For All You Homeshool Moms Out There???

How old is your daughter? She may not be ready for a workbook yet. Make it more fun - use crayons and a floor pad. Rather than starting with letters, start with pcitures - stick figures simple houses (squares and traingles etc.) Create a routine and slowly start working in letters numbers etc.

My daughter is 3 and we are still doing lines and circles but that is my plan. I always try to make it more fun than work and that seems to help.

Good luck!

Kids don't wake up one day all excited about school the way we do. Learning is life. Life is learning. When we stop learning, we die. I feel strongly that everything a child does should be constructive. Even free play should be cone in a constructive way. To suddenly pull out these workbooks she's never worked in and think she's just going to sit and listen is unrealalistic.

You need to make learning a part of everything you do, talk about school and what it's going to be like homeschooling. You need to show her the workbooks, flip through them and just look at pictures and talk about them at first. Don't even have a pencil the first few times.

Later on, tear one page out and sit with her and do just that one page as in...on another day. Tie it into something else. Like you can say we won't make lunch until we do this page. But keep in mind how short the attention span is at first.

The hardest transition for me was going from me working with them to them working on their own. I love the computer for that. www.starfall.com is free and helpful. www.time4learning.com is not free, but it's cheap and awesome.

I honestly don't remember a time in my life I didn't want to learn. But I wasn't raised with tv's, cartoons, and video games. I was raised out in the country where cartoons were 2 hours on Saturday mornings and computers weren't yet and we only had 3 channels on the tv. Looking at books, learning to cut paper, and coloring was just about all we had to do.

I did not homeschool during the early years - we started when my younger son was in 3rd grade (so he already knew how to read, write, etc.).

One thing that took me about six months to learn is that homeschooling is not school at home. It is something entirely different.

If I were you I would join some local, as well as online, support groups with parents of kids your child's age. Homeschooling moms love to share experiences, tips, curriculums, etc. I like to soak up ideas from other parents, particularly ones with similar age group kids (and even looking ahead).

Good luck and good for you - we absolutely love homeschooling even though it's not something I ever thought I would do.

I don't (at that age anyway). My goal in elementary isn't to fill their head with facts that I know or feel they should know. It is to instill a love of learning and help them to discover a world of fascinating things. Learning at this age should be a lot more hands on and less sitting. There will be some sitting time, but it shouldn't be where they just sit and you teach. It should be a process that you do together so they are actively involved in the process (hope that makes sense). This builds their desire to discover and learn and doesn't squash it (like what often happens in school). By the time my children hit middle school, I start working on teaching them independence, and of course, they have built up their "seat time" at this point. That is increased slowly over the elementary years. There isn't a set rate, but one that works with the child at a level that they are at. I have a son (actually have had 2) that couldn't sit still for the life of them at an early age. My 2nd and 4th sons had loads of patience and could sit for a long period of time working on books, etc. The advantage of homeschooling is that you can tailor your child's education to HER learning style. I recommend reading "The Way They Learn" by Cynthia Tobias. You will also discover your own learning style in the process and gain a better understanding of what will work best. Homeschooling is more about mom adapting and working with her child(ren) teaching in a way they learn best and building up in ways they don't. In other words, if your child is not auditory, then you don't want to have the bulk of your program where you talk/lecture the lesson. Then you work on building his/her auditory skills in other ways.

Hi S.,
Homeschooling is not the same as institutionalized learning. It is much more casual and flexible. Sometimes the mother has to detox from her own public schooling upbringing to get to a good place for homeschooling. Don't go into it with expectations that your daughter has to be chained to a desk for 6 hours a day. :) One of the great things about homeschooling is that you have great opportunity for character training. I am sure you are working that aspect of life already. When they are young, you break the learning/teaching into chunks throughout the day as best fits your schedule/learning styles. How old is your daughter? Does she obey you normally? Perhaps she isn't quite ready to do formal school just yet. With my preschooler, I sort of follow her cues about school. The olders have more of a schedule with it (they get going right after breakfast). Remember, all of life is learning. You don't have to use workbooks for preschoolers. They worked with some of mine, but not with others. I just give my preschooler her workbook and let her own it. If she wants to work on it, fine. If not, fine. When she does, she asks me what she's supposed to do, and I give her quick directions. Of course, her siblings help her also, which is a great advantage to her being #6 of the bunch. But, normally, it is very much a casual learning experience for my under 5 set. They learn quickly enough, and it amazes me.

