A Never Complete List of Things To Do With Your Child At 5 and 6

Recently I wrote a post about the pressure many of us feel to start our child’s formal education when they reach 5-6 years of age. I asked the question of why, at this point, do we feel we need to get formal with their education.

Many times, especially if they’re boys, they are just not ready to sit at a desk for extended periods of time. But most mom’s do it anyways because of many possible reasons. Before I rewrite that post once again, why don’t you just go ahead and read it? 🙂

So today I want to give you a incomplete list of things your child can learn that won’t require workbooks or long periods of time sitting. I’m not advocating that your child does nothing. I’m just suggesting a more natural way of learning when they are young. No long hours of sitting at their desk trying to finish their schoolwork because when a child doesn’t want to be there real learning and delight in the learning process is pretty much halted.

The first thing on my list is not something that can be done in one setting but requires diligence on your part so that it becomes a part of the child.

Obedience – without obedience you will probably want to put them in school a week after you start your homeschooling journey! 🙂

In the Home

Tidiness – help them learn to pick up after themselves. Work with them, showing them how to do it. Maybe make a game out of it.

Make bed

Set table

Sort laundry – why do you wash reds and whites separate?

Bible & Character

Bible stories – read these to him or use dramatized audio tapes

Stories that build character (ex. Uncle Arthur’s bedtime stories)

Memory Work

Bible verses

Poetry

Nursery Rhymes

In the Kitchen

Bake w/ mom & learn measurements along with basic addition

Put eggs away & learn what a dozen means

When they cut items, they can learn what quarters and halves mean. (And yes, they can be taught to use a sharp knife but if you don’t feel comfortable with that, use a boiled egg and butter knife) J

Talk about nutrition as you cook

Talk about how food builds our bones, teeth, muscles and blood

Show him what happens to food when it is left out on the counter for a few days

Gardening

Grow something from seed or plant carrot or radish tops or green onion roots and watch them grow

Collect different seeds and observe the differences in them

Math & Thinking Skills

Counting – use beads, buttons or other objects (this doesn’t have to stop at addition, learn to skip count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, maybe do some subtraction)

Coins & their names, simple basics of buying, maybe set up a little store where things have price tags

Sorting beads by color or number

At 6 you could purchase a beginning math book

Reading Readiness

Sounds of letters

Read to your child a lot! This is SO important.

At 6, I would start them on a phonics program. My favorite is Sing, Spell, Read & Write. Highly Recommended!

Nature Study

Trees, leaf collection, leaf rubbings – learn and identify the trees in your area

Observe & learn about insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, flowers

Press flowers

Learn about waterways by making dams, ponds, rivers on a small scale

Art

Art using different means – leaf art, collage, mosaic, paint, play dough or Fimo Clay that you bake in the oven

Name Colors

Mixing Colors – teach them the different colors they can get when mixing 2 colors, how to get lighter or darker colors

Music

Sing Bible and patriotic songs as well as hymns

And if you have instruments around the house, so much the better… if not you can purchase a child’s harmonica or recorder quite inexpensively.

Physical Education

Hopping

Skipping

Throwing and catching a ball

Jump Rope

and the list goes on… This is an easy one, right? 🙂

This is such an incomplete list of ideas but I hope it gives you a jumping off point for your own ideas. Do you have any that I could add?