I've had several moms approach me recently to ask about homeschooling little ones. So, here's my "How We Do It? Homeschooling Little Ones" blog post.
The short of it: For any child under the age of four, we play. That's it. That's their curriculum.
That doesn't mean I sit down with them all the time or that we just play with all sorts of gadgety toys. No. We play house activities, blocks, trios (which are sort of like legos but not really), dolls. Some things they play by themselves and lots of things they play with their brothers and sisters. And, some things are with mom. We use play-doh, moon sand, and dirt. On really fun days we break out the "oobleck" and have at it. Typically up until they can actually communicate with more than two or three word sentences, my children stick close to mom and dad. So, they get to "play" our chores, like cooking, washing dishes, laundry, etc.
Oh and most importantly, we read. And read. And read some more. Did I mention that we read???
And this is our non-fiction side. Oh, we keep board books on the bottoms of both sets of shelves for the little ones.
I read while they wander. I read while they are sitting in my lap. And now, with the big kids, we read at breakfast and at lunch. From the time our kids breathe on their own, we are teaching them how to enjoy books! Mainly because we enjoy them too.
And yes, by the time they are four they know their colors, shapes, and are starting to recognize numbers and letters. I've actually noticed they do all that earlier with the more kids I'm teaching.
So, what happens after four? Stay tuned...
In the meantime, I'd love to introduce you to my most favorite place to purchase fun stuff:
Timberdoodle!!!
Our latest favorites from them include:
Cuisenaire Rods (we haven't gotten too much into using them but it's coming soon)
Wedgits (a Ceili Rain and Zoe favorite)
miniLuk (the kids haven't gotten too much into this, but I think it's pretty neat)
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