What do we mean when we talk about a "preschooler?" Obviously, the words literally suggest a season in our child's life before he begins schooling. But these few, precious preschool years are so much more than just a season of waiting for school to begin. This is a special season when we have the opportunity to prepare our child for the life long adventure of learning; when we can equip him with the tools he'll need to tackle learning successfully. We can use these years before formal schooling begins to carefully evaluate our child's pre-school preparation and reinforce any weak areas in his foundation. Like a building inspector, we're examining how well we have laid a foundation for our child in family identity and in learning readiness. Click here for complete article.
Preschool Years!!
Preschool Years!!
Resources
Articles
Audio
If you have questions about starting homeschool with your young learner, this week’s program has answers! You’ve already taught your toddler so much, why not keep going? HSLDA program coordinator Vicki Bentley offers encouragement and suggestions for how to teach your early learner.
Games
CHEWV's online resource page for homeschooling preschoolers.
A conversation with a FirstYear subscriber may help other mothers who are feeling overwhelmed by their responsibilities.
FY Q: What are some of your challenges?
A: Some of my challenges include wanting to meet the needs of all four of my children who are all very different with different challenges of their own. Sometimes, I think if I were only homeschooling one of them, I would be doing an excellent job! Yet with all of them, I often feel below par of my own expectations. And often unsure if my expectations are too high or too low. Click here for complete article.
To Begin With…
Preschool is one of my favorite ages to teach. The love of learning is so strong. Everything is so exciting and fun for this age, and my goal was not to squelch but enhance that God-given love of learning.
I do believe a schedule benefits children by building in them a sense of security. For this reason, I scheduled times to work with my preschoolers so they knew what to expect and what was expected of them.
Let me clarify that when teaching multiple ages at the same time, it is your preschoolers and those you are teaching to read who will require the majority of your time investment. Our goal is to develop self-directed learners, and as a child reaches junior high and high school age, much of his learning becomes parent guided, but self directed. In other words, you don’t have to follow the model we learned of a lecture-based teaching style. Click here for complete article.
If you have a baby, toddler, or preschooler in your home, you know how difficult it can be to keep them busy and happy while schooling your older children. Just when you sit down to help your older child with his math lesson, there always seems to be an interruption – a diaper to change, a nose to wipe, someone needs to go potty, or your 2-year-old has wandered out of sight. You don’t want to use the television as a babysitter, but let’s admit it – some days it sure is tempting! Click here for complete article.
Children are absolutely amazing. Their minds are like small sponges, eager to soak in all the information the world has to offer. Challenge them and they thirst for more information. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the early years of development. I remember creeping in on my son Joseph’s crib many years ago and remarking, “You’ve changed overnight!” But the greater change in childhood occurs in the mind, promoted by daily activity. The February 1996 edition ofnewsweekmagazine highlights an article which concludes that “children whose neural circuits are not stimulated before the kindergarten years are never going to be what they could have been.” There is definitely something very special about the early years. They are the foundation for lifelong success in learning and music is God’s natural vehicle for reinforcing this process. Click here for complete article.
A young mother approached Sally at the break during one of our conferences. She had a worried look in her eyes that said, "Help me, please!" For several minutes, she poured out her anxious concerns that she wasn't doing enough for her children, that they weren't progressing, and that she was failing as a homeschooling mother. "How old are your children?" Sally asked when the woman finally took a breath. With a note of seriousness, the woman replied, "Oh, they're three and five years old."
Some Classical Educators focus on the Classical method and others focus on the Classical subjects. Those who focus on the subjects (Latin, Logic, etc.) tend to want to get to the academics as early as possible. Those who focus on the method (the Trivium) tend to slow down and pay more attention to developmental principles. Classical Education is not just Latin and Logic. It is a way of life. Click here for complete article.
The world has a lot to say about parenting nowadays. From Dr. Spock to Dr. Phil, from the Super Nanny to our own families, a plethora of experts scold us with a never-ending barrage of advice--most of it conflicting. The newspapers and magazines scream at us about the needs of children and the latest unbiased study, while the publishing companies profit from the confusion by churning out numerous books on parenting every year. Slick ad campaigns report that parents need only buy the latest educational toy, or enroll their innocents in the newest educational program to guarantee academic success and future happiness for their children. Click here for complete article.
Preschool is one of my favorite ages to teach. The love of learning is so strong. Everything is so exciting and fun for this age and my goal was not to squelch but enhance that God-given love of learning. I do believe a schedule benefits children by building in them a sense of security. For this reason, I scheduled times to work with my preschoolers so they knew what to expect and what was expected of them. Click here for complete article.
Of all the objections raised to home education, the most common is the question of social development. How can children learn to relate to other people if we don't send them to school? The answer: Naturally and successfully! The fact is that the age-peer social grouping of our schools is unnatural and often destructive of home-taught values. Home educators can protect their children from the effects of this social aberration if they recognize it as such and are prepared to refute its surrounding myths.
Learning to savor your children as you look to the future, so you won’t have to look at the past and wish that you had…..
I have been amazed at how often I hear grandparents, parents of grown children, and even parents of teenagers say “They grow up so fast- enjoy them while they’re young” or “ I miss my kids being little”. It seems that in retrospect, the years when your children are young, are the most memorable. But, as a mom of young kids, they are also the most, frustrating, time consuming, energy draining, busy time of life! Isn’t it odd that these would be the years that those a little farther on in life, remember with the most fondness and tender longing? How can that be? How can we, as moms of young children, wish for our kids to be bigger, and wish for more time for ourselves, and wish we had more independence from our kids, and wish we didn’t have to sit down and play games on the floor one more time today- and those barely removed from our stage of life caution us to love it and savor the moment, and enjoy it while we can, as they wish they could go back to it today! Perhaps that great wisdom of time, Retrospect, has shined its light on the past to reveal to these people, a greater insight, a deeper understanding of these precious years. Click here for complete article.
A young mom writes:
I'm new at homeschooling - I have 2-year-old twins. I want to teach them and get them ready for preschool. Please send me info to help me start off on the right foot.
Another mom writes:
I have a 3½- year-old boy, a 2½- year-old girl, and a 7-month old baby boy. I've read the preschool article on the website, listened to the sessions on beginning homeschooling from the convention, read a few books and magazines, talked to homeschooling moms...but now that I'm really looking at schooling my children, I just get overwhelmed and don't know where to start. I can see the goal or vision...that my children will love to learn...to learn about God, to learn reading, math, problem solving history, art, music, and everything in between...but how do you start? They don't seem to even want to sit still and read a book...they just want to play with toys and pretend.
Vicki answers:
They are little; let them play with toys and pretend!
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If you’re like our family, you probably have little interest in sending your four year old child away to public school. But like us, you may also have friends or acquaintances with young children who are interested in the concept of homeschooling, but are waiting to make the decision. If that is the case, here is some information you may want to pass along to them.
One important point to know is that enrollment in early childhood educational programs is not mandatory. According to State law, compulsory attendance for a child does not have to begin until the school year in which the sixth birthday is reached prior to the first day of September.