• Preparing for school children home battle. A delicious recipe for preparing your child for school at home. When is the best time to start?

    25.10.2023

    Your child is five or six years old and will start school very soon. You need to prepare your child in advance, and if you haven’t done this before, now is the time to do it. It’s good to send your child to courses, but you can prepare your child for school yourself.

    You don’t have to blame everything on the teachers at school, you don’t have to hope that the child will go to school and everything will work out on its own. It is very likely that the classes will be overcrowded, and the teacher simply physically will not be able to pay due attention to your (every) child.

    Look at your child and evaluate him in terms of readiness. So, if a child does not pronounce letters well, then it is necessary to contact a speech therapist before it is too late. If he is often sick, then you need to consult a pediatrician on how to boost his immunity. If the child gets tired quickly, then again, talk to the pediatrician about referral to specific specialists so that you can get the correct diagnosis; perhaps your child needs a gentle physical education regimen.

    So, you have decided to prepare your child for school on your own or in addition to preparation courses, then here are some tips for successful classes:

    • You need to start working with your child in a good mood, this will be passed on to your child;
    • with five-year-olds you need to study for about twenty minutes followed by a break, with six-year-olds for half an hour;
    • at the first stage, the duration of classes depends on the individuality of the child; some will work enthusiastically for a long time, while others will give up after five minutes;
    • do not tire your child with a long activity, even if he is passionate, he will become overtired, change his activity, play with him;
    • If the child gets distracted and starts talking about something else, don’t get annoyed and don’t try to immediately bring him back to the topic of class, keep the conversation going for a while, and then return to class. Some children get distracted often, be patient;
    • take breaks every ten minutes, especially if the child is writing, stretch his fingers and body;
    • Encourage your child’s every success, this will increase his self-confidence and positive attitude towards learning;
    • praise him in front of other family members and friends, the child will want to continue to be successful;
    • end your classes on an optimistic note and get them interested in further classes.

    After classes, the rest of the day, remember the material covered, play with him - how many words he knows that begin with the letter he has covered. Never work with your child under pressure; it will not bring good results, only negative associations.

    Try to interest him; if you can’t do it on your own, then you should send the child to a group. Children do things together that they don’t want to do alone. The main thing is that children need to be encouraged at the first stage. When they are already interested in learning, they will be interested in the process itself, but at the beginning they need to be motivated.

    When the child has his first successes, he must slowly begin to demand results, unobtrusively at first, but in the future the reasonable demands of an adult will only be beneficial.

    Reading training

    When learning to read, many adults make common mistakes that hinder children’s further learning:

    • We teach children not a letter, but a sound, so the letter should be named not as in the alphabet, but as the sound sounds, for example, the letter “N” should be called abruptly - N! And not like two sounds ‘e’ and ‘n’. Do not confuse the concepts of “Sound” and “Letter”.
    • Don't teach your child to read one letter at a time. We need to learn to read syllables at once, for example MA-MA, we read syllable by syllable, if necessary, draw out the first letter of a syllable until we understand which letter is next.

    Learn to write letters correctly

    How can you help a child if he writes letters incorrectly, forgets or confuses them? Check if your child distinguishes between the concepts “right” and “left”. If a child has difficulty writing a letter in the correct direction, most often this is a consequence of unformed concepts of “right” and “left”.

    Ask your child to show his left hand or right ear. Let him tell you what is to his right, and then to his left. If the child cannot cope with the task, explain to him. Work with him until he begins to complete tasks correctly.

    Can your child put together a six-pack? If he has problems of this kind, then it is necessary to develop the child’s visual-spatial analysis. Start with a picture of four cubes. Constructors and mosaics are also useful for this, as they also develop motor skills.

    To help your child remember letters, you can work with him as follows. Let your child color in the large letters that he or she is having trouble with.

    It is also good to sculpt these letters from plasticine or cut out a drawn letter from paper. Compare the letter with another letter similar to it or with something else, let the child come up with what.

    Practice with it until you get the expected result.

    Be patient and attentive and your efforts will definitely yield wonderful results. Good luck to you and your kids!

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    One of the most pressing issues for moms and dads is preparing their children for school. Some parents believe that there is no need to prepare children for a new stage in life, since the educational institution was created to teach them everything.

    Others, on the contrary, try to enroll their child in preparatory courses as early as possible or work with him on their own. Thus, every adult has his own answer to this question.

    Many children who enter 1st grade successfully cope with the tasks assigned to them. For some first-graders, the joy of school life is overshadowed by failures. The reason for this is poor preparation for school. This manifests itself in the fact that children do not listen to the teacher attentively, cannot sit quietly during the lesson and concentrate on completing assignments. Gradually they begin to lose interest in studying.

