ABCs preK

Parents can't just drop their untutored kids off at school on the first day of kindergarten and expect teachers to do everything. Programs exist in West Virginia to give kids the tools they need before they start kindergarten.

Apparently, the same thing holds true in Ohio.

A couple of years ago, a preschool teacher told me that they get a lot of people coming in around March wanting to enroll their kids in an academic preschool. Why? Because kindergarten teachers now expect kids to know their alphabet and how to count and that sort of thing. Some parents figure that's what the schools will do, and they are surprised with what they hear when they register their kids for kindergarten.

Each of my kids knew the alphabet before they turned 2. It's not that hard to teach. In my youngest's case, we had a chart of all 26 letters on the dining room wall. As someone would walk by, they would point at a letter and say what it was. He took it as a game, and he learned his letters really fast. But the other two did, too, without the game.

Kids can learn that early. And they will, if parents will take the time to teach them.