This year my 4-year-old would have attended pre-K if we were going to send him to school.
I thought that I might make this a “practice” year to see how we could set up some kind of homeschooling schedule. In a way, we did that. I usually spend one-on-one time with my 4-year-old when my 18-month-old is taking his nap.
At the beginning of the year, I used a helpful list on the World Book website to determine that my son already knew almost everything he would probably learn in pre-K. (http://www.worldbook.com/typical-course-of-study.html) I’m not worried about academics at this age. Children pick up most of what they need to know in ordinary life experiences, and educational television helps too.
My main goal for the year was to put him in more social situations, and though I never had time to join new homeschooling groups, I did put him in a Creative Play and Movement Class back in November/December. He loved that. He also started the pre-K class at our church, and we went on play dates whenever we could schedule them. Of course, the year isn’t over yet either.
When I’m in a critical mood, I’m tempted to think we haven’t done enough for our “home school.” But when I list everything we have done, I realize we’ve covered a lot of ground. We have worked through activity books and computer games, visited the library, made crafts, and explored the outdoors. I give him plenty of time for unstructured play, which I think is extremely important for children of all ages, and we also play games and do puzzles.
A tool that I have begun to use is the learning box. I heard about it on a homeschool e-mail list, and I’m sorry I can’t credit the person who mentioned it.
Basically it’s a box that I can fill with whatever we might be working on. It’s extremely helpful because I don’t have much time for planning, but if I find something I want to do with him, I can put it in the box for future reference. I keep the activity books he’s currently working on in there as well as our library books and other materials.
I have tried to take advantage of the times when he starts asking questions or wants to do an activity. Having a learning space is a real advantage for this.
Last year we converted our dining room into a schoolroom, so all of our books and educational tools are accessible to him. He is increasingly seeking things to do in there.
For example, the other day my 4-year-old found the box of dinosaur flash cards that we got at Target for $1.
We sat down at our table, and he wanted me to read each dinosaur’s name. From the information on the back of the cards, I also told him where each dinosaur was discovered.
I got our globe and pointed to the countries. It was a mini-geography lesson. Since I had his attention, I also explained the cardinal directions and drew a compass on our dry erase board. He thought all of this was fun.
I don’t expect him to remember these things, but I have noticed that it’s important to go ahead and introduce things to him even if they seem a little difficult. Ultimately they will come up again, and after hearing about it a few times, he gets it. I should note that I keep my explanations extremely brief and simple.
Don’t get me wrong though. Days can go by when we don’t do any kind of activity. We might be busy doing errands, cleaning the house, or I’m just too tired. My 18-month-old is much more active and challenging than his older brother ever was, so some days it’s all I can do to keep my sanity intact.
It can be overwhelming taking care of two boys 7 days a week without any breaks, and sometimes I wonder if I can continue keeping them both home fulltime.
Hopefully as they get older, it’ll get a little easier. I am, however, encouraged by writing down everything we have done and realizing how much we have accomplished.
Next week I’ll write a column about some of the activities we’ve done and our favorite tools we use for learning.
Shelli Bond Pabis is a Winder resident and columnist for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at writetospabis@gmail.com.
