What is different about preparing your child for kindergarten in the US?

The first grade of elementary education in the United States is called Kindergarten. Here, families do not worry about preparing their children for first grade, but rather prepare them for elementary school. Children are required to attend school at age 5, and before that, American parents can choose to send their children to Pre-K or stay home to "teach" their children.

I use the word "teaching children" here in the true sense of teaching, not simply "keeping children" as many Vietnamese people still use.

I used to live in Illinois, where many parents choose to homeschool their children.

Talking to some American friends, they said they "homeschool" their children before they start school. However, to me, American parents are given a lot of guidance to prepare their children for school.

Parents can be provided with information about the knowledge and skills they need to prepare through libraries, or city education departments will reach out to parents through local events to disseminate knowledge.

26 knowledge and skills before children enter "primary" class

During a visit to a book and author fair, my child played games related to the necessary skills while I received many leaflets with instructions on how to prepare him.

There are 10 default skills that children need to know before entering kindergarten:

1. Use the toilet properly including washing hands without being reminded.

2. Adjust your own clothes before and after using the toilet, and take off and put on warm clothes yourself.

3. Tie your own shoes, open your own lunch box and eat by yourself.

4. Sit quietly and listen to a book or story for 5 or 10 minutes.

5. Clean up after yourself.

6. Share learning materials and toys with other friends.

7. Have a positive attitude when going to school.

8. Be confident and don't cry when saying goodbye to your parents.

9. Ability to listen and follow three- or three-step instructions.

10. Ability to resolve conflicts amicably.

And there are 13 other academic knowledge and skills that children need to know before entering kindergarten, including:

1. Can say full name when asked.

2. You can write your name with the first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase.

3. Hold writing and craft tools such as pens, crayons, or scissors appropriately with three fingers.

4. Count to at least 10 and say which number comes before or after.

5. Know all the “names” of the letters in your last name.

6. Identify basic shapes in math such as triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, ovals, stars, diamonds, and hearts.

7. Know the basic colors such as red, blue, green, orange, purple, black, white, brown, pink.

8. Recognize numbers from 1 to 10 in random order.

9. Recognize uppercase and lowercase letters.

10. Use your fingers to count to 10.

11. Know book concepts such as front cover, back cover, which page comes first, read from left to right.

12. Can provide words that rhyme with each other as in rhyming poems.

13. Retell a simple story in the correct order.

These skills and knowledge only need to be known, the rest will be reinforced and practiced by the beginner teacher in class.

Thus, American parents have 5 years to prepare their children with these skills. They train their children in independence skills from a young age, such as choosing and dressing themselves, waking up when the alarm goes off, brushing their teeth, and preparing simple foods like spreading butter on bread...

They can print out pictures of the day's activities and stick them on the wall, refrigerator or door so that children can see them and follow the sequence.

They take their children to places close to nature, playing games to guess objects by saying their shapes or colors while moving.

They encourage their children to observe and talk about their experiences.

They encourage their children to talk to their caregivers because such conversations enrich their vocabulary and worldview.

In particular, they praise me a lot, praise me when I try hard, encourage me when I'm curious, and cheer me up when I make mistakes or fail...

They sit down and look their child in the eye when talking, showing that they appreciate the child and their story. Children feel loved, cared for and grow in confidence.

They read books to their children every day because the academic knowledge and activities that can take place at school are all in the books.

Each child has a different development stage. Some children recognize letters very early, but some children do not recognize letters until they are 7 years old.

And American parents do not hesitate to delay their children from entering first grade if they feel they are not ready academically or mentally. In my child's first grade class, there are three age groups: 5, 6, and 7.

According to VNN