Our blog entry, “Homeschooling the 5-6 Year Old” continues this week with part 2 of the series. Today Dr. Grossi continues to elaborate on the vitality of exploring all different areas of intelligence with your 5-6 year old, while giving tips on how to accomplish this. For more information on AOHBL or our programs please visit our store, about us or free trials pages. Enjoy!
Language plays a vital role in Mathematics. A child must have a good grounding in language to understand “mathematical language”. Mathematical understanding should be brought about through listening to stories, saying poems with numbers in them, singing songs which teach mathematical concepts, experimentation with numbers, playing games, self-discovery and through direct teaching.
In order to prepare a child for mathematics, create opportunities for incidental, pleasant learning experiences for example, setting the table for three or four people; sorting washing and matching socks; comparing heights/sizes/weight; noticing similarities and differences in things, for example money; measuring when Mom is baking; counting red cars in the road; point out street numbers etc.
Children must handle concrete objects and experience situations to form an understanding of mathematical language, for example counting actual objects (one-to-one correspondence). Puzzles promote logical thinking and encourage the child to focus and concentrate.
Talk to your child about sensitive topics such as bullying and teasing others; stealing; lying etc. Ask questions such as “How do you think you would feel if …” Telling stories about such topics is a good way to get the message across.
There are many ways in which parents can foster a continued emotional development in their children, and one of the most widely proven is through reading to them. Telling or reading fictional stories to children allows them to experience empathy in a safe environment. Experiencing empathy for characters in a story has a proven link to a person’s abilty to experience empathy towards others as they grow older and navigate through the confusions of daily life.
Physical maturity means, among other things, that the child’s fine-and gross-motor muscles are developed for certain required tasks, for example, fine-motor muscles are required for writing. In our Grade R programs, we cover physical development extensively in our WONDERSKILLS section of each session. Through Wonderskills, children and parents are shown different, fun exercises to help the development of gross motor skills, balance and coordination.
A few ways to develop fine-motor muscles and hand-eye co-ordination;
- Blow soap bubbles and let the child nip them with a clothes peg;
- let him pick up small objects with tweezers or a peg and put them in a box;
- fasten pegs to the end of a shoe box; squeeze a piece of newspaper into a ball;
- colour in and paint;
- cut pictures from magazines;
- thread big beads or macaroni;
- put a rubber band around the fingers and stretch;
- wrap sticky tape around index finger and thumb – press together and pull apart;
- draw around things;
- draw on blackboards;
- do dot-to-dot pictures;
- open and close a zip;
- tear paper into little strips, roll into balls and paste on pictures.
Gross-motor muscles need to be developed for, among other things, sitting straight in a chair. Children need to run, jump, climb, play games, swim, throw and catch and a kick a ball, walk and balance on things, climb over and under obstacles.
By this age the child should have established hand dominance, should be able to concentrate, listen to and obey instructions and not tire easily.
Should your child be lacking in any of the above skills may I suggest an assessment by an Occupational Therapist.
ABOVE ALL RECOGNISE AND PRAISE EVERY ACHIEVEMENT!