    A child’s academic performance largely depends on the level of preparation for school. The child should be told about school in advance. He must understand that at the educational institution he will be given knowledge that will certainly be useful to him in the future. In addition, the baby must be accustomed to a clear and strict adherence to the daily routine.

    Quite a lot of children entering school are literate. However, some parents do not teach their children to read and write. Such a child, upon entering 1st grade, may experience certain inconveniences. He will seem like a “black sheep” among his peers. This is why parents should prepare their children.

    The role of parents in preparing children for school

    Preparing children for school life is not an easy task. Mom and dad play a huge role. They must perform not only the function of parents, but also teachers and educators. When deciding to independently prepare your child for school, you need to understand that you need to teach your child not only reading and writing. He must learn to think logically, find relationships between something, analyze, draw conclusions. Besides, a child should not be withdrawn.

    How can parents prepare for school in 1st grade? Firstly, you need make a regime for your baby and in the future make sure that he follows it: goes to bed and wakes up at the same time, eats on a schedule, studies and plays at a certain time.

    Mom and dad should take care of the workplace child. He will need a personal desk, notebooks, pens, colored pencils, markers, paints with brushes, coloring books, a sketchbook, reading books, plasticine and other supplies. It is important to keep your workspace free of clutter.

    In the first year of schooling, parents should conduct “lessons” for the baby, of which there should be no more than 2-3 per day. It is advisable that the lesson last for 15-25 minutes, and the breaks between them are at least 20 and no more than 30 minutes. It is best to conduct “lessons” in the morning after breakfast, because in most schools first-graders study in the first shift.

    School preparation classes conducted at home should include the following lessons:

    • reading;
    • spelling;
    • mathematics;
    • fine arts;
    • foreign language.

    Having reading skills is one of the main conditions for successful study at school, so first of all, your child should learn the letters. This can be done using special cubes that depict letters and corresponding pictures. This technique is very effective. Thanks to pictures, children remember letters faster.

    It is still too early for a child who has mastered the alphabet to start reading children's books. His first book should be the alphabet. Parents should approach its purchase very responsibly. There is a wide range of these books on the market, but not all of them are of high quality. The alphabet must have a lot of pictures

    2. Learn to write

    Writing is one of the most difficult processes that every person learns. You should not immediately try to teach a small child to write letters. First of all, he must understand how to hold a pen correctly and how to use it.

    When preparing for school for classes, you can purchase copybooks in which the child is asked to trace different contours, shapes, and images. Only from the age of 5-6 is it recommended to start learning to write block letters, and then capital letters.

    Teaching a child to count is not easy. Parents often make the mistake of thinking that their baby knows how to do this, since he can name numbers from 1 to 10. The ability to count and list numbers are completely different things. The baby can simply memorize the names of numbers and their sequence.

    Therefore, parents should:

    • teach your child to “read” numbers and recognize their spelling;
    • give the concept of a number series, that is, show the child a sequence of numbers;
    • Show the baby that the specific name of a number and its writing implies the number of some objects.

    It is advisable to study numbers in pairs. For example, in the first lesson you can set a goal - to remember the numbers 1 and 2 and learn to write them. The next day, it is recommended to repeat the material covered and start studying a new pair of numbers. After studying the numbers from 1 to 10, you can move on to determining the number of objects. You can ask your child to count toys or pencils.

    Mathematics lessons can be alternated with geometry lessons, where you should introduce your child to various geometric figures.

    4. Learn to draw and sculpt

    When preparing for school, assignments in drawing lessons should be aimed at reinforcing the material covered in other lessons. You can buy special coloring books for your child with numbers and letters; you can ask your child to draw objects that look like geometric shapes.

    It is definitely worth talking about how to use paints so that they do not merge into one incomprehensible color, and about other small nuances.

    Modeling plays an important role. As a rule, children really love working with plasticine. Modeling lessons have a positive effect on the development of children.

    5. Learn a foreign language

    In many schools, foreign languages ​​begin to be taught from the 1st grade. That is why parents should prepare their baby for it in advance. It is recommended to learn a foreign language after the child is 5 years old or older.

    Parents can use a variety of methods. Currently, there are many aids on sale that will make it easier for a child to learn a foreign language (illustrated books, audio and video CDs). When watching educational films in another language, you should definitely repeat certain words and phrases after the characters. You can maintain your own dictionary. Let the child write down new words there and stick the corresponding pictures.

