As many of my fellow super moms know, education is so important for our children’s future. I love early education, especially for children ages 5 and under because their brains work so differently. For instance, they are able to absorb language in an effortless fashion that I personally envy.
After reading countless books on early education and parenting the young child, I sought out supporting my children’s love of learning the best way I knew how. Under my mother’s guidance, who is a retired teacher of over 25 years, I individualized their lessons to their interests and personalities. Each child is truly different. In today’s post, I want to share with you what I am currently teaching my 4.5 years old daughter. There is so much to share about this, but I hope this highlight gives you a picture of what we are focusing on.
Naturally, I am always guiding and teaching my 4 year-old daughter, so there is no way I could include everything I am teaching her in 1 post. It possibly would take several books to fully explain my philosophy, execution and results. In this post I will focus on sharing some of the main things we cover on a daily or weekly basis. Again, let’s remember that every child is different, and these are the things I am teaching my daughter, but it could vary for another 4 year-old child. I even had a different way of supporting my oldest son when he was 4 years old.
Ok, let’s get to the learning…
MATH
In math, we are currently working on double digit addition, multiplication foundation, single digit subtraction, place value, and measurement.
*Double Digit Addition: Once my daughter demonstrated complete understanding of basic addition, we moved onto double digit addition. First we focused on place value and addition problems that did not require “carrying over” a number to another place value. Once this was understood we moved onto carrying over numbers from the one’s place to the ten’s place whenever an addition result in the one’s place was greater than 10. She is doing great. However, I have decided to wait until full mastery of both double digit addition and subtraction before moving onto 3 digit addition and beyond. My daughter is highly sensitive to being incorrect, which is tough for me because I have the “challenge is great” personality. So, I am consistently aware of making challenges fun for her and avoid situations where she feels pressured to perform.
*Multiplication Foundation: We are building up skills for multiplication by separating items into even groups and determining the total. We are also practicing counting by 2, 3, 4, 5 and all the way to 10, which will remain helpful in her multiplication journey. She loves this work, so I try to create fun poster boards to practice these skills. At times, we separate items into even groups and write out the accompanying multiplication problem. We love to write on this Melissa & Doug Art Easel whiteboard.
*Place Value: We review place value whenever we are covering double digit math. We also use a place value chart, and Montessori beads to help reenforce place value.
*Single Digit Subtraction: Currently, we are still practicing single digit subtraction. From time to time I slip in double digit subtraction and she gets it. I plan to switch fully to double digit subtraction once her school’s virtual learning classes are over for the summer. I believe strongly in young children playing outside and free play. So, I closely monitor how much time we are spending on academic learning indoors.
*Measurement: We are learning about measurement through my daughter’s favorite activity…baking! She loves learning new recipes. We use measuring cups and spoons to introduce the importance of measurement all around us. Also, we measure each other’s body (height, arm length, etc.) with measuring tape. I purchased a big pack of measuring tapes since I have 3 curious children, and things like this seem to get lost easily. I don’t think we will ever run out of measuring tape, because of how many came in the pack.
ENGLISH
*Spelling: If you have watched my youtube videos and read a few blog posts then you probably know that I like to start teaching my children to read when they are babies. For us, it has been the most natural and stress free way to teach them. It’s also pretty amazing to watch young toddlers read words. Too cute! Well, my daughter really loved learning to read and could speak very clearly when she was really young. So, we saw her reading at 1.5 years old. Her interest slowed down a little after she turned 3 years old, and then she went back to wanting to read every thing at 3.5 years old. So, at 4 years old her favorite way to increase her phonetic skills is through spelling. She loves to sound out words in order to spell them on a whiteboard or in a story she is writing. This has been a great tool to opening her up to developing her own little storybooks instead of just reading them. She thinks of herself as a little author now. Most days, we get to her Melissa & Doug easel and I will call out a word for her to write on the board. In spelling, she likes challenges and wants to spell words like, “decipher” and figure out whether there is a “ph” or an “f” in the middle. It’s fun to watch her grow.
