Do you do "schoolwork" with your pre-schooler?

[Jenny in GA]

I never had official "schooltime" with either of my first two kids when they were little. But now that they are older and both doing schoolwork, I feel like I ought to be doing something with my three and a half year old son.

 

For one thing (and I guess this is a separate question in itself) I feel like I am ignoring him all morning while I do school with the older two.

 

Second, when I do take a little time to be with him alone, I'm not sure what to do with him. (I already read to him every afternoon.) I don't have a lot of patience with playing with matchbox cars and such for very long.

 

So

 

1) How do you avoid feeling like you're "putting your littlest kids away" to focus on schoolwork with the others?

 

2) Do you do one-on-one stuff with your little one, and if so, what do you do during that time, and how structured or "schooly" is it?

[snickelfritz]

Yes. She feels left out if I don't. I started out doing the easy kumon books with her. No set amount, but I watched her cues and stopped before she was tired of it. Now that she's 4 1/2, I'm doing MFW k and pre-explode the code books. I still watch her cues heavily, but she loves having her own school. I try to do it early in our day, and then she's more content to leave me alone while I work with older sis.

[Starr]

You could count those match box cars and sort them by color.

[abbeyej]

When mine were little, I sat down and made a list of skills and topics I wanted them to explore. It wasn't official or perfect or anything of the sort. Just things like: fine motor skills, gross motor skills, color play, letter sounds, animal recognition, science, life skills, number play... Whatever I thought of as I thought of it. And then I wrote under each of those a variety of little activities that we could do together. "Fine motor skills" might say: move pompoms between bowls with tong-style chopsticks; mix colored water with tiny droppers (I'd save these from medicine bottles or buy cheap ones at a pharmacy); dig tiny toys out of playdough; lacing cards; finger paint; etc, etc, etc. Again, I'd add to the lists as things popped up in my mind. I might also keep a list of nursery rhymes, folk songs, stories that I wanted to make sure we read or played or sang together.

 

It helped me so that when I sat down for some focused school/play time, I wasn't thinking, "What now!?" For some people, those sorts of things come really naturally. For me, it was helpful to have some sort of informal plan -- and it made doing things like "playing with Matchbook Cars" seem more productive and less like, "Again!??" to me. ;) (Okay, okay, I don't so much love playing with Matchbook Cars!)

 

Both of my kids wanted workbooks early on too, so we did a few minutes each day with those. I don't think they're *necessary* for little ones, but if the child feels more included in school time if they get a little workbook (Kumon has some nice preschool ones; the Developing the Early Learner ones can be used with that age; I did Visual Perceptual Skill-Building with my preschoolers; the pre-Explode the Code books), then I see no reason not to let them do that. I'd get extra time out of some workbooks by having the child color the page after they'd done the activity...

[i.love.lucy]

I actually didn't do much at all with my son when we started homeschooling (he was 4). He just wasn't ready. He's a bit of a "late bloomer". So I'd encourage him to play, do puzzles in the room with us. If we're reading aloud or working on math or something he can't interrupt us. Otherwise I want him to feel like he's part of our day.

 

Now that he's 5.5 we're doing a lot more. I still call it preK, but he does his own workbooks for numbers and letter rec, cutting and pasting, coloring, etc. He also has a couple of Leapfrog DVDs that I pop in or starfall.com if I need 20 quiet minutes with his big sister.

 

I'll admit tho that I have often felt like in the past I was pushing him away and shushing him in order to get the time I needed with big sis. I don't know how those of you many kids do it!

[Caribbean Queen]

No, I don't do "school" with my 3 year old. When I teach I expect my children to pay attention and I want to see results. I don't teach "just for exposure." or "just to give him attention." It would annoy me if my child could not remember what I taught. I prefer to wait until my children are mature enough to do preschool/Kindergarten in a few months and then move onto first grade. There are only 26 letters. I don't want to be teaching them for 3 years.

 

Playing with cars is boring, isn't it? I have heard some people online say they feel guilty for not playing with their kids more. I don't. I spend almost all my time with them, and taught them practically everything they know. Emotionally, we are very close. They are far from neglected. In fact, if I played with them a lot I think that I would be smothering them. I don't have a problem saying, "Mommy's busy. Run along and play."

 

I am pretty good at giving attention to mulitiple children at the same time. I have never put effort into giving my children one-on-one time. It happens sometimes, but I don't have it on my To Do List.