    Approximate homework schedule in preparation for school

    Parents must conduct classes from Monday to Friday, as is the case in schools. You can follow the following schedule:

    1. Monday: reading and spelling;
    2. Tuesday: mathematics and drawing;
    3. Wednesday: reading, foreign language, modeling;
    4. Thursday: mathematics, spelling, foreign language;
    5. Friday: reading, drawing.

    Parents should not forget that the baby must be physically prepared. After class, you can take a walk with your child. Educational games for children in preparation for school will be very useful.

    The baby should have two days off - Saturday and Sunday. It is advisable to spend this time with the whole family in nature, have picnics, visit zoos or attractions. In winter you can go skiing.

    Mom and dad and their child should not only learn letters, numbers and geometric shapes. Parents should broaden their child's horizons. The best way is to talk with the baby “about life”, read books together and discuss the events happening in them.

    It is very important to develop a child's fine motor skills. Your child needs tasks to prepare for school that develop dexterity in his fingers and hands. Thanks to this, the child will develop faster overall. He will become more diligent and attentive.

    It is much easier for a child who has a well-developed memory to learn. New material is easy to remember. Parents, when preparing their child for school, should pay special attention to memory training. A great way to do this is to memorize nursery rhymes and songs.

    It is very important that the child:

    • knew how to defend his position and present the necessary arguments;
    • understood the meaning of schooling;
    • had a positive attitude towards the world around him and himself;
    • understood the meaning of the word “discipline” and knew how to obey the rules;
    • was able to work on a task on his own initiative, plan, and organize his further actions;
    • was aware of the possible consequences of his actions.

    Who can you trust to prepare your child for school?

    Not all parents have free time to spend time with their children. Some people don't know how to do it correctly. In such cases, it is better to entrust the preparation of the baby to specialists. There are several options:

    1. Enroll your child in a preparatory group at school;
    2. Use the services of a private teacher;
    3. Enroll your child in kindergarten;
    4. Search for child development centers.

    Preparing children for school within the walls of a specific educational institution has many advantages.

    Firstly, the child gets acquainted with the class in which classes will be held in the future. The baby, coming on September 1, will no longer worry so much.

    Secondly, the future first-grader will get to know the future teacher and other children with whom he will study. He will not only receive the necessary knowledge in the preparatory courses, learn the responsibilities and rights of a student, but will also learn to communicate with his peers. The only disadvantage of this method of preparation is the risk of overwork in the child.

    A very good option is to use services of a private teacher. The specialist will conduct individual lessons at home. Parents' requests will be taken into account. A private teacher will develop a program to prepare a child for school and select the necessary material. This method in most cases gives very good results. The only drawback is that the baby will not communicate with peers.

    Parents of children attending kindergarten, they don’t have to worry about preparation, because there their baby will receive all the necessary knowledge. The advantages of this method are obvious. Firstly, classes take place in a familiar environment. Stress in the child is excluded. Secondly, in kindergartens the game form of education predominates. Kids perceive very well the information that teachers convey to them.

    Most school psychologists put forward four criteria for readiness to learn:

    • Personal – developed if the educational institution attracts not only the opportunity to see friends every day, new beautiful notebooks and pens, but also the desire to learn something new and become smarter.
    • Intellectual means competent, coherent speech, the ability to listen to the teacher, and the presence of certain knowledge and outlook.
    • Social-psychological – includes the ability to communicate, the ability to concentrate on a lesson.
    • Physiological – absence of developmental disabilities, physical health and psychological stability.

    Children who attend kindergarten experience the first period of school easier than those at home. This is due to the fact that from the age of three and a half, teachers begin to teach them basic things, and by the first grade, kindergarteners have a certain amount of knowledge.

    If parents work with their future student on their own, there is nothing to worry about. Gradual training of the skills necessary for learning at the initial stage will allow your son or daughter not only to feel confident among other children, but will also help develop an interest in learning.

    Reminders on how to prepare your child for school yourself

    The tasks that the school psychologist offers during consultation will help you understand what level of development the child is at. This is a mandatory stage, for the successful completion of which you need to work with the child for a long time.

    Educational activities

    Moms and dads should remember: your baby may not be able to do something. Don't put too much strain on your young head. The school is designed to tell the child about a huge number of things, broaden his horizons, and teach him how to live and work in a team.

