| When my son turned two years old, I was faced | | | | different and learned in their own way... but it |
| with something I wasn't expecting at his young | | | | never truly made SENSE until that moment. |
| age... a STRONG desire for learning! I know | | | | How soon YOU want to start will also depend on |
| children are inherently curious, but this was | | | | your definition of homeschooling. In my opinion, |
| different... he was asking about letters, wanted to | | | | you have been 'homeschooling' your child since |
| know more about them and begged me to tell | | | | birth. You are teaching them the life lessons they |
| him more! I was suddenly faced with a strange | | | | need to know for future skills. There is no magic |
| dilemma... do I nurture this want for learning? How | | | | early age when children are ready for workbooks |
| in the world do I do that? Do I follow his pace | | | | or history lessons. Sure, you can teach your child |
| and just make it fun? Do I break out the | | | | to read at an extremely early age... but is it what |
| workbooks and lesson plans and start 'schooling' | | | | you want... better yet, is it what your CHILD |
| him? | | | | wants? |
| So, how early can you start homeschooling? I | | | | There are a ton of great resources out there for |
| knew I wanted to nurture my son's natural | | | | those of you who have children that are showing |
| curiosity, but still allow him to just BE a two year | | | | a great interest in learning letters, shapes, etc. My |
| old! I searched the internet for simple ideas on | | | | son, to this day, still loves learning with 'themes'. |
| where I could start. I quickly began to see that | | | | One week, he will be extremely interested in |
| there were not many preschool homeschoolers | | | | learning about animal homes, so I will find |
| out there at the time, or at least ones that I | | | | everything I can on the subject and just introduce |
| could FIND! I finally found a website that focused | | | | it to him. Some projects he LOVES, and others |
| on a letter each week as the 'curriculum' (much | | | | he can do without. There is nothing wrong with |
| like the Lesson Pathways Pre-K Language Arts | | | | exposing your children to learning new things at |
| Guided Journey). | | | | ANY age, but it should never be forced. |
| I know many people are probably cringing right | | | | If your son/daughter is suddenly showing interest |
| now... curriculum... at age TWO?! What is she | | | | in learning about firetrucks, you could find out if |
| thinking?! Each week had a specific 'theme' that | | | | your local fire station is allowing field trips or see if |
| we focused on and learned about. It was also | | | | they will let you stop in and just take a look at |
| matched up with a specific letter, number and | | | | the truck! You can make letter pictures with |
| color/shape to learn that week. My son liked it... | | | | firefighters and firetrucks. The color you focus on |
| for a few weeks anyway! After we spent about | | | | that week is easy... RED! The possibilities are |
| 4 weeks on the 'program', I could tell he really | | | | endless, and you already know your child will be |
| wanted to do his own thing. He still wanted to | | | | interested in what you have to say because you |
| learn, but he had no desire for ME to tell him | | | | are talking about something THEY are already |
| WHAT to learn. | | | | interested in! |
| I started to think: "What did I do wrong? He was | | | | One of my favorite quotes explains it all: |
| WANTING to learn... Why is he not interested?" | | | | "What we want to see is the child in pursuit of |
| Well, the answer was simple. He DID want to | | | | knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child." |
| learn, he just wanted to learn in his OWN way. He | | | | -- George Bernard Shaw |
| didn't want me to teach him about cows when he | | | | Keeping that thought in mind, there is no age |
| was really more interested in firetrucks that | | | | that's too early to start learning. We are always |
| week! So, at that point, I totally switched gears | | | | learning and always growing. Your job is to |
| and we focused on learning what HE wanted to | | | | continue to expose your child to new experiences |
| learn when he wanted! I hadn't 'forced' anything | | | | and new learning adventures. The time for reading |
| on him in the previous weeks, but I could tell he | | | | and writing and math will all come on their own |
| just wasn't interested. | | | | when they start grade work! A child who truly |
| The very next week, we moved on to learning | | | | wants to learn about counting will learn to count |
| about transportation and I found great crafts and | | | | much faster than a child who has no interest, but |
| fun projects to do that were ALL about trains, | | | | is expected to learn it at an early age. You will be |
| planes and cars... he LOVED it! I still kept the | | | | amazed at how quickly you start seeing learning in |
| general 'idea' that the program had as far as using | | | | the every day... math lessons at the grocery |
| a letter, number and color/shape to go with the | | | | store, or even counting jelly beans or M&M's. |
| 'theme' of the week, but the 'theme' was picked | | | | I think you will find that if you let your child sit in |
| by my son, NOT by me! Even my experience as | | | | the drivers seat of early learning, they will learn |
| a preschool teacher didn't prepare me for this life | | | | much more than you ever imagined they could! |
| lesson. I already knew that each child was | | | | |