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Hi S.!
First of all, you have to take in consideration that she is a preschooler. It is little and it would be easier and fun to teach her by playing. Because she is a preschooler and home schooling is a different way of teaching, you may want to start with minutes and a semi unstructured way. At this age most of the kids have short attention span, so it won't work if you just sit her down and start to show her colors, shapes, etc for a long period of time where she would memorize all these new things...
You want to make it fun and teach your child, first of all, the LOVE FOR LEARNING. Many kids from preschoolers to elementary (and/or high school) don't like be seated from 8:30 am to 3:15 pm every single day and just"memorize" things that will be forgotten half of it in less of 3 days, 15 minutes of lunch and 15 min of recess for "socialization", etc...kids especially the little ones needs to learn by playing, and teach them to practice certain "structure" or "schedule" starting just from "minute-lessons"
Start with a lot of patience 15 minutes. Sit down with her and play on the carpet counting cubes, cheerios. Build puzzles together and name colors, shapes and number of pieces, then go outside (weather permitting now) or to another room and play with clay, name colors and sing. Then, she ca have a nutritious and tasty snack, and then read stories (shorts ones! and then a break, free time..just use imagination and when she is D. and get distracted let her be...let her play, Do it as I said, by minutes (10 and then 15....etc) When she grabs your pencil give her more pencils and count them or make figures like squares, etc....PLAY and she will learn. Play at lunch time, grab a kid tray, let her choose some things to eat and instruct her (laughing and playing) to sit down on a specific place in the kitchen..etc.....Make her to stand on a "row" take turns, and teach things that will help her to understand concepts (turns, choosing snacks, etc....)
Be patient with her and yourself. Homeschooling is a lot of work but the idea, at least mine it is teaching my kids the love for learning and the opportunity to actually learn so many different things.
Good luck!

I periodically write in sharpie on each hand:

Love of Learning &

We've Got Time

There is NOTHING that I'm going to be teaching my son, or that he will be learning, that we will not be coming back around to. Even colors are gone over in more depth as children age (both color wheel and color spectrum/wave length... my favorite color is in the 380-420 range), and numbers are gone over again multiple times (verbally, visual recog, writing, math, telling time, calculator, roman numerals, hash marks... and that's to say NOTHING of "real" subjects like ancient greece).

We've got time goes double with toddlers. Think about it... even when in preschool... an average "start" for 3yos is 4 hours a day 3 days a week. More than half of that time is spent playing (lunch, snack, recess times), and of the 2 hours left they are broken into chunks of story times, choose your own works time, art, music, etc. VERY little is actual "seat work" or things that "look" like school. LEARNING even in K-6 takes very little time. Doing "school" two hours a day with my 8yo and we still get through 1-3 years worth of curriculum every year. And that's pretty standard. Awayschool kids spend a LOT of time in their 8 hour day not actually doing anything. Lining up, waiting, eating, recess... then there's library, art, music, pe. The average day for an EIGHT year old can be accomplished in under an hour (to keep pace with the public school)... imagine how little time for a toddler. So SERIOUSLY, don't stress.