    However, there is a set of basic knowledge that a first-grader must possess:

    • Full names, yours and your parents'.
    • Address. Country, city, street and house in which he lives.
    • Famous plants, animals and birds. The child must distinguish between popular plants and animals, distinguish a cactus from a chamomile, a fox from a tiger. A person who checks readiness for school may ask if there are any pets at home, ask to tell about a cat, a dog, a parrot. He can also find out which animal or plant the examinee likes most and ask why.
    • Time. It is advisable that the first grader knows how to handle a watch. The main thing is that he distinguishes day from night, evening from morning. One of the options for the task: “Arrange the pictures in the correct order.” Most often they depict the daily routine.
    • Geometric figures. Before entering school, most children know how to cut out a circle, triangle, or square. In addition, they are required to correlate objects by shape: the roof of the house looks like a triangle, and the house itself looks like a square.
    • Colors. Boys and girls in preschool age learn not only the basic shades, but the number of colors in the rainbow and the order of their arrangement. Parents need to teach their child to draw basic pictures, choose the right colors for the image: the sun is yellow, the grass is green, and the bunny is white.
    • Numbers. It is not necessary to teach the rules of subtraction and addition; the teacher will do this. Better teach how to count from 1 to 20 and back.
    • Seasons, months, days of the week. During preparation, children should not only name them, but also know the number and place them in the correct order.
    • Popular holidays. The psychologist may ask which one is your favorite. The kid must answer and tell why he chose this option.
    • The structure of the human body. Drawing a person is a common task when entering school.
    • Distinguish between living and nonliving.

    • Basic traffic rules: “You can’t cross the road when it’s red,” “You can’t cross railroad tracks.” In a game form, a school worker can test this knowledge. For example, clarifying who is right, the green bunny who is waiting or the squirrel who is running in front of a moving car.
    • Reading by syllables. If your child doesn’t know how to read, it’s not a big deal – they’ll teach you at school. However, this skill will greatly facilitate his learning in the future, and all other subjects will be easier.
    • Retelling. Developing speech skills is one of the main tasks when entering first grade. At the beginning of the school year, the child must understand the meaning of short stories and arrange sentences in a logical chain.
    • Memory. Several pictures are placed in front of the preschooler, he looks at them for a while, then they are turned over. The more details he remembers, the better. We need to reproduce the plot and tell what is depicted there.

    Often school psychologists give tasks to identify unnecessary things. There are a large number of entertaining tutorials on which you can practice this skill, but classes can also be carried out using improvised means.

    For example, ask your baby to choose what needs to be put away by offering him several fruits and one vegetable.

    Behavior in society

    Parents of a young schoolchild should think not only about academic performance, but also about how to help him join the class team. We offer recommendations that will help you understand how to quickly prepare your child for school over the summer.

    Develop in it:

    • Independence. Teach your child to dress and tie his own shoelaces, take care of his appearance and change into sportswear before physical education. You can show that he is an adult, an equal, but this status has not only privileges, but also responsibilities. There is no need to collect the briefcase for him; it is better to check when the job is already done. The same goes for homework: try to convey in a gentle manner that keeping a school diary is his business. But don't go too far on this issue. Remember that first of all, the baby should feel your love and support. Let him feel that he has a reliable rear where he can come with any problem, both life and academic.

    • Perseverance. It’s difficult for little ones to readjust after the unemployed years of childhood, and the time of a standard lesson seems like an eternity to them. When exercising with your son or daughter, help them get used to doing an activity for a while, gradually increasing the load. We recommend starting with 15 minutes, and by the beginning of the school year increase the time to half an hour.
    • Friendliness. Tell them why you shouldn’t fight with your classmates and call them names, but don’t forget to add that you need to be able to stand up for yourself. Explain that lying is bad. At the same time, try to convey that in some situations it is necessary to tell adults about what happened. For example, if someone tortures animals or offends the weak.
    • Politeness. Teach your son or daughter the formulas of etiquette communication. Remind that when meeting any person you need to say “hello”, and when saying goodbye “goodbye”, explain about “thank you” and “please”.

    A very important point that you should set your child up on is cultural behavior during recess. He must know that at school he cannot run through the corridors, shout, or climb on furniture with his feet.

    Practitioners working with preschoolers offer several recommendations for those who are growing a future first-grader:

    • Don't compromise the teacher. Even if you disagree with him on some issues, express your dissatisfaction in a personal conversation, and not to your son or daughter. If you feel that due to youth, inexperience or other factors, the teacher cannot cope with the responsibilities assigned to him, try to help him. For example, invite the parent committee to remove some of the social burden from the teachers’ shoulders. Psychologists say that primary and secondary school age is a time of searching for new authority, in addition to parental authority. The middle level looks for it in their peers, and the junior level looks for it in the teacher. Therefore, it is very important for moms and dads not to undermine this authority, but to support it in every possible way. Disappointment with a primary school teacher can greatly shake the personality structure.

