Like me, many parents make the decision to homeschool before their kids are of school age. This is a great time to begin. It's strength - that your child has nothing to compare learning at home to - is also it's drawback. YOU have nothing to compare what you are doing with either.
When I was in that boat, I found myself asking a lot of other homeschoolers what THEY were doing. I wondered, "Were we doing it right?" "Was there a better way?" and "How will I even know if I am doing it wrong." I suppose I still don't know if I am doing it wrong. My children have yet to venture out into the world to see if they can be of service to society, and discover what their service and skill set is worth.
Still, as I'm asked from time to time to "weigh in" on what a family about embark on the journey might do, here are some "guidelines" I put together the other night: . 1 - Don't interrupt the real "work" your child is up to playing or imagining without your help. I'm not fully aware of all the learning that occurs when children play and imagine. I can only observe that doing so totally engrosses them. That leads me to believe it is serving an important purpose in their development, about which their own minds probably grasp on a much deeper level than my outside "learning agenda."
When you are asked to step in (often not so verbally distinct, but when your kid becomes interested in your interaction, or becomes needy): 2 - Engage him in what he is interested in. When you are 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 there is an entire world of information out there to make a part of yourself by learning and mastering. The last thing you want a child to take away from his or her learning experience is that the things he or she is interested in are of no value, and that the things that "should" be learned are of no interest at all.
3 - Keep learning to attention-span chunks - why on earth we think enrolling 3 and 4 year olds in school all day will increase their knowledge is beyond me! The mind has REAL developmental limits to what it can absorb. In fact, down time is critical TO absorption. So try being done learning or discovering before your child's mind shuts off. Keep him or her anxious for the next time you get to discover together!
Finally, 4 - Repeat as often as you and your child are having fun! If you can only pleasantly discover together once a day, begin there. Don't do as I did - get angry that some things aren't sticking, and make the entire encounter miserable for you and your child. If learning is something to be endured - a sort of torture - why NOT outsource? Then, at least, your relationship with your child can be preserved!
Now you may feel that these 4 pointers are completely obvious or intuitive. If so, congratulations! You are a parent more in tune with your child and the process of real learning than with public opinion or outside agendas. But some of us need the reminder that letting go of anxious time management or ambitious academic curricula will be okay. Yes, you can let go and just have fun. And if it helps, remind yourself that if you and your child, following the approach described above, become ornery or disengaged, you may simply return to a more intense, structured approach. There are no guidelines, truly, beyond discovering what works, and doing that, with your children's best interest in mind.
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