The third session was called "Engaging Early Learners". This session was not a perfect fit for me. I was hoping it would be geared toward kindergarten and early elementary kids but it was clearly intended for the earlier set. However this woman has been homeschooling a long time, and clearly KNOWS HER STUFF. She had lots of valuable things to say, and I wish that many of you with younger children than mine had been in this session.
Nancy and her husband run Legacy Homeschool Store, probably the only store in the state that sell homeschool curriculum and materials. We end up ordering most of our stuff online, so I was pretty happy to hear of this store so that we can actually go and physically see and touch what we are looking to buy.
Here are my notes in more-or-less point form:
At the preschool age and early elementary, homeschooling is an extension of your parenting.
Your goal at this point is to create a life-long love of learning, not to inject your child with facts.
"Comparison is the death of contentment". Stop looking at what the other "perfect" homeschool families are doing, or what publicly schooled children are doing. You can be overwhelmed with choices and comparisons. Your homeschool is going to be the right fit for YOUR family if you just keep focused on your family's needs.
This is the best time to figure out what kind of learner you have on your hands, since everything they do is pretty organic and natural to them (they haven't learned the conventions of "schooling" yet, etc).
They will learn in time (and maturity) that there are appropriate times and places for sitting still and quiet etc etc, but while they are young and learning at home, let them wiggle! Watching them you will learn how they learn best.
Don't underestimate the value of everyday life experience. This is paramount in these early years.
Build the house of academics on top of a foundation of critical thinking skills.
There can be LOTS of input before you can expect to get output. Her analogy is speech. How long did you talk to your kids before they spoke to you? Even so, they maybe said a word or two, but you kept on talking to them in complete sentences, without losing patience... Lots of learning skills (like spelling, writing perhaps) need lots of input like this before you start getting any output.
Kids are not learning any one thing in isolation. Because everything is new to them, when you ask them to spell the word "bake" for example, they are multi-tasking on how to hold a pencil, where to write on the line, how to form the "b", etc etc... Meanwhile we are just thinking "why can't you just write BAKE??" We need to have extra patience with young children, as they are still perfecting the base skills necessary in "school" and therefore simple tasks are a lot more overwhelming than we think.
Give your young learner a purposeful activity. Particularly if you are homeschooling older kids. That smaller child wants to feel like her "work" is just as important. She had some good ideas for this, such as asking your small child to sort and organize piles of buttons, playing cards, pegs, game tiles, scrabble letters. Ask them to match up tupperware with their lids, do dot-to-dot print outs, and mazes.
Other tips for keeping Little Ones occupied while working or teaching olders:
Fill their tank (spend 1/2 an hour with them first)
Plan their activities ahead of time
Have special toys/games/activities and a special place
Utilize their siblings (have older read to younger or play a game)
Use nap time
Use a timer (give me 15 more minutes)
Use a sheet as their “classroom” (a big bed sheet, put their toy "work" on it)
Have a bin for their “school” activities just for them
Resources:
LIFE! Your curriculum could consist of teaching them the parameters around which they
may play and teaching them the responsibility of putting away and how to do it.
Language & Thinking for Young Children – Ruth Beechick
The Three R’s – Ruth Beechick
Slow & Steady, Get me Ready - June Oberlander
Preschool Activities in a Bag – Paula Reetz & Sherri MacLean
Mudpies to Magnets and More Mudpies to Magnets – Roger Williams
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