*Creative Writing: As I mentioned in the spelling section, I like for my 4 year-old to write her own little stories. She takes the time to draw, color and write sentences about her drawing to create a story. I allow her complete freedom in her expression. I do not try to offer bigger vocabulary words or direction at this time. I want her to feel free in her creativity. All that I ask is that she try to write neatly so that I can read it too. For neatness, we focus on word spacing and respecting the lines for the words to be written on.
*Reading: We continue to use Raz Kids for the level up reading app and we read books I have ordered hardcopy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble as well. She continues to grow in her reading ability and is almost to the point where she could read anything she wants without assistance. This has opened up the world to her, and she is confident when picking up a book. One time I wanted to take a nap (that is what being pregnant can do to you) and she asked could she read a story to me to help me rest. It was the sweetest moment.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
*Self Control: By far, emotional development is harder to teach than academics. It truly takes years and years of guidance. An important one in our household is self control. We tune into each other’s feelings. We try not to be dismissive of one another’s feelings just because we don’t think the “reason is valid”. We control ourselves when we are too upset to commit to any decisions. It’s important to teach the “pause”. A pause and holding of your hands is what we are focusing on during moments where self control is challenging. Usually, those moments are based in anger or frustration. Also, taking a deep breath while holding her hands can help keep her from tantruming and throwing things when upset. We talk about this coping skill when she isn’t anger as well so that it is drilled into her as a reliable mechanism when she is out of control. I look forward to this being 100% reliable one day. For now, we will accept that she is only 4 years old and it is ok. I credit the book The Whole Brain Child for opening my eyes to what is going on neurologically when a young child is upset. Once you know what they are, and aren’t capable of, you become more reasonable with your expectations and demands. I highly recommend that book to any parents.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
*Chinese: Language learning is truly a marathon. My daughter is fluent in Mandarin Chinese thanks to her great school. She attends a language immersion school, which takes a lot of the pressure off of me in this area. I do not know Chinese at all. Next year is undecided due to the pandemic, and we may continue her language learning online this summer and next school year. There are a lot of great options online, and when the time comes I will definitely post about it.
*Spanish: Before the social distancing shut down, my 4 year-old was attending Spanish classes once a week for 2 hours a session. In addition, we used the Kids A-Z app at home to read in Spanish. Unfortunately, the classes were completely cancelled and this foreign language has recently taken a backseat, because their virtual learning schedules from my kids’ school is too time consuming. We hope to get back to online Spanish learning once virtual schooling is complete.
SCIENCE
Natural Science: We currently work on learning about natural science. I use youtube videos and Pinterest ideas to create small lessons and projects. My 4 year-old is mostly interested in Biology, so I have some fun ideas to support that interest this summer. As long as I am not too overwhelmed with the new baby. Fortunately, small children are natural scientists. A trip to the backyard or looking up at the sky easily turns into a science lesson.
OTHER SUBJECTS
*Art: We love art. Outdoor painting is our obsession as the weather gets warmer. There will be formal drawing lessons this summer for my 4 year-old because I am reading a book called Drawing With Children. I have actually had the book on my shelf for over a year. However, this summer I am dedicated to making sure they know how to draw. I believe this will help them express themselves even better in the creative writing, because the images will better represent their words. Before formal writing, drawings were necessary to tell stories; think hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt. Therefore, drawing was a learned skill by everyone in the same fashion that writing is a learned skill by everyone now. Unfortunately, drawing is only seen as talent now and we miss out on growing this skill. Until the summer drawing lessons begin, we look at drawing videos of favorite characters on youtube and attempt to recreate them. We also freely draw and paint as we please. Play dough creations are key too. Check out my non toxic play dough recipe post.
*Music (Piano): My daughter began learning piano at 3 years old with once a week lessons. She enjoyed her class and the recitals. Due to the pandemic we are not taking classes, but we try to practice previously learned materials and use the app Simply Piano to keep her skills fresh. At times, she freely makes up her own songs and sings along.
*Baking: One of the many practical life skills we teach my daughter is how to bake. As mentioned before, it involves math through measurement. It also involves chemistry, reading, and fine motor skills in handling the ingredients. Oh, and it’s fun!
We will stop right here before this becomes a novel, but I wanted to really give details into what my 4 year-old is learning. Let me know in the comment section if there is anything you want me to expand upon. Also, tell me about your at-home learning support of your little one. I love getting new ideas to try with my family.