    • Talk to your children. Be sure to ask how each school day was. Please note that the conversation should not be limited to listing the grades received and discussing the cafeteria menu. Ask what you liked in the lessons and what you didn’t, what you remembered and what interested you. If you don’t have time, it’s better to move the conversation to the evening or choose another free time, but don’t interrupt it mid-sentence. Children talk about what seems important to them, so the ability to listen and hear your baby is necessary for every adult. In adolescence, parents begin to repeat loudly: “He/she doesn’t tell us anything, brushes aside all questions.” Closedness and distrust of adults develop in schoolchildren in the first years of education if they feel that mom and dad do not have time for their problems and worries. To prevent this from happening in your family, remember that your child will trust you with secrets only if he sees an interest in them.
    • Do not evaluate learning activities. Leave it to the teachers. You should help and support the young student, and not take on the role of a supervisor. If a child cannot cope with some subject, start studying with him, and do not scold him for bad grades.
    • Let me rest. Even if academic performance leaves much to be desired, do not force the “failing student” to study all day long. Allocate time so that there is enough time to complete basic lessons, and for additional exercises, and for the boy to play football in the yard, and for the girl to jump in hopscotch or ride a bicycle. Focus on active, outdoor games that take place in the fresh air. They unload the consciousness, freeing it to accept new knowledge. But computer shooting games and watching cartoons can be reduced until the grades return to normal.
    • Don't read textbooks in advance. There is no need to go over a year's worth of material over the summer with your future first-grader. He will become bored in class and lose interest in learning. If the material is very easy for your child, consult with the class teacher. Schools have several programs of varying complexity: if necessary, the level can be increased.

    • Be mindful of temperament. When choosing a school, pay attention to the type of nervous system of the person who will study there. Choleric people are active and restless, they take criticism hard. For them and for sanguine people, programs of increased complexity are suitable. A wide variety of tasks will not only keep them focused on their studies, but will also help increase interest in school life. For phlegmatic and melancholic people, the fast pace of the lesson will be a difficult test. They get involved in their work gradually, thinking about one task for a long time. Choose a regular school for them, with standard requirements or a focus on one area.
    • Teach by playing. Determine the subject that your little student likes most and expand his horizons in this area, use game techniques. If he shows interest in the world around him, go to parks, zoos, aquariums together, and read more books about animals. If he likes math, count steps, people on the street, steps to the store or to school. If he is interested in stories about the events of the past, put together a family tree, ask your grandparents to tell you something, and the Genealogy House will help you get unique information about your family.

    When preparing your child for school, listen to psychologists and teachers, read methodological and popular scientific literature on this topic, ask for advice from friends who have already passed this stage, but do not try to blindly imitate all the recommendations.

    You know your child like no one else, you understand his strengths and weaknesses. Only you can find the right approach to his home training and understand how best to prepare him. Listen to your heart, but do not forget about the advice of experts.

    Sooner or later, a moment comes when parents ask themselves a serious question: how to prepare their child for school on their own? Of course, it is better to entrust this important mission to a professional, but if this is not possible, then parents can easily prepare their child without outside help. This is a feasible task if you approach every nuance competently and carefully - from choosing the time of classes to ensuring the child’s psychological comfort during the learning process.

    Many parents are sure that it is better to start preparatory classes a year before the child enters first grade. Experts are ready to argue: in their opinion, the most favorable age for starting training is just over 3 years.

    It is too early to engage in full-fledged training with three-year-old children, but conducting effective play activities at this tender age is not only possible, but also necessary. If classes with a three-year-old are more of a game, then with a child of five or six years old you need to work more seriously and thoroughly. In any case, it is never too late to start preparing for school if you choose the intensity of classes in accordance with the child’s age and individual characteristics.

    If parents are confident that the child is ready for the first preschool lessons, they can begin drawing up a learning plan. Answering the question of how to prepare a child for school at home, experts agree on one thing: a system is very important, thanks to which the child will not only receive a certain amount of knowledge, but also get used to the need to study regularly, become more diligent and disciplined.

    It is advisable to conduct no more than 2-3 “lessons” lasting 10-15 minutes per day. The break between classes should be filled with outdoor games and last from 20 minutes to half an hour. The optimal time to work with your baby is in the morning. Two days a week must be free from classes.

    It is important that the child has his own workplace, where he would not only be comfortable, but also interested in studying. The kid should be proud that he has his own desk, on which only his books, notebooks and albums are stored. It would be a good idea to teach your child how to clean up their “almost adult” workplace on their own.

