The Teach Your Child Challenge

The Teach Your Child Challenge

The new year is right around the corner which seems to be the perfect time to launch my Teach Your Child Challenge.  I want to be clear that the last thing I want to do with this challenge is add guilt or pressure to any mom.  You can be a great mom without doing this challenge!  HOWEVER, I hope you will think about jumping into this challenge.  I was inspired to start this challenge after volunteering in my son’s Kindergarten room this year. 

Kindergarteners come to school with such a wide range of skills.  But what made me sad were the kids who were really struggling academically because they were so far behind the rest of the group.  I am not passing judgement on any parents.  I truly believe we do the best we can with the information and resources we have available.  But it has lit a new passion in me to help educate and equip parents to teach their children!   

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Why Should I Teach My Child?

I think we should start this conversation with an important question…why should I teach my child?  I think there is a misconception among some parents that education is the sole job of the school system.  Of course, your local school will be a crucial partner with you, but the truth is YOU, the parent, will always be your child’s first and most important teacher.  You have such a big impact on your child’s attitude and expectations for school.  You can start instilling a love for learning in them when they are toddlers!! 

Not only are you your child’s first teacher, what they learn in the first five years of their lives will set them up for success in the next 13 years of formal education.  There are all kinds of independence skills and fine motor skills that are important for your child, but in my experience, if every child knew their letters and sounds and could identify and count to ten before they entered Kindergarten, they would be on sturdy ground to start their education.

How Do I Teach My Child?

I know if you have never done this before you might feel overwhelmed at the thought of managing this responsibility, but I have good news for you!!  My Teach Your Child Challenge only requires a fifteen minute time commitment for three days a week!!!  I bet all of us could spare fifteen minutes!!  One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see overwhelming preschool programs.  Preschool activities should not be that complicated.  They should be playing most of the day!!  But my challenge will show you how you can add one simple activity to your day to make sure your child is gaining the skills they need for future academic success!! 

I personally recommend trying to keep your fifteen minutes at the same time from day to day.  This will help your child know when to expect their learning time with you.  So for example, maybe you do your activity after lunch each day, or in the morning after breakfast.  Trust me your child will thrive on this type of a routine!

What to Teach My Child?

Here is where my challenge is going to help you out!!  If you sign up below you will get an email every week for the next four weeks with three easy to use FREE activities!!  You can decide what days work best for you, and if you have a favorite activity you can play it other days too!  Repetition is a great teacher!  Just to give you an idea of how simple each week will be, I am going to show you the first week below too!!

Week One Teach My Child Challenge

Activity One:  Penguin Letter Match– This activity is a printable from my blog!  You can print this out HERE and either use the snowball cards included or just use alphabet magnets.  Don’t have a printer?  No problem, use a piece of paper and just draw snowballs on it and write each letter in a snowball.  Use alphabet magnets in your sensory bin to find and match! 

Activity Two:  Alphabet Sticky Note Match Up– You can find a picture of this activity HERE on my Instagram account.  Grab a large piece of paper and randomly write letters on it.  My son was just beginning to learn his letters when we did this activity so I only used two letters.  Then take small sticky notes and write matching letters on the sticky notes.  You can put them around your paper or hide them all over you house and have your child find them, identify the letter and then cover the matching letter on the paper. 

Activity Three:  Roll and Color– You can see this activity HERE.  Draw a simple picture on a piece of paper or use a simple coloring book picture.  You will assign numbers 1-6 a color you want to use in the picture.  Make a simple key for you child.  Then add the correct numbers to each spot on your picture.  Let your child roll a dice, identify the number and color that number on the picture.  It’s basically a color by number with a twist!  And that’s it!!  You can totally do this, right??  Please don’t hesitate if you have questions!  I would love to help you get started on the right foot!

Ready to take the Teach your Child Challenge?  Sign Up below and three new activities will be sent to your inbox each week for a month!!

Looking for more fun ways to teach preschool skills? Check our my 30 week Preschool Made Easy Bundle HERE. 

Or find more preschool printables from the posts below!

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