Teaching Our Children the Alphabet

Yesterday my husband and I were talking in the evening about the children’s education, goals for the year and past accomplishments.

Back in 2010 I admitted to you that Chloe didn’t know the alphabet. Now it is still a fact that Chloe (who is 5 and will be 6 in the new year) does not know all her letters or their sounds, nor does she know how to write all her numbers. She did learn to spell and recognize the letters in her name because she showed an interest but that’s about it. She doesn’t know the whole alphabet, complete with sounds yet because I haven’t taught her. It hasn’t been a focus or a priority for our family. This year (for her SK year) she will be learning all of that and more.

I pointed out to DH that I was pleased with our decision to focus on other things during those younger years. I feel that we gained so much as a family, and that the children learned so much during those years simply by enjoying the outdoors often and reading great books. Chloe and John were sitting right there when I decided to prove my point and show off some of the things they had learned.

“Name two trees” I asked Chloe, to which she replied, “maple and elm.” I looked at John and asked him to name another and he was able to tell me, “oak”.

I beamed, feeling pleased as punch.

“Name two planets” I asked Chloe. I can’t recall her answer but her answers were correct. John followed suit, correctly naming two additional planets.

Now I really smiled with pride.

Then Chloe said to daddy, “and we can name two types of dogs too. A firedog and…ummmm……………………”

and we all laughed.

Don’t you just love those parenting moments when you’re kind of standing there with imaginary egg on your face?

So my thoughts on tots and the alphabet? Let your child lead you. Don’t hold them back but don’t push. There is plenty of time.