales and dolphins are alike and different, which object is bigger and how he knows, what would happen if the sun didn’t rise one day, or what he likes about a work of art and what he would change about it. To read more about asking higher-level questions, read my earlier post called Using Questions to Stimulate Critical Thinking.