Homeschooling a toddler?

[EcoConsciousMom]

I love the idea of home schooling and will definitely go that route when my daughter reaches school age (she's only 13 months old).

I feel like I should do something like that now so she is already used to it. I was a Preschool Teacher for over a year and learned fun ways to help her learn.

We paint with pudding or popsicles for sensory. We color on white paper so she can be creative and not stuck "coloring in the lines." And we get outside to play with water or in the grass.

Any tips on more things I can start doing with her now and in the near future?

Brianne

[beanandpumpkin]

Just play with her. You absolutely don't need to get her practicing for school. She's just a baby. Blow bubbles, paint, color, and do what you're doing... and read to her. But other than that, just enjoy her... these years go by too fast, and she will have PLENTY of time to "do school" later. Relax. Don't burn yourself (and her!) out before she's out of diapers!

[freedompro]

I agree with the previous post. She is still young. I homeschool our kids. My oldest is 3 and the twins will be 2 in April. We do alot of reading together and arts and crafts. I try to expose them to culture by visiting local museums and the zoo alot. We just integrate learning with life activities. When my oldest was about 2 1/2 I started working with more flash cards and workbooks I got for $1 at Target. The workbooks focused on letters and colors and basic writing and math skills. She will be four in July and knows how to read, all her colors and shapes, she knows her numbers and is working on writing. She signs and asks alot of questions. The twins are learning their ABCs and numbers and colors and some signs. Basically I let them learn what they are interested in at the moment. But I think reading to them throughout the day is the most fundamental thing you can do right now to instill that desire to learn. I hope this helps!

[AlisonMSmith]

We have homeschooled for over 18 years. Oldest in grad school, next two college undergrads, then three ages 14, 11, and 8.

I'm unsure what you think you need her to get ready for. I assume she's breathing and tasting and hearing and seeing and touching things. Right?

You say, "We paint with pudding or popsicles for sensory." But can't she get "sensory" from painting with…paint? (I seriously looked up "sensory" to see if there was some new meaning I wasn't aware of!) As long as she's alive, she'll get "sensory."

And I can assure you that using coloring books won't stifle creativity unless there's some kind of hyper-criticality involved. It's fun to color in coloring books sometimes!

Most of all, just have fun. Go places, see things, do things. Sing, dance, talk, read. Spend time with her. Be kind and loving and firm. Be a good example of a responsible adult and teach her the skills to become a responsible adult.

Frankly, a great deal of the educational advice you might read comes from people who want to entrench their careers in the culture. Those who want to make it sound hard and technical and sobering. It's not hard to be a good "teacher" to a young child.

Good luck.

[sapphire22]

I also have a 13 month old who is very active and curious about everything. He also has a very short attention span. I have tried flashcards, books, etc. He seems interested for a few minutes before he wants to chew on them. He does love to watch Baby Einstein, and he loves to go outside. I used to get frustrated trying to make sure he achieved every milestone in the timeframe he was supposed to. That will drive you crazy. It took me a while to realize that every child is different and learns at their own pace.

[momsbusy247]

read to her, read to her, read to her

[EcoConsciousMom]

I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. I don't want to start "officially" homeschooling her with lessons or anything. I think that type of schooling at this age is pointless and not necessary.

I was thinking about homeschooling in regards to setting some routines now. So she'll be familiar with the idea later. I do this now with everything for her. We did Elimination Communication and she always knew the toilet was where you 'go' and now at 15 months she's easily telling us to go to the bathroom.

So I'm wondering if there is something to do to help make this transition easier and more 'normal'. Like wake up, eat breakfast, do art, then read books, then this... etc. Does that make sense?

Thanks for all your input, I agree with so much of what you all said.

[AlisonMSmith]

Originally Posted by EcoConsciousMom

So I'm wondering if there is something to do to help make this transition easier and more 'normal'. Like wake up, eat breakfast, do art, then read books, then this... etc. Does that make sense?

In order to answer that question, I suppose I'd need to know what you think school will look like that makes it NOT like the non-school "normal." Does that make sense?

I have six kids that are spread over 16 years. As our family got bigger, we did — out of necessity — have to add more daily structure. But with one, two, or even three children and/or with children fairly close in age, I would generally say that's not needed AND not optimal.

My suggestion is that learning IS very normal for most children. Moving to "school" doesn't require any kind of transition at all, because they LOVE learning. (And, in fact, the perceived transition from regular learning to "school learning" can be one of the things that make kids hate school.)

I would spend my efforts getting used to listening to HER cues. What is she interested in? What is she curious about? What questions does she ask? What holds her interest?

I saw that with one caveat: this tends to work best when particularly compulsive attention-holders are not available in unlimited supply. In other words, due to the nature of their ease and attraction, kids who can watch TV and/or play video/computer games will often NEVER find the other things they are interested in. If you don't have structured CONTENT, our culture sometimes demands a structured ENVIRONMENT for kids to draw on their natural desire to learn.

[EcoConsciousMom]

I'm not sure exactly what I want "school" to look like. I know it will need to be structured as I work from home (as does my husband), so we'll need to have time to work. We are also planning to buy a RV and travel the country while homeschooling, so it will be different learning all the time. Learning in "real-life" with museums and hands-on activities.

I know I will let her go mostly and just follow her lead, right now she loves animals and drawing and wiring (plugging cords into right holes on an old computer). She's very analytical so I see a LOT of science experiments in our future.

All the reading I've done suggests people wake up, have breakfast, do some school work, have lunch, maybe a little more work depending on age, nap, play, night routine...

I'll have to decide what I want to do, thankfully I have a few years.

[empoweredmom]

The beauty of homeschooling is that you can tailor it to what is right for your family. Some do better with structure, some do not. Some do better with bookwork, some do better with online. There are some good sites for younger kids (it's been a little bit since mine used them so I don't remember the age they start at) like time4learning.com and bigmathtime.com . Bigmathtime also has bigspellingtime, vocablulary, etc.

There 's a new one I saw called abcmouse.com. Good luck to you in your homeschooling venture. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of mine. My kids are 16 and 11 and I couldn't imagine having lost years watching and helping them grow. It was the right decision for us.