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June1
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| Posted: Aug 21 2012 at 8:11pm | IP Logged
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Hello, everyone!
As I stated in my intro, I don't currently homeschool my three-year-old son but I am set on creating an educational routine for him in order to better prepare him for school.
Here is what he currently knows:
-colours (he can name them if you ask, "What colour is this?")
-basic shapes
-the entire alphabet
-numbers 1-10
-numbers 11-20 (shaky but we're working on it  )
-TONS of bugs, thanks to a favourite bug book (I'm talking specific, like a whirligig beetle or praying mantis; he's seriously taught me so much!)
-recognizes his name if I write it down, simply from the shape and repetition
I think that's all. It's mostly memorization but I do see some comprehension peeking through. :) What I wanted to ask from all of you mommies is how the heck did you start your homeschooling routine for your youngest ones?
Tonight, I finally bought printer ink and printed the first three of these out: http://www.first-school.ws/t/alphabet/coloring-pages/bible_d n/angel_b.htm
We sat at the dining room table and I said something like, "A is for angel!" and had him repeat it; then, I told him he could colour it. Is that a start? I've been teaching him what he knows but it's been all over the place. What I would like is a curriculum with structured daily lessons where I could sit him at the table and teach!  I also want to stress that purchasing items is a limited option for us; we're on a strict budget.
Okay, enough of me yammering on. Your turn! ^-^
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Aug 21 2012 at 9:14pm | IP Logged
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Pretty much all I do with my three year olds:
- Read lots of good books.
- Play outside everyday.
- Start a wildflower notebook.
- Start a leaf notebook.
- Watch and identify birds.
- Memorize little poems and nursery rhymes.
- Sing songs together.
We might also: bake, play with money (like set up a little store), learn to read (if the child is interested/asking to learn), play board games like Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Shoots and Ladders, paint, draw, cut with scissors, etc.
I teach them to do little chores and we work on listening skills and right-away obedience and other little good habits.
We don't use any curriculum, but I do make up a book list of the books I specifically want to read that year- primarily picture books and short stories from lists of good children's literature or things I have been told about here.
I would *highly* encourage you to not worry about any sort of curriculum. Don't worry about math or language arts or reading. That comes, and for most kids it come pretty painlessly. Spend time filling his days with lots of discovery and beautiful things that will inspire him to want to continue learning.
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Christine
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| Posted: Aug 21 2012 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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With my little ones, I like to get them used to a morning routine. The preschooler is usually present as the older children and I begin our day with prayer and our calendar (I liked CeAnne's calendar better, so we started using it last year). I find that the calendar naturally helps my little ones with numbers.
When my children start showing reading readiness, I teach them the letter sounds, not their names. Depending on the child, I have done this Montessori style as a three-part lesson or using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
I also teach numbers using the Montessori approach.
Two books that you might find helpful and that are most likely available at your library are The Three R's and Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years. It is not necessary to make all of the materials in the latter book, but if memory serves me correctly, the author explains how to present a three part lesson.
You will probably appreciate, Jen's recent post on Nurturing Wonder in the Preschool Years. Despite the fact that I am teaching my seventh preschooler this year, I really appreciated what she wrote. I won't be buying any of the materials that she mentions (I have a lot of them already), but I did make lesson plans for my preschooler using her format and the materials that I have. I have never made lesson plans for my preschool-aged children before, but this child is thrilled with them and they are helping me to focus on her a little bit without feeling scatter brained. My daughter is so happy to be able to call our crayons, paints, picture and poetry books, French videos, etc. her school.
There really is no need to spend much money when teaching preschool. I find that the library can be a wonderful resource in the preschool years and beyond.
As Jen shares, "Nurture the wonder."
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Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Aug 21 2012 at 9:34pm | IP Logged
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That's a good point about teaching the sounds and not the names, Christine. I do that, too. Well I also teach the name but I emphasize the sound over the name. I might say, "That's the letter A. A says "ahhhh". Every letter has a name and a sound like animals do. We call it a cow but it says "moo". So that letter's name is A but it says "ahhhhh"." Then after that I pretty much only talk about the sound, not the name.
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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SallyT
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| Posted: Aug 21 2012 at 9:48pm | IP Logged
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At three I don't think you need to do much, if any, formal teaching. As you've already seen, this is an age when learning is constant and organic -- they go through their days soaking up things and then rattling them off to you.
Here is what I have done:
1. Read aloud to my children. Constantly. Many times a day. At bedtime. Many kinds of books. I truly believe that this is the single most important thing I've done by way of my children's education. I'd almost say that there's nothing else you need to do: being read to inspires a love of story and books, gives a child a sense that there is a larger and larger world to know about (natural curiosity), and also helps the child to absorb the sounds of good written English. A child who's read to knows how writing is supposed to sound, years and years before he ever starts to write.
2. Took my children places and included them in what I was doing. A field trip for a 3-year-old can be a museum, or it can be the grocery store or the dentist. My 3-year-olds have helped me cook, using measuring cups, stirring, learning about different cultures as we made tortillas, or whatever.
