Is Your Child Ready For Kindergarten?

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When beginning my research about 7 years ago into “how to homeschool preschoolers”, I began with “what are the objectives?” Because I have a formal teaching background and extensive lesson planning experience, I knew to begin with the end goal and work backwards into individualized lessons. Therefore, to plan a child’s school year, one first needs to know what the goals are. And so that is where I began.

The importance of preschool goals.

Goals are the objectives set for a child’s development and these are usually set by the average child’s capabilities. These can range from their behavior to their academics.

How seriously we should take these objectives in preschool varies from source to source but it is very clear that you fall into one category or the other. There seems to be no gray area here.

Some say that preschoolers should be able to do x, y, and z for this, that, and the other thing. These are very measurable and specific preschool goals. This is great for cognitive development (the academic objectives). While others pointed to integrating learning naturally into the preschooler’s world and not pressuring them into unwanted activities -perfect for creative development (the enrichment objectives). 

What philosophy is best for meeting the preschool goals?

There are merits to each philosophy of learning and it’s important to allow young children to learn from regular life experiences. For example: read to them, cook with them, play games, include them in chores, and more. By all means, integrate learning into their environment because they will be well off in their creative, social, emotional, and language development. However, we cannot forgo defining what a typical 3 or 4 year old is able to do in their cognitive development for two reasons:

1. If we forsake cognitive milestones,  we lose the ability to track struggles. What if your child is at risk in a specific area? The quicker you catch it, the quicker you can get the extra support. If you think your child might be behind, the Child Mind Institute has a specific list of developmental delays you should be aware of.
2. Additionally, this is the age where the learning foundation is set. For homeschoolers, this will also be where your child familiarizes themselves with the look, feel, rhythm and expectations of an average school day at home. It pays off when they begin formal lessons for kindergarten, as I’ve experienced with my eldest. 

What your 3-4 year old should know.

Now that we’ve looked at why preschool is an important time to define goals and incorporate formal learning time, let’s see what those preschool goals are. 

Keep in mind, It’s important to include your child in regular and daily activities. As a result, your engagement will further help their social, emotional, and language development. Also, by meeting a lot of the cognitive and creative development objectives that are listed you will see improvement in the other areas of a child’s development as well.

Preschool goals for cognitive development.

• Firstly, number sense (count 0-10)
• Identify simple patterns
• Sorting by colors and size
• Understands same and different
• Next, identifies shapes
• Conduct simple science experiments
• Reason and critically think through problems
• Have a better sense of time pertaining to morning, afternoon, and night
• Lastly, asks questions about the world around them

Creative development.

• Firstly, engage in imaginative story-telling
• Participates in pretend play
• Further, creates art
• Sings and dances

Preschool goals for language development.

• Firstly, tells stories
• Forms sentences
• Answers simple questions
• Lastly, identifies simple rhyming words

Social & emotional development.

• Firstly, cooperates with others
• Next, shows affection for family
• Follows 3-step commands

• Demonstrates a wide-range of emotions
• Lastly, shows fear of imaginary things

Preschool goals for fine & gross motor development.

• Firstly, uses safety scissors correctly
• Trace lines and objects on paper
• Hop and stand on one foot
• Dresses and undresses self
• Ride a tricycle
• Lastly, walk forward and backward easily

To clarify, all children progress at different rates in different areas. My eldest, Marty, has always been advanced on his fine and gross-motor skills. However, when he was younger, he was behind in his language development. But I never worried and he now speaks at the same level or better than his peers. On the other hand, my second kiddo has been average for his cognitive development and flourished with his social and emotional development. 

Above all you’re probably wondering how to help you child meet these preschool goals before kindergarten. As a result, I have a plan for you! And it’s the same one I used for my kiddos.

Do not buy a tedious and expensive curriculum to meet the preschool goals.

Preschool does not need to be boring or costly but there should be lessons and goals in place. 

Playing for Hours’ Letter of the Week sets clear goals to meet objectives using play based learning. Exactly what a 3 or 4 year old needs and desires. 

For the parent, it’s all there. Lessons are set-up in a week-by-week format that are flexible for your schedule and ready to use. You can choose activities you know your child will enjoy, learning objectives you want to meet, and/or ones that will fit your schedule. You can check it out here.

Most parents do not want a tedious and boring book and curriculum for their 3 year old’s formal learning time. I desired something rich with hands-on activities, living books, and fulfilling experiences. As I bet you do too! The only way I was able to do this was by creating my own and now I’ve made it available to you, at no cost.

I hope it helps reassure you that you’re preparing your child to meet all their developmental objectives before kindergarten. And most importantly, doing so in an engaging and delightful way. 

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