Early Homeschooling

Brett and I have been talking for years now about what type of educ ation we want for our children. Though both of us had good experiences with public school, they are a little different in today's time and that's not really the type of education we want our children to have. We'd love for them to go to a private Christian school, but don't know that we will be able to afford that. So, at this point, we're going to give homeschooling a try-- at least for the first few years until we can re-evaluate and decide from there.

When I had more time on my hands, I spent a lot of time looking at curriculums and books on websites like CBD and Amazon. I haven't actually looked at many in person, but I was able to pick out ones I'd like to try for preschool through first grade. I don't know much about classical education, but when Brett was teaching at a local private school, that was the method they used, and he really liked it. So I checked The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education. It lays out a plan, including books to use, time to spend in each subject & everything you need to know about homeschooling classical education. Of course, I don't plan to follow any book by the letter, because I have to go with what works for my kids, but that book is a good starting place.


I still have several years before I start formal education. I plan to start The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading when Leah turns 4, along with some math workbooks. Right now, even though Leah shows a great excitement for learning and picks things up like a sponge, she doesn't do well with formal worksheets or projects. So I'm going to take a more informal approach at age 2 & 3. We've started doing a letter of the alphabet each week, using coloring sheets & video clips from Sesame Street.org (what a great site for my Elmo-lover!!). She has already learned (without even much work on my part) to sing the entire ABC song, she knows most of her colors, all the body parts, can count to 10 (almost), and can recognize several shapes.



































The great thing about "informal" homeschooling at this age, is that anything counts!



We use videos:






























Playdoh, blocks, Legos, coloring...



















Lots of books!! And all sorts of "field trips"-- to the museum, to the store, to the park (phys. ed.), to the bookstore for story time, to the library... She doesn't even realize she's learning!

And the little one's learning too! He loves the flashing musical star on his play mat.