[Chris in VA]

When mine were little, I sat down and made a list of skills and topics I wanted them to explore. It wasn't official or perfect or anything of the sort. Just things like: fine motor skills, gross motor skills, color play, letter sounds, animal recognition, science, life skills, number play... Whatever I thought of as I thought of it. And then I wrote under each of those a variety of little activities that we could do together. "Fine motor skills" might say: move pompoms between bowls with tong-style chopsticks; mix colored water with tiny droppers (I'd save these from medicine bottles or buy cheap ones at a pharmacy); dig tiny toys out of playdough; lacing cards; finger paint; etc, etc, etc. Again, I'd add to the lists as things popped up in my mind. I might also keep a list of nursery rhymes, folk songs, stories that I wanted to make sure we read or played or sang together.

 

It helped me so that when I sat down for some focused school/play time, I wasn't thinking, "What now!?" For some people, those sorts of things come really naturally. For me, it was helpful to have some sort of informal plan -- and it made doing things like "playing with Matchbook Cars" seem more productive and less like, "Again!??" to me. ;) (Okay, okay, I don't so much love playing with Matchbook Cars!)

 

Both of my kids wanted workbooks early on too, so we did a few minutes each day with those. I don't think they're *necessary* for little ones, but if the child feels more included in school time if they get a little workbook (Kumon has some nice preschool ones; the Developing the Early Learner ones can be used with that age; I did Visual Perceptual Skill-Building with my preschoolers; the pre-Explode the Code books), then I see no reason not to let them do that. I'd get extra time out of some workbooks by having the child color the page after they'd done the activity...

 

These are the kinds of things I did. Of course, I sent mine to preschool two days a week, because I wasn't homeschooling anyone at the time. This is the way we played together, as I'm not into tea parties or dressing up (but I'd let her do that and then say, Oh you are so pretty ! and such...).

 

If I had to do it again, I'd set up a shelf with baskets and trays and non-plastic containers ( I don't do a lot of plastic anything) filled with simple activities my preschooler could get out on her own and work on while I worked with my older child. Things like Abbey has in her post, but also some "practical life" stuff--to practice real work. There's so much to learn before one gets into letters and numbers. I would also take little breaks to check in with the youngest, giving the olders time to fill out a math sheet, read a couple of chapters of a book, write a paragraph or a narration, etc.--all the things they can do independently--even a chore or two. I think it's unrealistic to have littles occupy themselves for 3 or 4 hours while we get the olders done--and that nagging "I'm ignoring my youngest" feeling is a natural cue that means you need to check in. I do feel the preschoolers can be taught to occupy themselves for brief periods, tho.

[Orthodox6]

I sent DD to a wonderful preschool for two years. I thought it good for her to enjoy time with a variety of other children before starting the "school regime". At the time, I was teaching high school to two older siblings, and needed to focus on their coursework.

[Mrs Mungo]

I did Montessori-style stuff with my preschoolers. the activities are self-directed and engaging.

[BikeBookBread]

A teeny, tiny bit...mostly simple math worksheets from http://www.themathworksheetsite.com and Kumon workbooks. She sits and listens to big sister, but for the most part just plays with toys (mostly educational stuff I"ve stocked in our school room).

 

It is VERY unstructured.

[myfunnybunch]

When he was...2ish? almost 3, maybe, I made a school box for my youngest that was just like his brothers'. In it, I put some independent workbook-y things, games, puzzles, toys, markers. He liked to do "school" like the big guys, so he'd get his box and sit at the table with us most days. It was completely optional, though, so some days he'd spend the morning in the other room with the Legos.

 

When we had time together, I'd read to him or play games, the kinds of activities abbeyej posted. I usually let him choose, or I'd suggest a fun activity. Again, totally his choice.

 

Cat

[Rosie_0801]

I've just started with my daughter who won't be three until April. All we do is art, an Auslan dvd and play counting games with blocks each "school" day, but she's benefiting from the structure so much that I wish I'd been able to start doing this earlier. I can't bring myself to play shop more than once a fortnight, but I can sit down with block and play that marvelous game: "one, two, three, CRASH." ;) She's doing so well, and our relationship has improved so much I'm adding in another activity or perhaps two today.

 

Rosie

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I just got a bunch of workbooks from Walmart (Staples has a bunch, too). There are simple books full of mazes, and connect-the-dots, and other things like that that help little dc work their fine motor skills, as well as books with letters and sounds and numbers. The sticker workbooks are great for that age because the child doesn't need to be able to write. They just count the objects, and place the number sticker in the box. My dd loved those when she was three.

 

 

ETA: I did this because dd was literally begging to "do school" like her big brother and sister. I hardly did anything formal with the older two, when they were little.