3. Listened to music. All kinds. Sang a lot. Did finger rhymes and clapping games.
4. Went to Mass.
5. Had lots of art supplies around, especially big, chunky crayons. Triangular crayons and colored pencils are great for helping a child develop a good grip. Coloring is good for fine motor skills -- so is playing with a goo made out of cornstarch and water, or playing a pick-up-beans game.
6. Lots of time and supplies for imaginative play -- while my olders were doing school, my 2 and 3-year-olds, or 3- and 4-year-olds played with little plastic animals, little figurines out of Safari Toobs, little dolls, lego, blocks, etc.
I should back up and say that my two oldest children did go to nursery school and school in their early years, and I learned a lot from observing what their schools did when they were little. Your typical good preschool/nursery school would have:
*a playhouse, usually with dress-up clothes
*room to run and play outdoors, and time for a lot of physical activity, especially for boys
*stuff to build stuff out of (my son's nursery school collected cereal boxes, toilet-paper tubes, egg cartons, etc, and kids made "models" out of them)
*regular opportunities to do things like simple cooking
*pegs to hang up the child's own coat, and emphasis on the fact that the child should acquire this habit
*singing and story time, but otherwise a lot of time for unstructured exploration and learning through play.
Etc. What I came away with was the very strong impression that much of what goes on at school, especially in the early years but even later on, is meant to replicate what children would do naturally in functional homes, if they were there all day with literate adults who loved them. Especially in the early years, there tends not to be much in the way of academics.
So this has been the approach I've taken with my children at home. Informally, as they were curious, we worked on letter recognition -- generally just by reading alphabet books of various kinds. We counted things, again informally. At 5 or 6, because my kids have tended not to be very early readers, we eased into little bits of reading/phonics instruction and began a gentle hands-on math curriculum, as they showed signs of real readiness. And, as I said, all the while we read a lot. By "signs of readiness" I mean either an actual, voiced or demonstrated desire to do something and/or non-resistance when I introduced it. I actually didn't start my 10-year-old son in any kind of kindergarten academics until after his 6th birthday, because he simply wasn't ready. He was plenty bright and eager, and today he's a voracious reader and learner, but he wasn't ready to sit down, to listen, to do what I wanted to have him do, until after he was 6.
Now I'm the one yammering on, but all that to say: Don't rush. Don't feel that you have to rush. Don't feel that you need a curriculum or to spend any money or to teach in any formal sense right now. Your child's education is in the world around him and in his relationships in the family, and in my view that is completely age-appropriate.
Enjoy your 3-year-old -- I miss that lovely age, with all those "why" questions!
Sally
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June1
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| Posted: Aug 22 2012 at 4:17am | IP Logged
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Wow! Thank you all so much! You've given me quite a bit to think about, especially the idea of play money and singing more. My little guy would just LOVE to have a little "store" set up. He's a VERY meticulous child. Lately, when we go out for strolls or groceries or whatever, he insists on adding to his "rock collection," and will sit and gather rocks which he places together into a "family;" he names each member. ^-^
We've started going to the library at least once a week for the past month and it's opened up another world for us! If there is one thing that is absolutely crucial, it's a love of reading. I want him to love it more than I do.
I actually did invest in the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book. I ordered it online after reading all the raves and nearly 100% positive reviews but haven't truly sat down and gone through it to see what my approach will be.
Sally, I definitely am enjoying this age! And you're right on the money with the "why" questions! He's in that stage right now and it's giving me lots of opportunities to practice patience, hee hee.
One more question, mamas: do you have any tips on getting a toddler to behave during Mass? I found that I really couldn't take my son to Mass as I was just wrangling him the whole time, but that desire is in my heart again and I really want to try again.
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: Aug 22 2012 at 6:39am | IP Logged
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When my oldest was at that age, several friends and I got together every week and did a preschool coop. All we did was learn new finger plays, large movement songs, dance to music with instruments or scarves (Jim Gill, Laurie Berkner, The Wiggles, Hap Palmer's Slow and Fast song is awesome for dancing!), snacks, a small craft and then the children played together for a bit. Oh, and we always read them a picture book.
One activity all my kids love (and even the big kids still use it) is a plastic shoe box of rice with spoons and containers. During the summer, I also fill up large bowls with water and they like to have tea parties and adventures with their animal toys. The Montessori books are wonderful for gathering these types of ideas!
If you want something more structured, library story times or Kindermusik were something we enjoyed at the early age.
Have fun!
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: Aug 22 2012 at 6:49am | IP Logged
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And if you need more direction, then Before Five in a Row is a good starting point for literature based learning.
