Preparing for Kindergarten at Home

Simple ways to help your child get ready for Kindergarten.

Do you have a child who will enter Kindergarten next year? If so, whether you plan on homeschooling for the Kindergarten year, or want to homeschool now to better prepare your child for school, this blog is for you! This is a good time to be working with your child. There is so much you can do.

Please check out my blog, Homeschooling My Preschooler.

Some of the other things you can do are:

1. Read together. There are many wonderful books: Pinocchio, The Hobbit, the Winnie the Book storie s- these all make great read-out-loud books. Also, Ruth Stiles Gannett's My Father's Dragon and 2 sequels are wonderful, simple stories that are good to read out-loud and appeal to boys!
2. Play lots of games - Games are a great way for pre-Kindergarten kids to hone their school skills. Card games and board games alike can offer lots of opportunities to count, reason, and learn how to play together.
3. If you are looking for ways to sharpen basic reading skills, like learning the alphabet shapes and sounds, Brightly Beaming, is a wonderful site. It gives you many ways to read, write, and experience letters.
4. Buying some simple workbooks is another good idea. Look for Preschool on the cover. Many kids enjoy the bright colors and the feeling they are doing things like a "big kid".
5. Another great site is Enchanted Learning. The negative is that it does cost $20 a year for membership. However, there are worksheets on almost any subject imaginable. You can print them out and work on them with your child. There are also craft ideas and other neat features.
6. Color, paint and draw - The arts are a great way to explore learning with your younger child. Color and draw to heart's content. Play-doh, watercolors, and washable stamps are fun, too.
7. Cook - Make cookies, breads, meatballs, cakes, pancakes. In other words, cook with your child. This is great for learning. Tearing up lettuce for salad can be lots of fun! Teach them how to set the table, wash the table, sweep!

These are all simple ways to work with your child to prepare them for Kindergarten. Most of all, though, remember that play, in and of itself, is of tremendous value to the preschool child.