Part I – Starting to Homeschool Your Young Child?

Are you thinking to begin homeschooling your child and he/she is only 3 or 4?  May I give you a few cautions and some suggestions?

I have met many moms who believe they should start their child at age 3 or 4 because their child is READY.   Their child already knows the alphabet and maybe can even count to 100.  They are so smart.  They are READY to learn.  I agree that these children are ready to learn but not in the way most parents want to teach.  In our society we have been trained to think the public way of education is the only way – sit at a desk and complete your work.

So they purchase some cute little preschool program for their child and then require them to sit down and do it.  This has a very negative effect.  The child, who was so eager to learn a wide variety of things, starts to buck the restraints put upon his time.  He wants to go play, he wants to do anything but what you were so sure he was ready to begin.  Thus starts the mother and child’s experience with homeschooling.  The thrill of teaching their child soon wears off, the child starts to rebel against anything that looks like school and stress starts to take over the mother.  Boys especially are not cut out for this approach. (There are exceptions of course, as in everything.)

A much better way would be to begin informally. Your child will let you know when you’re pushing too much in that direction by not responding positively to what you are trying to do.  Really, in the end, what difference does it make if he knows every color under the rainbow when he’s 3?  Trust me, he will learn his colors and well before he graduates! 🙂

Instead of a formal curriculum at these young ages, read to them.  Mom, dad and the older children can all have a part.  They are little sponges that will sit there soaking up the story and they will learn. Do not read to them “twaddle” as Charlotte Mason would say but read to them books that have stood the test of time.  Books by P.D. Eastman, Eric Carle, Margaret Wise Moon, Gene Zion.

Honey for a Childs Heart by Gladys Hunt and Books Children Love by Elizabeth Laraway Wilson are chock full of suggested titles that will help you find those worthy books for you to read to your child.  Start a collection of books for your child that are his own.

The library is full of junk, you must by very choosy.  There are so many stories for young children that promote ideas I don’t want my child exposed to andplenty of stories that are just plain dumb. Read only the best.  Fill their minds with only the best.  You can’t put bad fuel in a car and expect it to run well.  Neither can you put stories that are complete twaddle or that promote wrong ideas and actions into a childs mind and expect it to produce good fruit.

Next time, I’ll share with you some other ideas that you can do with your preschooler.  But today, get a book, curl up on the couch together and read.  Call it school but you can also call it special times with your child, bonding time or learning approached informally.

Do you have any family favorites for young children?  Please share.