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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SallyT
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| Posted: Aug 22 2012 at 7:11am | IP Logged
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Ha! Well, we went to Mass, but it was always an adventure, and we certainly weren't as daily as we manage to be now. My kids are now 18, 14, 10 and almost-9, and when the two youngest were little, Mass was . . . interesting. We were new converts, and my older children had spent their young childhood in church nurseries, so this little-kids-in-church thing was a level of discipline I literally hadn't dealt with before, and probably didn't deal with well, but in light of the payoff now, when my kids just assume we're going to Mass every day, I am glad we made the effort *then.*
Daily Mass, strangely enough, was always much easier than Sunday, though. Not *easy,* but easier. Maybe the quiet of it got to them a little, I don't know. I found it easier to sit close to the front at Daily Mass, which helped because they could see what Father was doing at the altar.
They were better with fewer toys and "props" -- if we had crayons, they got dropped all over the floor. Ditto little cars.
A friend of mine made her young children Mass books and Stations of the Cross books (to use during Lent), with holy cards and other pictures, so that they could turn the pages and follow along. I never did this for mine, though we did have a selection of what I called "holy books" -- little St. Joseph Press picture books which they could look through. My youngest still likes to look at them during our Parish Holy Hour.
At home we read about the Mass -- there's a sweet little book called The Mass Book for Children which explains every part of the Mass, as well as little "First Missals" with pictures which are worth checking out -- and we practiced things like making the Sign of the Cross and genuflecting. We said our prayers -- if nothing else, they could say the Our Father at the appropriate time in Mass. I really stressed the life of the domestic church: special meals for saints' days, table cloths to reflect the liturgical calendar, candles, prayers. Even when I couldn't get to church with the youngers, I tried to emphasize that we were part of the Church's life. Having our home reflect the life of the Church made it easier then to venture out into that larger life -- they recognized the liturgical colors, looked forward to hearing about the saints in the daily homilies, and would be excited (sometimes! on good days!) to see that what we were doing at home wasn't just us, it was everybody.
At one stage, when they were . . . 2 and 3? 3 and 4? . . . and we were new Catholics, having come into the Church in 2007 . . . I spent a summer doing what I called "Mass Practice" with them, with some success. I sucked it up and sat in the cry room, which was not always the most conducive atmosphere for being quiet, since other kids would be playing, people would be eating snacks and talking, and I forget now why I thought that that would be a better place to practice good Mass behavior, but I did. I guess because I felt less self-conscious about hissing instructions! We worked both on sitting quietly and on standing and kneeling at appropriate times. That was my minimal expectation, once they were about 4: that they participate physically, standing, sitting, and kneeling when the congregation did, making the sign of the Cross, etc. I often physically had to stand my son on his feet -- he tended to suffer from sudden attacks of "tiredness" in Mass!
Our homeschool group in our old city went to First Friday Masses together at a particular parish, and I found that my son, especially, behaved better when other kids were present, also behaving.
Mostly, though, I just persevered. My kids, with one notable exception, are very strong-willed, and my two youngest certainly are; we provided "entertainment" for other people at Mass for a long, long time. I'd take them out if they were too disruptive, but in the main, people were very kind. I felt hugely self-conscious -- the convert with the heathen children! -- but I am glad we hung in there. I still have to push to get people to daily Mass, especially at 8 in the morning, when it's offered at our small rural parish, but it's a lot easier to do that when Mass has just been part of your life all along. Of my two wild younger ones, my 10-year-old son is now a frequent and enthusiastic altar server, my 8-year-old daughter sings with me in the choir, and it's hard to remember that I ever had to psych myself up to face Mass with them.
Oh, and bribery. I forgot bribery. I called my kids the Donut Club -- if you were good in Mass, you got to be in Donut Club, and we'd stop and get donuts on the way home. Now it's bagels -- that's how I bribe people to get out of bed when Mass is early in the morning. Fortunately in our parish it's not always at 8 a.m. -- I'm sitting here with a nice cup of coffee right now because Mass isn't till 6 p.m.! I love these mornings when we can just ease into things, though I also love having 8 a.m. Mass to get us going.
Anyway, hang in there with it. It's hard when they're little, but so worth it to make the effort, even if you only do one daily Mass a week, as a goal. Start small, work on it at home in your domestic church, and as you can, move into the life of the larger Church. It's all a process . . . but then, we're all in process, aren't we!
Sally
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Aug 22 2012 at 7:32am | IP Logged
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For our guys, sitting in the very front pew has always helped. Also, we put together a little big of religious books that lived in the car and was only allowed to be used during Mass (it kept them "new" and interesting!).
Practicing at home during quiet times- read alouds and family prayer- and modelling good behavior really helped the most. I pull my littles close to me during the consecration and whisper to them to watch for the miracle!!! Then we all whisper, "I love you Jesus!"
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Christine
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| Posted: Aug 22 2012 at 9:55am | IP Logged
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June1 wrote:
I actually did invest in the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book. I ordered it online after reading all the raves and nearly 100% positive reviews but haven't truly sat down and gone through it to see what my approach will be.
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I bought Teach Your Child to Read... when my oldest was a little girl and I never used it with her. I have used it since with some of my other children. It all depends on the child.
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Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
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