"Everyone Knows" 4-Year-Olds Aren't Ready for School

Most parents would tell you that children aren’t ready for kindergarten until they’re five years old (or six in some cases). Public schools and most private schools would never consider admitting a four-year-old to kindergarten. These children are welcome in preschool, but you have to admit that it’s not really the same thing as the full “school atmosphere” of kindergarten.

Preschool does provide a valuable service in helping children learn to be more independent and to socialize well with others. Kindergarten, on the other hand, is the beginning of formal schooling where children get into the meat of the skills that they will learn throughout the rest of elementary school. With the higher level of skills that will be expected of them, is it really true that four-year-olds are too young for school?

We don’t think they are. At Delphi Academy of Santa Monica, younger children have successfully participated in kindergarten, and your child could, too. Here are several ways you can prepare your four-year-old for school.

Independence

One of the best ways to prepare your four-year-old for kindergarten is to help him become independent. While kindergarten itself will help your child start to become more independent, by practicing this skill you can give him a leg up.

This could mean having your child participate in early gymnastics or a karate class. It could also mean letting your child go to the zoo with friends of the family without you. When your child is able to spend longer and longer amounts of time away from you without getting uncomfortable or upset, he’ll have a good start at being able to spend a day at school.

Basic Academic Skills

Another great way to prepare your child for school is to practice the educational skills that she’ll be using in kindergarten. For example, you should help your child practice reading every day. Even if she can’t actually do it for real yet, looking through books and trying to read words she sees on signs around the neighborhood are good signs.

Other early skills to practice can include helping your child attempt to write (even if they just look like scribbles for now), recognizing shapes and colors, and encouraging her to ask lots of questions about her environment. Having curiosity about the world around her will always be a necessary precursor to learning hands-on subjects like science.

Daily practice with your child can be as simple as focusing on books and crayons while playing together. With some practice and attention, your child will be ready for kindergarten before you know it.

Social Skills

In addition to academic skills, your child needs to be socially ready, too. Basic skills for kindergarten will include being able to listen to adults and to follow basic instructions given by the teacher. Helping him learn to start following rules is another important step in preparing for school.

For example, when your child is playing with other children, take special care to help him understand how to share and to respect the boundaries and property of others. Also, your child will need to master managing his own trips to the bathroom. (Kindergarten teachers don’t really have time to be changing diapers.)

If your child is four years old, it could be ready to start thinking about kindergarten! Talk to one of our Admissions representatives about placement today.