How do I prepare my child for 1st grade at Crossroads? This question is common among parents interested in sending their young child to Crossroads. Often, the answer they are seeking is an academic list of items that should be covered before 1st grade. Though this document contains such a list, a word of caution is necessary. If you seek to prepare your child by checking off a list of isolated items, he/she will not be prepared for all that Crossroads offers, the richness and complexity of true learning, or the rich, abundant life that is available through Christ. Learning is a complex, spiritual endeavor that requires prayer, the Holy Spirit, and deep thought about the nature and role of the child in relation to God, others, and the world.

Therefore, read this entire document, and strive for those things that are consistent with a broad understanding of learning. In doing so, you will be building an educational foundation that goes well beyond any list of skills that could be created. Don't spoil it for the children by striving for something less than real learning. Academic readiness will be a natural part of your relationship with your child if you engage in a purposeful, rich life together - observing the beauty of God's creation, relating to one another, being co-learners, working together, assigning real-life tasks to be completed well, unstructured playing, reading together, etc. As you plan for and engage in these activities with your child, it is quite natural to include training and instruction in not only academic skills, but also in habits of learning and Christ-centered living. In fact, those primary academic skills are much more easily learned by children when they are developmentally ready. Habits of learning and living will give them access to those deeper, broader academic pursuits that will arise later in life. In summary, ultimate academic readiness does not happen separate from considering God-centered principles of education.

Therefore, do not look at the following lists without considering the above preface. Aim for much more, and the lists below will typically be a natural outcome of those efforts. (Note: In order to be sure that a child is ready for 1st grade at Crossroads, a screening may be conducted to evaluate a child's readiness in the following areas.)

Habit Readiness
Charlotte Mason said of habits in her book A Philosophy of Education, "Habit is to life what rails are to transport cars. It follows that lines of habits must be laid down towards given ends and after careful survey, or the joltings and delays of life become unsupportable. More, habit is inevitable. If we fail to ease life by laying down habits of right thinking and right acting, habits of wrong thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their own accord" (page 101). The following are examples of three habits we stress at Crossroads: attentiveness, respect and responsibility.

Children possess the habit of attentiveness when they

• are able to focus during prayer individually or in a group

• can ignore interruptions and stay focused when working to complete tasks of various kinds

• can give their attention, in presence and posture, to a person speaking to them individually or in a group

• can listen carefully to a story and tell it back chronologically and using good details

Children possess the habit of respect when they 

• demonstrate a reverence for God and His commands

• demonstrate a desire to love others in a way similar to Christ's love for us

• follow the instructions or rules given by people in authority

• speak with appropriate manners to peers and to adults

• show concern for others' needs and comforts

• ask permission to use others' belongings and are willing to share their own

• understand acceptable and respectful behavior in a variety of contexts (inside, outside, church, plays, parks, Sunday school, etc.)

• allow appropriate physical space that is comfortable to others

• demonstrate an awareness of how their attitudes and actions affect other people

Children possess the habit of responsibility when they  

• seek to do that which God would call them to do

• complete tasks or chores well, thoroughly, and consistently

• put things away and keep things in good order

• remain close to parents or other adults under whose care they are charged

Academic Readiness
The following lists are minimal skills that result from natural instruction that arises out of parents' purposeful pursuit of real life with their children, as described previously. Most 1st graders who have experienced such an educationally, spiritually, rich environment arrive at Crossroads with much more than the lists below. We believe that these three areas of academic readiness go hand in hand with the areas of habit readiness above. Ultimately, our academic aim is that children become lifelong learners, lovers of living books, art, people, and the world around them.

Readiness for Reading are children who

• have experienced lap-reading with parents and show an interest in reading

• can track from left to right with their eyes and fingers while being read to or pretending to read

• know letters, upper and lower case, and most of their sounds

• can complete a sentence being read to them when a final word or phrase is left out (Cloze)

• can distinguish rhyming words

• hear beginning sounds of words

• can distinguish between similar words (e.g., cat and chat)

• can begin to read simple 3 letter words like hat or sit

Readiness for Writing are children who 

• have been shown how to hold a pencil correctly and practice using it correctly

• write letters, upper and lower case

• write their full name with the first letter upper case and the rest lower case

• have had experience making words and then tracing them or writing them on their own

Readiness for Math are children who 

• can orally count to 100

• can count up to 20 objects correctly

• can write numbers through 20 in order

• can see, name and continue patterns

• can break down a group of 10 into smaller groups and restore the smaller groups to their original size (the concept of addition and subtraction without using numbers and symbols)