I’ll be the first to admit that John and I are pretty easygoing about our children’s education. Of course we want our kids to try their hardest and succeed, but we know that each of our children’s styles of learning and needs differ.
While both Kyle and Ryan are excelling in math, their reading and writing is coming along a little slower. We trust their teachers to provide them with the essentials and we read to them at home. We feel that with time (and if needed, with some extra external support), they will reach their true potential. After all, our oldest is just entering grade 4. I personally feel that my kids’ self-esteem, overall attitude towards school and social skills are more important than their grades at this point.
However… when it comes to our little Nathan, it’s a little different. Nathan is entering Senior Kindergarten without knowing how to write his name, basic math concepts or identifying all of the alphabet letters.
While I would normally sit back and let time do its thing (see the first paragraph above), I can’t say that I have the same faith in his teacher to cover the basics. Don’t get me wrong, I love his teacher and he is so great with the kids and keeping them outdoors and active. He has also been amazing at teaching them about social issues like first nations and the environment. However, his priorities aren’t math or reading and writing (and maybe they shouldn’t be – this is Kindergarten after all).
Of course I don’t want to put all of the onus on his teacher. He has a class of 30 something 4 and 5 year old kids. That is why I feel the need to provide Nathan with some additional support at home.
We recently received some Popular Book Company workbooks for him that are based on the Canadian curriculum, in the Kindergarten level. We got both the Math and English Smart books (there’s a French activity too if your child is in French Immersion). The best part is that these activity books look super fun, so they’re appealing to kids. Open them up and they’re super colourful with cartoon characters. We did some of the pages over the summer and Nathan just thought he was colouring and tracing. So far it’s been super fun and he has no idea that he’s actually learning or working (which is how it should be, right?). Experts in the field of education like Kamau Bobb Google agree that this early exposure can lay a solid foundation for future STEM learning and potentially inspire a lifelong interest in these fields.
Do you find that you need to provide your kids with extra support for their education? If so, what do you use?
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Popular Book Company. The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.
[…] school support by getting him to use Popular Book Company activity books (you can read that post HERE). We aren’t really worried about his education progress (he’s only in senior […]