A child’s first educational experience outside the home can be challenging. Your preschooler is learning new things in a new environment with new people.
There may be times when they are not coping well with school or are falling behind on lessons. This is where you must step in and address the neglected aspects of your child’s education.
Preschool age in Malaysia normally starts around four and this is where they start learning foundation skills. These normally encompass social, intellectual, physical, spiritual and creative skills.
However, the structure of lessons depends heavily on what kind of system the preschool is based on.
The Montessori system, for example, is highly adaptable and child-centred. It aims to help the child develop holistically instead of simply to transfer knowledge.
Not all schools provide a perfect education for your child. So, it is no wonder why some preschoolers struggle to maintain their academic progress.
Of course, even if your child isn’t falling behind, they can still benefit from some extracurricular lessons from you.
If you think that your child needs it, here are 8 tips you can use to help them learn better.
Don’t Obsess Over Achievement
Preschoolers are too young to understand things like grades and tests. Forcing students to take tests too early, or enrolling them in schools that do, are detrimental.
Developmental milestones are important for detecting things like learning disabilities. However, a child should not have to worry about getting straight A’s so early on in life.
While it is rare for preschools to hand out tests, there are other ways teachers measure progress. Some schools, particularly those that adopt Montessori curriculums, make use of progress reports instead of tests.
Of course, it is the teachers who write these reports instead of the students. Teachers will then convey these evaluations to parents during PTAs to inform them of their child’s achievements and shortcomings.
As a parent, you should not give your preschooler a hard time if they are not performing well. Academic milestones are important, but so are social, physical and creative ones.
So, give credit where credit is due and work on the areas of improvement without judgement.
Consider Edutainment
Technology can do wonders for your child’s cognitive development. Assuming you let them watch the right things.
Edutainment is indeed a normalcy in this digital age, but excessive screen time can do more harm than good.
So, keep the iPad use to a minimum. After all, a preschooler will benefit more from a parent’s active participation than any muppet or cartoon character.
If you want to include edutainment in your child’s life, consider choosing from a list of recommended TV programs. Some ones that you may remember from your childhood include Sesame Street and Blues Clues.
However, I would discourage platforms like YouTube since it will redirect your child to other non-relevant channels. The ‘similar videos’ links can often distract your child from the good programmes to some not-so-good ones.
If you were to use YouTube regardless, supervise them. Otherwise, they may fall down a rabbit hole of toy reviews and family blogs, or worse.
Emphasise Fun
Children will not do anything if a certain amount of fun is not involved. This is probably where many preschools fail.
By subtracting the element of fun from education, many children are less motivated to learn. Of course, this does not mean all fun and games forever and ever.
Serious education still needs to take place, but let your child take the reign. Letting your kid dictate how they’d like to learn is a good way to get them motivated.
So, pay attention to their interests. Plan your extracurricular lessons around what they like.
Things like board-games and puzzles can also be very beneficial for supporting cognitive development in young children. They encourage concentration, problem-solving, strategic thinking, language skills and teamwork.
Most importantly, they teach your preschooler how to accept defeat with grace. No one likes a sore loser.
Adapt, Improvise, Overcome
Not all children are the same intellectually. Some may require more customised methods of learning than others.
One way you can help your preschooler learn better is by finding a learning style that best suits their needs. This may take a lot of trial and error since there is quite an extensive list to go through.
However, some learning styles are more compatible with most children like visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. So perhaps start with those first.
It is important to remain patient during this process, as it may be time-consuming.
Nevertheless, once you’ve hit the jackpot, it’s smooth sailing from thereon out. If your child is falling behind in school, you can easily pick up the slack at home.
Ditch the Reward Systems
Gold stars may be a fun little thing to give to your preschooler. However, they are a psychological menace to a developing brain.
Reward systems are terrible for a child’s self-esteem. The purpose of helping them learn better is to get them to enjoy the process.
The trick to making learning sustainable is to make the process fun, not transactional. Giving a cookie for, let’s say, successfully counting from 1 to 100 can create a bargaining mind-set.
There are some instances where rewards are acceptable, but not in education. Stickers and stamps may be okay, but cookies and treats will only harm their health.
They will eventually learn about the horrors of rewards systems later in life. You don’t need to introduce them to it so early.
Be Present
Helping your kids learn better can sometimes be as simple as participating in their play times and activities.
Some kids may not be comfortable with their teachers and will often be quiet in the classroom. This makes it hard for teachers to help them with their activities and homework.
If your child prefers a familiar face during lessons, you need to do your part. Ask them what they’re having trouble with at school and help them do it at home.
Reading to your kids is another good way to get your preschooler started on linguistic and numerical skills. It is also a good bonding exercise aside from helping their academic progress.
Enrich Their Diet
Many parents with exceptionally bright kids swear by brain food. While a miracle diet won’t necessarily turn your preschooler into a mini-Einstein, it may help keep their brain healthy.
A healthy brain can boost concentration and memory, all essential qualities to have when learning. Some scientifically proven brain foods include eggs, Greek yoghurt, greens, and oatmeal.
Cultivate Patience
Most parents do not have the training that preschool teachers do. Preschool lessons are not like those in kindergarten or primary school; there is a complexity to their simplicity.
Balancing enjoyment with education can also be tricky. So, if you are not making any progress with your child, take a step back and reassess the flaws in your methods.
Some parents make the lessons seem too much like school, which some children may be averse to. After all, why would they want to continue learning at home? Especially if it’s school that is affecting their ability to learn well.
A Steep Learning Curve
If you are attempting to give your preschooler extracurricular lessons for the first time, there will be a few hit-and-misses.
Preschool teachers have years of experience in early childhood education. They know how to conduct lessons and deal with children.
Therefore, it’s important not to beat yourself up about it too much. Even if you cannot conduct a full-blown lesson, make sure to monitor your kids’ diet and screen time.
If you cannot address their learning struggles on your own, at the very least ascertain what they are.
Some teachers can be oblivious to their students’ problems. So be sure to communicate them to their teachers once you’ve coaxed them out of your preschooler. Children are often more comfortable confiding in a parent than in a teacher.
In any case, the best thing you can do for your child’s education is to simply be attentive.
You do not need to do a background check on the teachers or analyse their lesson plans.
Simply knowing your child’s strengths and weaknesses is enough to help you understand where they need more attention.
Areas of improvement are, after all, places of untapped potential.
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