Reading -             

Read nightly with your child!   (I can not emphasize this enough). 

Talk about the story.  What happened first, then what happened, what was the outcome?

Take turns reading “I will read it then you can read it”. 

Have your child identify the words they know, and sound out those they don’t. 

Re-read the same stories to reinforce their learning.

Cooking -

What a great way to learn math and measures. 

Have you child follow your verbal instructions for measuring and combining ingredients.

Have your child follow written instructions for measuring and combining ingredients.

Enjoy the results together!

Games -

There are so many good games to reinforce learning, I don’t know where to start. 

Blokus.  Memory Match.  Racing to count to 100 with dice.  Sets.  Connect 4.  War.

Guess Who?  Chutes and Ladders.  Battleship.  Hangman.  The list goes on ......

Exploration -

Take time to explore with your child. 

Exploration can be looking a the different types of leaves in the front yard.

It can be finding some bugs, and talking about what they do.  Why is a spider good?    

What does an ant do for us?  Get outside and connect to nature.    Look at the  stars. 

Feel the wind.  And talk about it with your child.  You will both learn together, guaranteed.

Homework - 

Help you child with their homework.  This means just about everything except giving them the answers, or doing the work for them.  Provide a quiet structured time to do homework.   Be there with them when the do it.  Help them to figure it out when they get stuck.  Slow them down when they want to race through too quickly.  Go over their homework with you child, and let them know how good they are doing, and how very important their work is. 

Good Meals, and Good Rest -

It is amazingly hectic life that we live.   There are always many more demands on your time and on your children’s time as well.  At this age, you are still very involved in structuring your child’s time and priorities.  Make sure that they get the rest and nutrition they need.  I guarantee you that they will not do so on their own.   If it was left up to a first grader, every meal would  consist of the Ice Cream, Candy, and Cookie food groups.   If it were left up to a first grader, there would be no be time for anything but TV.