As a toddler we'd do things like count steps as we went up and down them, count jumps, sing the "20 more reasons to go to disneyland!" song from the 80's, and "rock around the clock". Use measurements while cooking. Addition and subtraction while doing most anything (in the grocery cart was super common 1 can of stewed tomatoes, and 1 can of stewed tomatoes, equals 2 cans of stewed tomatoes). Write in the mirror or sliding glass dooR with our fingers in shaving cream. Write with paint brushes, crayons, rocks, chalk, etc. Kiddo would play a LOT on www.starfall.com (without me there... the trick on that site is to NOT be sitting with them, because a toddler will happily hera "Tuh! Tiger! Whoa! Look at his teeth! Whoa." 50 times and it will be just as fun for them each time, and the people's voices are just as excited every time the toddler clicks. A parent, on the other hand, usually has a finite amount of time they can hear the durn tiger. It's almost impossible not to say "What about the letter A?", and it IS impossible to keep your body language to yourself. I used the time he was on starfall as personal time. I kept him in sight/hearing, but it was a blissful hour a day where I got to have some peace and he got to play. ) We'd curl up and read books. We'd sing songs about the body system (blood! ba boom ba boom ba boom! Kidneys! Ureters! Bladder! Zwoooooop! GOTTA PEE. Urethra. Sigh. Toilet!) We'd sort laundry into colors. I'd send him on missions for certain things (Can you find mommy's RED shoes?).

We would DO tons of stuff. Go to museums, parks, concerts, zoos. Dance, gymnastics, sports. See how water always flowed downhill (and try and make it flow uphill), build dams, bridges, put drops on pennies and play with surface tension. Put a flashlight on a globe, follow directions to make treats, etc., so forth, and so on.

We'd watch and listen to tons of stuff (the BBC's "Walking With Dinosaurs" series is mind blowing, btw, as is H's "The Universe", and National Geographic just about anything... but also super fun are thing like Zaboomafoo & In Between The Lions. Then for social learning... stick with the Brits. Thomas the Tank Engine, Angelina Ballerina, Fireman Sam, etc.)

Now that kiddo is 8... Our school "blend" is about 40/40/20. 40% montessori, 40% Charlotte Mason, 20% Whatever -aka things like computer games, conversations in the car, unschooling, etc. I can't recommend montessori highly enough, especially for preschool, but also for older grades. The "problem" with Montessori materials is that by and large, they're designed to schools to use with thousands of children over decades. So they tend to be pricey (Neinhaus is the holy grail as far as montessori materials, they're simply gorgeous, but also uber expensive). It's more than possible to make your own (especially 3 part cards... 3 part cards are just card stock and a printer and a papercutter... I used and use preexisting ones as templates and make my onw), and there are entire message boards for making your own materials as well as parents who sell their used neinhaus, adena, R&D mterials as their children outgrow them. Charlotte Mason, otoh, is essentially a FREE curriculum... as are many others.

WHY am I bringing up curriculum when you're asking about "listening"? Because, in my experience, 90% of listening is tied to whether the curriculum is a good "fit" for your child. (I've come across a LOT of curricula / approaches that are great for ME, but lousy for my son). The other 10% is simply that kids get into funks where they DON'T listen. You could be doing backflips on a pony, or doing subtraction by eating cookies, and you won't get their attention. Those days just happen. They happen while homeschooling, and the happen in awayschool. Heck... they even happen to adults. If they're happening consistently, then something isn't working. One of the BEST things about homeschooling is that you gt to adjust to things that aren't working by changing things.

Well at this age it's more important that you keep it positive. For both you and your child. Sitting still and paying attention is a toughy for a young child.Don't unrealistic expectations. As for the attitude I think you should deal with that both in the classroom and out of the classroom as well. Come up with a few rules for the classroom and write them on a board and go over them. Every time a rule is broken a mark goes by there name. I give three marks before a time out is given. Usually one mark is good enough to get their attention for the day. First good rules would be staying in their seat unless they ask to get up and raising their hand to talk. Keep you classes very short and positive. If you need to break the class up for a break then do so. Try and have a set time of the day that you have class and be consistent with it.
C.