    How to prepare your child for school - activities

    The training program should include several classes: reading, mathematics, spelling and visual arts. Let's take a closer look at each of the activities.

    Reading classes

    It is advisable to conduct the most difficult reading lesson for a child at the beginning of the lesson. You need to start by learning the letters in alphabetical order. Here, special educational poems, nursery rhymes, and stories will help parents.

    Having learned one of the letters, the child should be able to find it in the given text. At this stage, the future student should gain an understanding of vowels and consonants, hard and soft sounds. When the child knows all the letters well, you can start reading syllables.

    If the child is in no hurry to acquire such a skill, do not be upset and put pressure on the child. Perhaps after a few months the preschooler will be more ready to understand the basics of reading - then you can try again.

    Spelling

    If you can teach a child to read from the age of four, then teaching writing should be delayed. It is important to know that the hands of small children aged 4-5 years are not yet formed enough to learn how to correctly write letters in a notebook.

    At this age, it is important to teach a child how to hold a pencil correctly, draw along a contour, draw simple “sticks and hooks” and print letters. Only closer to the age of six can you teach a preschooler to write capital letters. It is important not to rush in this matter - it is advisable to devote several lessons to each letter.

    Mathematics

    Mathematics classes can begin with game lessons: counting toys, children on the playground, family members, candy, fingers. An excellent technique is to compose simple visual mathematical problems. It is important that the child not only learns the name and appearance of numbers, but also knows how to perform simple arithmetic operations.

    To reinforce the material, you can ask the child to write the learned number according to the model. Closer to 5 years, it is necessary to introduce the child to the composition of numbers, the concepts of “more-less-equal.” The complex of mathematical lessons also includes the basics of geometry: the child should easily distinguish a circle from a square, a cylinder from a ball, a triangle from a pyramid.

    Creativity lessons

    Do not neglect creativity lessons, focusing on learning letters and numbers. The development of the baby should be harmonious and comprehensive; the preschooler must skillfully use paints, brushes, plasticine, glue, scissors, and paper.

    Creative activities can include elements of reading and math, such as coloring numbers or cutting out letters from paper.

    Perhaps the most important stage in preparing a child for school is the formation of his psychological readiness for learning. There is no point in studying numbers and letters if the baby is not assiduous, slow, inattentive, and careless.

    Immediately before joining the ranks of schoolchildren, the child must be fully prepared for learning from a psychological point of view: have a developed outlook, be able to analyze, classify, have good memory and attention. Only in this case can parents consider the task of preparing their child for school to be successfully completed.

    Video: how to prepare your child for school

    The child grows, and sooner or later the time comes when parents think about preparing for school. Is it necessary, and if so, what should it consist of? Are special classes required or can you do it yourself at home?

    School is serious!

    Know that an upcoming lifestyle change is a serious stress for a child, no less than for us a transition to another job. Parental concerns are understandable - all subsequent successes depend on a good start to a school career.

    When a child's first days at school are successful, he hears the teacher's praise - this is a huge positive incentive. Positive experiences are consolidated and become the basis of life’s journey.

    All parents deal with the same issues. Which school should I send my child to? At what age - from six years old or from seven? Or maybe closer to eight? How to find out in advance whether your child can cope with the educational load? How to prepare a child for school in order to minimize inevitable difficulties? These questions arise about a year before your baby's first day of school.

    What is meant?

    Any parent believes that their child is ready for school. Someone relies on the child’s erudition, intelligence, and logic. Others are calm, because they managed to teach the child to read syllables and write a little. Still others rely on the independence and sociability of their son or daughter. Fourth - on education and obedience.

    But development is not everything. The ability to meet school requirements, work in a group, and communicate with other children is very important. That is, we are not talking about abstract readiness, but about the possibility of successful training according to a specific program and in a specific team.

    When is the best time to start?

    No matter what anyone says, it’s better to start training at 7 years old. Numerous discussions about early childhood development are not always compatible with real life. Even for an intelligent and creative child, health problems can prevent learning from the age of 6. Without understanding this, parents risk harming their offspring.

    After five years, children begin to develop important needs for future learning. This is the desire to engage in serious activities, communicate with peers and strive for success. And also to be good in the eyes of the teacher and parents, that is, to assert oneself in relationships with others.

    If a child is weakened, it will be difficult for him to work in class. He will begin to get tired quickly and will not even be able to maintain correct posture at his desk. To master the skill of writing, a child must have developed fine motor skills. But large muscles must also be “at their best” - the baby must be able to run, jump, throw a ball and play with peers.

