Your friend
labblueparis@yahoo.com Take everyday opportunities as opportunities to learn. Teach them to be observant in nature; to know the difference between this flower and that, what bugs hurt plants, all that basic science stuff. Math is fairly easy--get out blocks or anything (even M&Ms--yum!) and start at 1 + 1=2. Well, probably should start with your numbers first. :-) Reward them when they get it right. And reward them at the end as a thank-you for paying attention. Sing the alphabet song. Any little kid can learn to recite the spellings for simple words such as cat or dog. Read to them, get them interested in books early on. It will pay off later. Familiarize them with the American flag, or George Washington. Teach them morals. My nephew (nearly 4 now) loves to pretend to swordfight. So I've taught him that you only fight the bad guys. You could even teach them about primary colors that make secondary colors. A little bit of art! Just take the opportunities and fly! At those ages they are a little young for a rigid school type learning. You should instead spend time with them. As you dress them point out right and left shoes. Make up songs with their name spelling Like to the tune of BINGO. Help them color pictures and make a point of nameing the colors. Take walks and play I Spy. Have them help make dinner and count out the eggs with you. at 3 and 4 you can buy workbooks and make copies of the pages becuase kids learn through repeating things over and over. Is there a school that prepares people to to work in daycare near where you live? If you have the opportunity to go to one, you might be able to talk to students and ask them a few questions. They should be able to tell you about books that give you an idea of what they are supposed to be doing with kids that age, what skills they are supposed to learn. Like maybe painting with their bodies; put cubes together; drawings; counting (I don't remember at what time your supposed to start counting, though); recognise letters...
Also, try to take them to social places as much as possible. Maybe take them to a swimming pool where they have "classes" for young kids. Take them to the park and have them play with other kids.
Also, if you decide to homeschool them for a long time, you should definitely buy correspondance courses. Like that, you won't have to prepare the lessons - and you can use the material for your next kid as well! If you live in a decent-sized metropolitan area and have access to a good library, go look up some books on homeschooling. Two of my favorites are, "The Well-Trained Mind" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise-Bauer, and "Home Learning Year by Year" by Rebecca Rupp. I would also recommend Cathy Duffy's book and website (see sources).
I agree that your girls are a bit young to start anything formal, but it can't hurt to be prepared. We don't use a packaged curriculum like Sonlight, A Beka, or Bob Jones - I look over what's available and buy one or two textbooks (Math and English) and then scour the library for books on topics in History and Science.
There are several Yahoo! groups for homeschoolers, so you might join one or two and look through some of the old posts.
The most important thing is for you to have a vision, then a plan, for what you want them to know. Once this is set, everything else should fall into place. Play with them. Read to them. Let them get messy, with paint, with crayons, with dirt, with mud. Enjoy them. Laugh with them. Love Them!!
Really, at this age, that's all kids need!
More Questions & Answers...
- anyone know of any good books for homeschooling?
- Good tips for 1st year of high school?
- Need homework help.What State has the longest coast line and where can I find it.?
- TRUE OR FALSE QUESTION for English...?
- High school/Homeschool question?