how did you start your first day?

[HappyLady]

I'd like to start formally teaching my daughter come the fall. She'll be 4 soon and has never been to school, but knows of it through cartoons or when her cousins mention it. She wouldn't be eligible for kindergarten next year so I want to use that year to see how it goes for the both of us. I don't want to wait until she'd actually have to go to school to realize homeschooling just won't work for us.

 

I'm wondering though, how to make her understand that we have to sit down and learn now or else the alternative is her going to PS. It's easy (or at least it seems to be) to teach a child "you're going to school soon," but how do you prepare your child for "Mommy is going to make you sit and do school work for a few hours a day?"

 

Of course I'm going to try and make it as fun as possible so she doesn't hate homeschooling and think PS would be better, but I don't know that she'll be happy doing this 5 days a week. Or am I wrong and do most kids adjust well to this?

 

Should I start talking about it now and explaining it to her? Or how should I go about it? Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! :)

[Starr]

She's so young that most of us wouldn't. ;) You can't ruin kindergarden, why put the pressure on yourself now?

[Dmmetler]

Well, my DD started our first day of homeschooling several months before I'd planned to start, by dragging me out of bed at 6:00 on a Saturday morning, calling "It's time to start school!!!"

 

I guess I oversold all those neat boxes of books and curriculum that I had coming in in preparation for the fall and the joy of homeschooling a bit.

 

So, my advise on preparing-don't tell her you're going to start school until you're READY to start school!! At her age (and even for my DD, who just turned 7) homeschooling and playing school are a lot alike.

Edited December 8, 2011 by dmmetler

[GingerPoppy]

I would talk it up, saying "mommy's going to be your teacher for a little bit of time each morning, and we're going to have so much fun together and learn so many interesting things!"

 

At age 4, I would plan an extremely hands-on program to take up an hour or two a day. Perhaps you could have a beginning and ending ritual to make it very clear that "school has started" and "school has ended". Maybe she gets to ring a bell, or light a candle, or sing a welcome song.

 

I'd pretty much stick to lots of read alouds, crafts, art, cooking, nature walks, discussions, field trips, and so on. Perhaps for a very short time, I'd introduce letters, sounds, and/or reading in a fun, low-pressure way... like playing with magnetic letters on the fridge or that type of thing. To add in a little math, have her start playing with cuisinaire rods--just playing; no work.

 

She's very young, and you want her to love it, so I'd explore any kind of learning that isn't seatwork. Things can be learned equally well at that age by snuggling on the couch or jumping on a trampoline while chanting. Enjoy it! After the first year, she will probably love it, and you can add in very small amounts of developmentally appropriate seatwork.

[Rosie_0801]

I started doing sit down work with my girl at two and a half, because we needed it. That sit down work was doing a puzzle :)

 

Then it was reading a story while she did a puzzle.

 

Then it was reading two stories while she did a puzzle, lol.

 

 

Your girl isn't even four yet. Nothing is important enough to take a few hours. Unless she needs the structured time, nothing is important enough to do at all, really, like Starr said.

 

Do you sit down together and read? Colour in? Play playdough? Do jigsaw puzzles? If so, you are already "doing school" as far as "school" does for a preschooler. Adding in other things, as I am now with my four and a half year old flows naturally. One day, after the puzzle and stories, you bring out some alphabet stickers or cuisenaire rods and keep messing around.

 

Rosie

[Lang Syne Boardie]

She's three, so she doesn't need you to explain to her that she must sit nicely and study or else she'll have to go to school. You don't have to tell her that Mommy is her Teacher. You can just be Mommy.

 

:)

 

If you read to her, speak with her often as you move through your day, take her to the park and library and petting zoo, play with cards and dice and puzzles and sandboxes, rock in the rocking chair and sing, and did I mention reading to her...oh, you will both be so ready to gently transition into kindergarten at home.

 

My children didn't know I was their teacher until someone asked them questions like, "Who is your teacher?" and "Where do you go to school?" At that time I explained to the questioner and my child that we learn at home together. The same Mommy who teaches them how to brush their teeth, make their bed, and tie their shoes also teaches them how to read and spell and add. It's very organic in the early years for most of us.

[JenniferB]

Yes, I agree with these ladies. Make your home and activities an organic learning environment, especially in the earliest years.

[NanceXToo]

I agree with whoever said just be mommy. Don't be in such a rush to make it formal at three or four years of age. They are learning so much in so many different ways, all you have to do is be mom.

 

Give her lots of time to do her own thing, have conversations with her, interact normally with her, involve her in the things you do around the house and your outings, provide things like age appropriate crafts, board games, puzzles, art supplies, read to her, look at the stars in the sky, the ants on the ground, go outside. Color, cut, paste, whatever. When she's ready start doing a few minutes worth of letter and number activities. But above all enjoy each other and follow her cues and don't stress over any of it or push things.