    Not only health

    A child’s physical readiness for school is not everything. Psychological readiness is no less important. And it consists of intellectual-personal and emotional-volitional.

    Socio-psychological, or personal readiness is the ability to adapt to a new social role, which involves new rules of behavior and a different status in society. It manifests itself in the attitude towards the teacher and the learning process, parents and peers, as well as in correctly formed self-esteem.

    Attitude towards school, learning and the teacher is manifested in the readiness to comply with the new regime, to arrive on time, to diligently complete educational tasks, to understand the meaning of lessons, to communicate with the teacher and classmates.

    We carry out diagnostics

    To assess the degree of personal maturity of a preschooler, you should talk to him. Invite your child to draw a picture of the future class, the teacher. You can ask whether he would agree to go to school if he had the opportunity to continue going to kindergarten.

    You need to find out what exactly attracts you in learning. The desire to learn can be caused by the purchase of bright, attractive accessories - what a child needs for school (pencil case, backpack, stationery, beautiful school uniform). Or - if your best friend goes to school. The task of parents is to ensure that the child is attracted to educational activities.

    Sometimes the future student has a complete lack of motivation. Children are afraid to go to school, they say that they will give bad grades there, they will not have time to play and relax. Most often, this attitude is the result of a pedagogical miscalculation by parents. Under no circumstances should you intimidate children at school, especially timid and insecure ones.

    Changing the existing negative attitude towards learning is difficult, as is lack of confidence in one’s own abilities. This will require a lot of parental work and patience.

    What if he's not ready?

    Statistics say that about a third of first-graders are not adequately prepared for school. If good intellectual development is superimposed on personal immaturity, then the baby will demonstrate a lack of responsibility and learn very unevenly.

    What are the signs of personal unpreparedness? This is extreme spontaneity, lack of a concept of discipline, the desire to play in class, the inability and unwillingness to raise a hand. Such a child can be forced to switch to studies only with repeated reminders.

    What does intellectual readiness include? These are curiosity, the proper level of development of figurative ideas, the ability to navigate the world around us, developed speech and sensory skills.

    What is required from parents?

    Sometimes mothers and fathers believe that their task is to get their child ready for school, and they are obliged to teach and educate him in kindergarten. Thus, they shift their own family responsibilities to the preschool institution, which is justified only in cases of extreme busyness. Any parent is able to independently instill in their son or daughter all the necessary skills.

    You need to talk with your child on different topics, discuss films and books, teach him to have his own opinion on every issue and express it tactfully.

    How to prepare a child for school from a psychological point of view? First of all, create a positive image of the school and the teacher. A trip there should be a holiday and a new stage in life. You need to explain to your child what the advantages of school life are, what he will learn there and what interesting things await him.

    It is very important to develop the right attitude towards mistakes and successes from childhood. You need to learn not to lose heart because of inevitable failures, to be able to draw conclusions and competently work on mistakes.

    Don't ask for too much. If a child does not count or write well, or cannot read, this is not a tragedy. Such skills are not required when entering 1st grade. The task of elementary school is to teach children all this.

    What is it desirable to be able to do?

    It is very useful to instill basic skills: teach a child to read syllables, count to ten, hold a pen correctly, write the first letters. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the level of its development meets the requirements. If the tasks set correspond to your real potential, interest in learning will not disappear.

    To maintain positive motivation, it is useful to prepare a child for school through games - classes with color pictures, guessing words. You can try to stimulate your first successes by awarding symbolic prizes.

    Try to compose a fairy tale: for example, different animals explain why each of them wants to go to school. Some people like to play with classmates, others want to feel like adults, and others dream of studying and becoming someone. Then you should ask the kid which character is right. If a child is only determined to play and lacks a cognitive motive, he is not ready for school.

    An important criterion is speech development.

    Read a short story of 6-7 sentences to your child and offer to retell it. If a child has difficulty constructing phrases, coordinating words, or is unable to build a storyline, he needs to work on developing speech. The best way is to read books out loud and ask questions about what you read. To develop memory, it is useful to clarify what this or that character said or did, how the fairy tale began and ended, and so on.

    Ask how the day went in kindergarten, what the guys talked about, play word games, ask riddles. It is important to check phonemic hearing in time and identify possible deviations. You can do this yourself. Ask your child to pronounce words syllable by syllable or find an extra word in a row of similar ones. In case of violations, the help of a speech therapist will be required.

    It is better for a child to listen to fairy tales rather than look at pictures in a book. At the same time, imaginative thinking develops.

