[turtlebits]

Sorry, but 5 year olds don't need a tutor, let alone solo screen time. If you're giving your young child screen time, it should be with a parent, and then you might as well spend it offline.

IMO, tutoring is for when a kid is behind in curriculum and you don't see that until late grade school, if not middle school.

[yonaguska]

One on one "tutoring" is the most effective way to make early education productive and it's not even close. Even the outcomes of parents spending 20 minutes a day reading to their infants and toddlers correlates with better educational outcomes. and I'm sure there are many here that share my own story. The only reason I was somewhat academically successful was because my mother took the time to teach me how to read when I was 3-4. Without that early literacy, I'm sure I would have never been able to achieve anything I've done, especially with ADHD. By the time I was in kindergarten, I knew how to read already, but, even there, reading was taught 1 on 1, with students taking turns with the teacher to learn. I don't think that's done anymore at most places, especially when you have 30:1 teacher ratios. 5 year olds can be way more capable than we give them credit for, but they need personal attention.

[turtlebits]

Why does early education need to be productive? At that age, I'd much rather my kids learn life skills, socialize, play, etc than any kind of "curriculum" learning.

There are a lot of studies showing that emotional intelligence is a better predictor of happiness than early academics.

They'll have plenty of time to be addicated to screens later on in life /s

[ndriscoll]

It's not a dichotomy. My kids play with each other ~10-12 hours a day and I still taught my 4 year old to read. In fact, the more productive intentional learning is, the more time they have for play.