 

Things my son was way too bouncy for at 3 or 4 he's been more ready for at 5 or 6 and by following his cues it's been a smoother transition into doing more activities (and we are still doing a gentle K this year, he just turned 6) which I'm fine with. I see no need to hurry and push through a young childhood. I can see looking back one day and wishing we had played more and enjoyed each other more when he was 3 or 4 or 5. I can't see ever looking back and saying gee I wish I had made him sit down and do more schoolwork when he was 4... You know what I mean?

[Myeightkiddies]

I'm wondering though, how to make her understand that we have to sit down and learn now or else the alternative is her going to PS.

 

There is some wonderful advice in the above posts. Start now with brief periods of sitting down together - coloring, puzzles, Play-doh, etc. Talk about it with her.

 

About the quoted part, be sure you don't tell her that, especially at a frustrating time. If you have a bad day and you tell her that if she doesn't be still she'll have to go to PS, there's a good chance that she'll say, "Ok." Remember that her attention span is short, so if she seems not to focus or is fidgety, it may be time to do something else, even if getting a drink or going on a nature walk.

[Joules]

I'll agree that she's pretty young for much formality or threats of school. With a 14yo, the one piece of advice I'd give myself if I could go back in time is "Just relax and enjoy it!" and "Don't stress so much!" I give that advice to all new homeschoolers that ask (and no one ever listens!)

 

Fortunately, I didn't start stressing until first grade, so preschool and kindergarten are some of our best school memories. We did "school" two or three days mornings a week. The other days we were at playgroups or classes.

 

We started by letting him pick an animal for each day. So we had "animal time" not "school time." We would read from a kid's encyclopedia on that animal. I would have a story book about the animal. (I sold Usborne books back then, so we had tons of resources in addition to the library.) We'd do a related craft. I could almost always find PK/K worksheets on any animal...dot-to-dot, mazes, coloring, simple math, word puzzles, etc. Our state provided United Streaming, so we'd also watch a video segment on the animal of the day. Now, with YouTube and so many more online resources, it would be so much easier than it was ten years ago.

 

Good Luck! Just relax and enjoy it!

[HappyLady]

Thanks, ladies! All very good advice! :) I guess I'm just so nervous to make sure she'll learn enough from me because we're not exactly in a homeschool friendly area and I know everyone will be watching her and testing her to see exactly what she knows.

 

And I guess the idea of just letting her be a kid is still hard to imagine (as of school age) without forcing academics down her throat. It's the exact reason why I want to HS, but it's difficult to actually relax enough to do it! :) I'm working on it, though! It's nice to hear so many people tell me to do it and she'll still turn out ok. :lol:

[Myra]

If you have a Waldorf school near you, I'd suggest that you visit their kindergarden class just to see how relaxed and magical beginning school can be. Now I'm not endorsing Waldorf philosophy or any curriculum in general - it's just that their kindergarden program matches so much with my ideal of how education should begin. One of my sons went to a Waldorf kindergarden and 1st grade and then Waldorf was not not meeting our needs so we started homeschooling. I "duplicated" parts of their gentle beginning with my second son.

 

Myra

[SweetMissMagnolia]

when I started my son he was about that age but was asking what everything said so I told him we were going to learn how to read-we started with phonics and learning the letters/sounds/etc.....we took alot of breaks---short study sessions.....keep it fun.....if she's not interested one day don't push it.....whatever you decide just have fun with it and show lots of enthusiasm and give lots of praise.....

[Karen in CO]

You've received excellent advice so far. You might add to that a habit of weekly library trips. Maybe even see if your library has a preschool story time. Right now think more in terms of habits for both of you. let her help you fold and sort laundry, make cookies, learn to make sandwiches and pour drinks. Put together puzzles; play with playdough. Read her a story Let her draw. Take a daily walk and teach yourself about local plants and animals so that you can talk to her about them. Plant a garden together. Play in the mud.

[HappyLady]

If you have a Waldorf school near you, I'd suggest that you visit their kindergarden class just to see how relaxed and magical beginning school can be. Now I'm not endorsing Waldorf philosophy or any curriculum in general - it's just that their kindergarden program matches so much with my ideal of how education should begin. One of my sons went to a Waldorf kindergarden and 1st grade and then Waldorf was not not meeting our needs so we started homeschooling. I "duplicated" parts of their gentle beginning with my second son.

 

Myra

 

We've actually taken their Parent/Toddler class twice (over the summer and then for this fall session) and she loves it. I've used a lot of what I've learned in the class for what we do at home. Her last class is tomorrow and I'll actually be sad that she won't be continuing with it because she loves it so much. I also have her enrolled in a few other parent/toddler classes and we belong to a homeschool group that does a lot of different events that she just loves.

 

I'm just so conditioned for PS school and I need to break out of that way of teaching/thinking! :)