Pre-K starts for my little next week. Over the summer I have made feeble attempts to teach him his ABCs. Not the song. He can belt that tune at the top of his lungs all day long. But when I try to get his little brain to connect the actual letters to the song... well, it's an epic fail. It's as if he thinks the ABC song is a nursery rhyme or something and because of that, those "letters" are like story characters that really have no meaning. He might as well be singing Row, Row, Row your boat.
I have laid out the magnetic letters and pointed to them as we sing. I have drawn the letters on his chalkboard so that he can paint over them as we sing. I have made an ABC race car track on the floor for us to zoom cars over as we sing. Seated, standing, singing, "driving", I have tried it all.
I'd be lying if I said I'm not a tad bit worried. When every single letter is "B" or "I don't know" the lies and fears of Mommyhood creep into my brain. You know... the what ifs. What if he's dyslexic? What if he never gets it? What if his brain can't make those connections? And on and on it goes. That fear can often be debilitating and paralyzing. I have to choose daily to take those thoughts captive and praise the Lord that He is in control. And no matter what happens, He's got sweet Liam in the palm of is hands.
Fear will not win out. I will not give up on my little ABC challenged nugget. I've been taking notes on his behavior and how I think he might learn best. Here's what I've noticed... This little of mine has ants in his pants. He can not sit still for longer than 3 minutes unless he's playing video games or watching a movie. (Yes, I'm aware that most little boys have lots of energy and I plan on using it to my advantage.) His attention span is that of a gnat. It's pretty problematic; he can't even sit at the dinner table without getting up two or three times for one reason or another. He shakes when he plays video games and has a hard time entertaining himself. Lastly, he walks to the beat of his own drum.
With all that said, here's the game plan...
take away the Wii - check
limit TV - check
take our learning outside - active learning with water guns, balls, chalk, etc. (once the heat and west nile mosquitos go away)
use games to learn indoors
relax (he's only 4 I tell myself. I'm pretty sure he'll get this eventually.)
Why I care about the ABCs so much and was totally comfortable with him taking his paci to college I have no idea. We all have our quirks right? I know that he will get this and we will both grow in this ABC adventure of ours. I have no doubt.
How about you? Do you have fears when it comes to your littles? Tell me I'm not alone in this. xo
Hey there! Something that worked well for one of my boys was making alphabet cards with puffy paint (you know, the kind you can use on t-shirts). I did bright paints and after they were dry (way dry! He tried to test if he could squish the raised letters) I had him run his fingers over the letters while HE said the letter name. My saying the names didn't help him make the connection. I also grouped the letters into learning chunks instead of tackling the whole alphabet every day. I introduced the phonetic sounds later on.
ReplyDeleteDon't stress, your guy is only four! And let's face it, alphabet is boring when you could be doing squirt guns ;)
He will work on his letters there! Bryce's preschool teachers last year had taught for 40 years. They had so much wisdom.
ReplyDeleteWe had a few years of concerns before Bryce got a diagnosis last spring. If your little guy ever did get a diagnosis with something I just want to encourage--its is so incredibly helpful in understanding how they learn and how God designed them!
ps--definitely have fears! just yesterday our 3 year old guessed all her colors wrong :)
ReplyDeleteyou are not alone...mamhood is wrought with fear for our children. founded or not.
ReplyDeletehe will learn his abc's...you will see.
you are a great mama...hang in there.
As a former Kindergarten teacher...I will say, don't worry! I had MANY children who came to me not knowing any letters and they soared during the school year. I think you'll be amazed at what he learns!
ReplyDeletebribe jude to work with him on it. liam will do anything brother says is cool.
ReplyDeleteat my house, we are going to preschool without knowing letters. he got a low score on his four-year old eye exam because he doesn't know which letter was which! he was totally guessing. ummmmm......V!
liam is smart. he will do things when he's ready. that's why they don't learn to read in europe until they're 7 or 8! they wait until the child is ready.
love you. Bev