How to Start Homeschooling Toddlers and Preschoolers

One of the members in our homeschooling group, Homeschool Resources Philippines, posed a question on how to start homeschooling. They have an almost 4-year old child. Remembering our homeschooling days when my son was still 3 years old filled my head with so much ideas that I thought I'd just write a blog post about it.

Homeschooling from birth to 2 years 

I started homeschooling my son from birth. How, you ask? Well, we started with songs. I would just sing/play songs to him and read him stories. I would place age-appropriate toys in his crib or on the bed. As you regulars know, my son is gifted so his development was really fast so there were times when I put more advanced toys around him to keep him challenged.

At 7 months, he already knows all the basic colors, shapes, the alphabet and numbers. He can solve Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles already. At this age, I recommend placing posters around your child's play area and just spend a few minutes pointing to the colors, etc. and saying them out loud. Trust me, your child understands. You can also use Montessori-inspired posters and cards that feature one or two solid colors and shape/shadow outlines. Invest in toys that allow your child to be a thinker. Choose toys that inspire creativity. Examples are wooden blocks, wooden puzzles, wooden food sets, puppets for pretend play and story telling, etc. I highly recommend the brand Melissa & Doug. We avoid battery-operated toys and toys that have lights and sounds unless it's a musical instrument.

Reading should be a daily ritual in every homeschool.

For kids ages 1 to 3 years old, start introducing Montessori trays, sensory bins and more challenging toys. I have a few sensory bin ideas in this blog. Just type activities or homeschool in the search bar.

Let your child explore art through finger painting, doodling, coloring. Just give your child age-appropriate art materials and let them express their creativity. Art was and still is a huge part of our daily activities.

Do a lot of fine motor activities at this stage to prepare your child for writing. A quick search in the search bar will give you some fine motor activities to do with your child.

Preschool

Kids aged 4 to 5 years old need to be ready for school. One of the concerns I hear is writing. It is important to have their fingers strengthened before you even attempt to teach them how to write. The fine motor activities you did when they were 1 to 3 years old should have done their job. If you are only starting now, don't fret. Just continue with fine motor activities everyday until your child develops his or her grip strength. 

Cutting is another important skill for preschoolers. I have written a post about it. Check out my cutting tips here. 

Cutting and writing go hand in hand. For writing, you start with lines or broken lines, tracing. For cutting, you can use the same lines, broken lines, etc. for beginners. Don't force your child to write letters immediately. Learning how to write is a progression - from simple lines to complicated letters. 

Invest in write and wipe books at this age to get the most bang for your buck. You can also invest in activity books, art books and play and read books.

Reusable sticker playbook with lots of activities are great investments

Magnets and magnetic books also provide you with lots of learning opportunities. They can be great fine motor practice (peeling), story telling, writing prompts, imaginative play, etc. 

It's also a good idea to start building your library of workbooks such as these:

Classic stories and living books are also great investments.

All of these books are available for purchase. Check them out in my Facebook page. 

We invest heavily in learning materials, toys and books. As a parent and his teacher, I want the best for my child especially with our learning tools. I am a voracious reader so it's no surprise that my son also has a love for books. I choose books and materials that we can use over and over again to get our money's worth. 

In the following days, I will feature more books and materials that you can use in your homeschool. 

How our typical homeschool day looked like

This is how our typical homeschool day looked like when my son was 1 to 3 years old. 

1. We would start with our daily devotion. We have age appropriate Bibles. 

2. Next, I would ask him about the day, date and the weather. We also have a magnetic "About Today" board that he loves to fill up.  Then I would play some age-appropriate songs on YouTube, about 2-3 songs. 

3. I would give him some Montessori-inspired tray activities. 

4. The more "formal" lessons begin - phonics, math, etc. My son can already read at age 2 so our Comm Arts class already took on a more formal format when he was 3 years old. I use a lot of workbooks, write and wipe books and worksheets for our lessons. 

5. Next is some art. My son loves to paint so that's a regular in our house. When he was younger, I gave him lots of finger paints. He also has a lot of art and craft materials to use. I would make an "Invitation to Create" tray wherein I put some colored paper or construction paper, some fancy scissors, stickers, markers, etc. and let him do whatever he wants. 

6. The last part of our homeschool day is the sensory bin.  Sensory bins are a huge part of our daily activities as they keep him occupied for a long time thus allowing me to do some work.

More resources here and here.