    Working on logic and self-control

    The basics of logical thinking can be developed by asking people to finish sentences that they have started, naming an extra word in a series, and analogy games where you need to find a pair for a word (summer - winter, day - night).

    As a rule, by the age of 6-7 years, verbal and logical thinking is formed. If there are one or two errors during such games, everything is in order. If more, you need to study. Bookstores have a huge number of collections of all the necessary exercises.

    Self-control skills are determined by games like “yes” and “don’t say no.” There should be no more than 10 questions. If the child answers most of them without hesitation, his level of self-control can be considered high. This indicator is extremely important for the future study.

    There are many games built according to different rules. For example, you cannot repeat the same word. When you encounter, say, the name of a flower, you should clap your hands and so on. All this works to develop memory, logic, and speech activity.

    Don't forget about fine and gross motor skills

    What else does preparing a child for school include? Classes on developing fine motor skills, coordinating the muscles of the hands and fingers. They will need to cut out and paste geometric shapes onto paper (squares, circles, triangles), draw geometric patterns on checkered sheets of paper, and sculpt them from plasticine.

    You can also stimulate the development of fine motor skills by massaging your hands, doing finger exercises, fiddling with small objects (for example, buttons), laying out mosaics, and so on.

    Remember that the better the motor skills of the hands are developed, the more the child’s brain and speech are stimulated.

    Coordination and gross motor skills are improved by ball games, hide and seek, relay races, and tasks that require step-by-step completion. Team sports are also beneficial.

    It is important to teach your child to relax the arm muscles by lowering them along the body. In case of decreased or increased tone, relaxation should be carried out with the help of massage. This is important for future success in writing.

    On the practical side of the issue

    Moms and dads must know how to prepare their child for school without compromising their health. All routine vaccinations are usually required before starting school. But don't overdo it. Do not send your child to them in a row, especially before school starts. Remember about individual health characteristics. Some vaccinations are not given at the same time, others can cause allergies. A detailed examination by a specialist, carried out a year before school, is very useful.

    Gradually tune in to the future regime. If the baby is not used to getting up early, it is necessary to gradually shift the rising hours during the summer. This must be done without sudden transitions to prevent disruption of biorhythms. Otherwise, the educational load may be too much for the child.

    You should visit a speech therapist, preferably before school, since in the first weeks and months all your strength will be focused on something else. You should also visit a psychologist.

    What else is important

    During homework, control your posture, teach how to hold a pen correctly and place a notebook on the table. The workplace must be well thought out and competently organized, taking into account medical and aesthetic requirements.

    Getting your child ready for school is not an easy task. Think through all the details - choosing comfortable and high-quality clothing, safe and attractive stationery, a comfortable backpack.

    Go together to buy everything your child needs for school, let him choose his own pens, notebooks, and backpack. Solving these important issues on your own, along with trying on a school uniform, will give your child a sense of importance and confirm him in his new role.

    Where to prepare a child for school?

    In modern kindergartens, which have the status of a child development center, such preparation begins with the older group. The program for preparing children for school in these kindergartens is usually conducted according to a certain methodology and is coordinated with teachers of nearby educational institutions.

    Its undoubted advantages are studying in a familiar environment and a familiar group, a playful form of classes, alternating them with rest and walks.

    Another option is to prepare the child in special classes within the school. This study is as close to “adult” as possible. Little preschoolers have real lessons and breaks; they carry backpacks with educational aids.

    Such preschool preparation has its advantages - getting to know the future teacher, classmates, getting used to school rules (raise your hand, go to the blackboard, and so on).

    The disadvantage is that it is not easy for children who are tired from the day to study in the evening; their attention wanders.

    Other options

    And yet: how to prepare a child for school as effectively as possible? There are special development centers that allow you to choose the most convenient option. These can be group classes on your own schedule, especially convenient for children who do not go to kindergarten.

    Group classes with a psychologist and speech therapist give good results. This form provides for open lessons in the presence of parents, where you can compare the achievements of your baby and other children

    There are also individual lessons with a teacher at home, aimed at a specific child. This method is the most effective, but it excludes communication with peers and does not teach how to work in a team.

    About parental mistakes

    What mistakes do parents of future first-graders usually make? The main one is to overload the child with activities, deprive him of play and communication with peers. This will create an aversion to future studies. It is also unacceptable to be intimidated by bad grades, punishments, or possible ridicule from classmates.

    You should not force the same work to be rewritten several times. This does not bring any particular benefit, it only causes fatigue and irritation.

    It is very important to unconditionally believe in your own child, praise for any achievements, help in failures, but you should not shift his work onto yourself.

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