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Don't Know What To Do With 3 Year Old
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Hello Again!
My husband feels strongly that I should start working with our 3 year old daughter in the way I am with our older children. In other words, he wants her to have some form of formal schooling.
However, it is hard for me to explain that it is not recommended at her age (CM way). On the other hand, I am concerned much like he is, because she isn’t spitting out her ABC’s, 123″s, colors and so forth. Our boys were much more advance at this age, than she is. Also, it doesn’t help, that I struggle with making time to read to her daily. I get so caught up with my boys and everything else, that by the time I think about reading to her, I’m pooped! Sometimes, unfortunately, I even forget!
Don’t get me wrong, she is delightful child who is very innovative with playtime. She does a lot of pretend play (talking on the phone, playing mommy). I’ve observed her having conversations, that just tickle me. It is then, where I say to myself, “Oh wow, she knows more than I thought!” Her speech isn’t that clear as well either. Most words and phrases are crystal clear and some aren’t. However, she is progressing. But I can’t help but to blame myself for not exposing her to more reading time.
She will sit with the boys and I for some time during school hours. And she enjoys scripture memory, hymn study and Bible. She basically just wants to be involved, but will venture on her own more so, as well.
All in all, I just don’t know what to do, but I feel responsible for her lacking in specific areas. Please Help!!
Shannon
I do about 15 minutes one-on-one time with my almost 3 year old. We do a book “of the week” (really until I get sick of it) from the ABC Jesus Loves Me 3 year old book list, and another activity. Most often we do puzzles because she really enjoys them, but we also do a little “sewing” (lacing beads on yarn) and some little paper and pencil things. We just finished up a shapes book where I cut out shapes, she sorted them, and once a week she glued on one page worth of shapes. We have been working on it since August and just finished last week. It was a good check that she does know her shapes. When my older daughter was 2 I remember doing a colors book with her but my 3 yo already knows colors and didn’t need it. We are doing a thankful book now (a page twice a week) and I plan to do a counting book after that.
I also have her cook with me once a week while the other 2 are playing together and this is a good chance to practice counting with 1-to-1 correspondence (think carrots or raisins) and colors. Easy and fun!
My 3 year old (almost 4) does not know his ABC, count, do shapes or colors. He knows some, but not many and I am not concerned at all 🙂
I think there is a push for kids to “know” things at a younger and younger age. We play a lot, do nothing formal, and it will amaze me when after mentioning the play dough is red for weeks one day he will say he wants red.
They learn so much, even when they are not yet verbal about all that they know. Some kids are more verbal, other kids are not. Both are learning at the same pace. You just can not tell because one child does not “share” as much until one day they blow you away with what they say 🙂
I just wanted to say that when kids are ready, it clicks. All four of my kids were at their own pace and still are. It’s okay she’s not singing the ABCs and such. You can always put in some catchy music for her if you’re worried she doesn’t know them yet, but in time she will. Just like potty training, tying shoes, etc. All in time mama, it’s really okay to let her be little.
HaHa! I love these posts! Thank you ladies! I need a poke of reality from time to time. It is much appreciated!
We have a three year old, too, who knows colors but not ABC’s. I’m not worried. We play games and just add it to our day. Nothing structured. not at this age and CM isn’t the only ones urging to wait. I point out letters here and there, making a abc soup (dump letters intoa pt and stir. Let the little one scoop them out and I get to be excited by the letters as I name them) Never too many at one time, yet.
Don’t worry, she is fine.
Hello Sue,
Yes, my boys are old enought to read to her. In fact,I had made it apart of their daily chores, but we moved and have been busy the past 2 months and got off track. We need to get back to that! Thanks for the reminder!
Check out notimeforflashcards.com She has a great list of activities for this age under Letters of the Week (Alphabet for starters). They are easy, but fun play. Games your boys might even enjoy playing with her.
Ah the dreaded move. Give yourself some slack if your routine is off because of that. Moving is hard all around. Three years later I am still finding things I need to put in a permanent home.
Songs are great for preschoolers 🙂 My just-turned-4yo has learned his ABCs and a surprising amount of Spanish that way. You could buy CDs for car rides, make a YouTube or Spotify playlist, or just sing with them yourself 🙂
This year we’ve been doing our school in two “sessions”. We do our family subjects together (read alouds, history, science, Bible memory, fine arts, etc.). For the other session, we do their independent work (3Rs and piano). I try to start with my (just turned) 5yo. She’s technically still preK, but begs to do school with her big siblings! I try to get her lesson first because I’m more likely to skip it if we are running short on time since she’s not school-aged. Also, her time with me generally takes only 10-15 minutes so it’s easy to fit in.
My favorites for the younger ones are Before Five in a Row, HOD’s Little Hands to Heaven, and Preschool Activities in a Bag. Three is a great age to start any of these and they are light and fun. I also try to keep some quiet toys available for when I’m reading aloud to my older ones. Blocks, crayons & paper, I-spy bag, Little People dollhouse, etc.
I also don’t think anything is “needed”, but I’ve found they want to join in with their siblings. I try to keep it light and fun. At three, if they are not wanting to do school, we just skip it for the day…I’m not going to force them to get through the lessons. I also encourage them to join in with the Bible Memory. I figure if DD can memorize entire Frozen songs, she can memorize some Bible verses and hymns as well. 😉 I don’t expect perfection from her, so she just joins in when she can remember the words. I also let them join in with art projects, science experiments, etc. as they wish. For the art projects, I just give them some of the same supplies and let them create whatever they want with them.
I’ve found my younger ones pick up on things like colors, letters, numbers, shapes, etc. just from being around their older siblings. I’ve spend less one-on-one time with my younger DC and they’ve learned these things quicker than the older ones. Their big siblings love to “teach” them as they are coloring pictures together or reading books to them.
I don’t have suggestions for what to do with her, but my almost 6 YO still doesn’t know his ABCs. I tried to teach them to him this spring and he just wouldn’t pick them up. Didn’t pick them up when we did phonics flashcards at the start of the school year either. He can’t even reliably spell his own name or recognize the letters in it (it’s 5 letters, so not terribly difficult). But he’s learning to read…I figured as long he can recognize the sounds we’ll worry about the letter names later. He doesn’t know his shapes either. I guess I’m a slacker! But he knows & recognizes his numbers and can add in his head (not due to any efforts on my part in either case lol).
My 4 YO doesn’t know his ABCs or shapes either. He does know colors and some numbers. I don’t read just to him very often, but he does listen in on some of the RAs for his older siblings. He’s my least-interested-in-books child–my toddler will sit and look at books for longer than he will. Oh, and he did enjoy going through phonics flashcards with the 6 YO, and doing memory work with him.
My 8 YO DD, on the other hand, was learning to read at 3.75 YO. And my cousin’s daughter knew all her colors at barely two…no amount of working with my boys would have taught them their colors at two! So I guess they’re all just different…
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