Googly Eyes and Glue Sticks
Sometimes people get confused when I tell them I’m a homeschooler. They look at me, look at my kid, and then look at me again.
Why the confusion?
My only child is 18 months. That’s it.
For a long time I just told people we were planning to homeschool. We weren’t there yet, because obviously my kid’s largest academic accomplishment up until a few months ago was figuring out cars roll better with the wheels down.
Something changed around the time he was 15 months. By then we had been doing planned activities for about 2 months. I was actually writing things in my Well-Planned Day planner. Those things mostly said “remember to buy googly eyes” or “practice numbers,” but still they are there.
I know a lot of people say every parent is a homeschooler, because we raise kids from birth. We teach them to walk, talk, aim food towards their mouths, and how to use the restroom. We introduce reading and math concepts. Whether you stay-at-home or work, we are teaching our kids the basics from which they will develop their education.
I still joke that I’m the pre-homeschooler of the Hip Homeschool Moms team. We will start preschool “officially” at 27 months when his friends head to actual preschool {yes, really … it starts at age two here}. I will spend time at the end of the summer putting together “lesson plans” and all of that stuff.
In the meantime, I’m working to develop a love of learning. We bought him an old school desk that he loves to use for coloring and his magnetic letter/number board {hint: buy a magnetic brownie pan and dump the letters and numbers in there}. We spend hours each day reading books together, then make twice weekly trips to the library. He loves to help me cook and bake. We practice identifying numbers and letters. We play Thomas the Tank Engine for hours and hours {and hours}. There are whole afternoons spent at the park climbing everything in sight, eating lunch, and fingerpainting under his favorite tree.
So maybe I never was a pre-homeschooler after all. Sure my son’s only subject is being a toddler, and we do more with craft sticks and googly eyes than I want to admit. However, we’re homeschooling, and we love it.
Stephanie and her family live in Roswell, Georgia. Originally from the Northeast, Stephanie ditched snow for sun five years ago and hasn’t looked back. Stephanie loves the kitchen, summer dresses, and a good book. She is also active in Junior League of Atlanta and at her local Catholic Church. Armed with an English degree and a MBA, Stephanie is preparing to homeschool her young son, Samuel. She blogs at The Brunette Foodie.
I had people ask me if I was homeschooling when my oldest son (now a 3rd grader) was still a preschooler. I did not call it that, but seriously, as preschool has become nearly universal, your answer makes sense. I was doing homeschool-y things at a preschool level. You could really confuse people and say you’re a homepreschooler. 🙂 I enjoyed your article. My youngest son is 3. He is absorbing SO much in homeschool!!
Great post! My little man started what I like to call ‘tot college” lol this fall. His sisters are schooled at home via cyberschool, so I knew I’d have to plan some learning fun for him. He was about 20 months when we started and he just loves “skooool!” It is amazing what they can learn even at such a young age.
Jen
I’ve taken this from my part in a discussion on your article on Google+: It is parenting, as it should be. To be involved with your child’s development, and harnessing their desire to learn at whatever age they start asking questions. I can’t speak for anyone else, but all 4 (so far) of my kids started wanting to learn at an early age. For example, when my youngest was 3 years old, she knew her alphabet, the sounds each letter made, the sound some letter combos made, numbers up to 20 (with a mistake once or twice in the teens), colors, shapes, and even how to spell everyone’s name in the family. She could even write her own name, granted, it was in reverse order, from right to left.
I do not say these things to brag, but every one of my children have been about the same. The first two years my twin boys were in public school, they were at the head of the class. They were getting bored with classwork, because they knew it already. While in Kindergarten they would meet with 1st and 2nd graders for subjects like reading, because they were way past society’s level of normal. This is one of the main reasons we decided to homeschool, we could taylor the curriculum to each child according to their understanding and advancement.
This is what being involved in your child’s education at an early age can do. We live in a very scientific and technological era. There are so many things one can be interested in as a pursued career. Homeschooling at the age when they start asking questions, just like reading at an early age, gets them excited to learn. It doesn’t mean it has to be rigidly structured for the young ones, I know it wasn’t when my wife did such a great job with our kids. But I have personally seen the impact a parent’s role has in learning, and I think it’s a great idea.
My term was “guided play.” It was a great transition for when our real homeschool started. My two were so excited to get their first real books for school. My third child is going on the same path, and we do, “school” every day with her older siblings.
I think this is great. The flip side is that if you said you “play” all day with him you would get the comments that SAHM don’t do anything all day. LOL.
This is so true! I organized my first co-op when my son was 2yo…but really we homeschool from birth, as homeschooling parents, we take a very active role in our children learning…now many parents take this role, some more than others…but for some reason at preschool or kindergarten many feel no longer qualified to continue that roll…When I say I’m a homeschooling mom, I always say a homeschooling mom of 3…even though my oldest is 5 and my youngest is 14mos!