New and exciting ways to teach my four year old (WHO CANNOT

New and exciting ways to teach my four year old (WHO CANNOT SIT STILL!!) Teachers advice would be great!?
I need new ways to teach my son because books/workbooks/online games don't keep his attention at all. He will sit still for five minutes, if I'm lucky. He isn't interested in magnet letters, either. If I try to take him outside he only wants to play with the cat, jump on his trampoline or sit on the lawnmower. I feel like he's not learning enough because he can't focus and I get upset. Admittedly, I've lost my temper when trying to get him to focus (I've yelled and smacked the table. I felt so bad afterward and I felt like an idiot but I just get so aggravated, and I apologized, of course.. I just want to prepare him for school.) He turned four three weeks ago. I'll list what he can do now.. please tell me if he is okay where he is and where I need to help him more..
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He knows:
All primary colors and some others
The alphabet. He recognizes all upper and 95% of the lower (he confuses a and h, b and d, p and q and for some reason, has a hard time with r)
He has written the whole alphabet through but can't do it from memory.
He recognizes all numbers, counts to 20 alone and is learning from there.. picking up pretty well.
He recognizes his first name.
He can say his address and phone number.
He knows his left from right.
He knows all major body parts (inc. heels, ankles, knuckles, etc.)
He can identify most animals, foods.
He knows all his shapes including trapezoid, pentagon and hexagon.

I can't really think of anything else. I just want to know if he is where he should be. We aren't even in the beginning stages of reading (though he has, for some reason, picked up 'it' lol) and he isn't interested in coloring or writing at all, so I need other ways to help him learn what he needs to know before school. Thank you for any advice!

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He's four. content from pregnancy question and answersRenting&RealEstate

Give him looots of life experiences and talk to him a lot, rather than giving him 'lessons'. He shouldn't be able to sit still at the age of four. Not for long anyway.

Things he'll need are hand/eye coordination, fine motor skills, and being interested in books. You don't need to teach him to read, read TO him and that's what he needs at this stage in his education- familiarisation with books and how they work, that the words don't change on the page, how the pages turn, and so on.

Does he like painting? THAT could be a big help for when it comes to writing. Giving him very small toys or toys where he has to fiddle a lot helps too. Apparently that's why girls are better at writing in early years than boys, because we give girls toys that involve buttons, tiny outfits, things you shouldn't knock over (like dollhouses, if you want to stick your hand in to play you have to have a lot of hand control), whereas boys tend to have large motor skills from playing with big toys and playing sports.

Source(s):

Student teacher. pregnancy question and answers
http://outoftheboxteaching.com/Forum would be happy to have you, we're open to all educators who want interactive and fun lessons for any age student.
I'd say he's a bright active young man. Everyone grows at their own sped. I didn't read till six
he is doing very well don't be worried. try using his environment: what color are the trees, what color is that car, how many things are in the backyard, everything you do with him is a learning experiance from giving him pieces of apple (how many are in the bowl, if you give mommy one how many do you have?)to jumping on the trampiline ( if you jump harder, what happens?) kind of thing.. don't feel like you're not doing enough every child learns differently. just keep doing what you're doing and he will be fine
It is unnatural and unrealistic to EXPECT a child that age to sit still. They learn best through play at that age. content from pregnancy question and answersRenting&RealEstate

Provide an enriching atmosphere for your son, and let him learn from it. Here are some ideas:

Appropriate CDs. I like the Cedarmont Kids.

Appropriate DVDs and/or television shows.

Appropriate websites. Starfall.com is one he might like, and Nick Jr., Disney and PBSKids all have websites for young children with games and activities. Mine (even my 3 year old) likes Google Earth, which is a free download- we have used it in our homeschooling, but they also like to take virtual tours, find odd things (such as elephants on the plains of Africa, or an overturned truck on a highway in the midwest) and find homes of friends and relatives and locations they know, such as the ball field, grocery store, etc.

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