Preschool at Home

Many parents wonder what is expected when homeschooling their preschooler. Here are my thoughts on preschool at home, and how perfectly suited you are as the parent to continue doing exactly what you have been doing all this time – nurturing and teaching your child.

When I was young, I didn’t know anyone that had gone to preschool. When our oldest child reached preschool age, I encountered a dilemma. All the children were going to preschool. If I didn’t send him, he would start kindergarten academically behind his classmates (or so I thought). At that time, I didn’t know that homeschooling was in our near future. I found a wonderful preschool at a local church, and he enjoyed it.

So I’m not against preschools, despite what I’m about to say…

Preschool is not a necessary prerequisite to your homeschool.

Setting up an atmosphere of learning is important, and if you want to call that “preschool,” especially for a concerned grandma or nosy neighbor, you can do so.

First things first

At this young age, reading and answering questions and taking your kids to the library and fun activities and PLAYING (a powerful learning experience that is gravely overlooked) and reading…did I mention reading?…are all the things that are necessary to set your child up for academic success.

You don’t need exhaustive programs or expensive books or elaborate curriculums or rigorous academic calendars at this age.

To love learning – which is natural for children – is the goal.

Nurture your child’s natural curiosity, read a lot of books, and play as much as possible and you will be miles ahead of any fancy, expensive curriculum. When else in your life are you delighted to dig in the mud, invent dialogue for stuffed animals, dance under the water sprinkler on a really hot summer day, swing for hours, watch ants carry their food home, listen to story after story, and ponder why the sky is blue, the dog wags his tail, or you sneeze when you look toward the sun?

Encourage all these things and as many more as you can think of. Call it preschool. Call it life. Call it the joy of childhood – a joy that too many children are deprived of these days as they stare at a screen and go from one scheduled activity to another.

One day you might call it the best decision you ever made, as your children grow up and the questions cease to come in an ever-flowing torrent, the stuffed animals are donated to charity, and the swing set becomes neglected and dilapidated.

Books

I’m a fan of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education. You can read an excellent summary of who she was and her ideas at Ambleside Online’s ‘An Introduction to Charlotte Mason.’

She encouraged reading “living books” – valuing quality over quantity. Her ideas about narration are worth considering; narration comes naturally to young children since they love to tell what they know or have seen. You can build a strong language arts program starting with this seemingly simple idea.

For ideas of quality books for preschool aged children according to this philosophy, check out Ambleside’s Year O book suggestions.

We used Charlotte Mason’s ideas of narration in our homeschool, and many of Ambleside’s book suggestions are on our shelves. However, I hadn’t found this site when my children were young, and I encouraged reading of many books, which seems contradictory to the advice given of quality over quantity.

I think you must decide how best to proceed with your children. I read a lot of books to my kids when they were little. This included lots of silly stories and simple books and sometimes we lost ourselves in a good series. They would struggle to carry all of their books home from the library because they would check out so many.

If you love books and love reading, and encourage your children to love books as well, I don’t think there is a ‘wrong’ way to read to your child.

Learners and learning

Our youngest was reading chapter books by kindergarten with very little instruction from me – she loved reading and there was no such thing as holding her back. And I wouldn’t have if I could have. I encouraged that love every way I could, and to this day, she is an avid reader.

We often applaud accomplishments that point to academic success, and we should.

And we also should value the child that is fascinated with how things work and can be found dismantling their toys to see inside, or who wants to identify all the birds’ nests, or who builds intricate designs with a Lego set, or who finds classical music particularly soothing, or who has worn out the pages of a dinosaur book…there is no end to the beauty within the individualism of our children.

Academics are important and will have their time.

Interests and playing and curiosity and that incredible, insatiable memory have their time as well, and the window of time is shorter than it seems when you’re in it. Enjoy it and let it be what it is, without the pressures of what you think it should or shouldn’t be.

Playing

One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is the carefree freedom to play.

To imagine and to get lost in those imaginary worlds, to dream and believe in those dreams, to enjoy the day as an opportunity to play and pretend, is not only giving your child the priceless opportunity to be a child, without the stresses and worries of adult life, but to also learn and grow in the most healthy way.

“Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development.”

“The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds” from the American Academy of Pediatrics

 It seems so simple, yet we sometimes so easily forget in our hurried pace of our busy lives that there is much more going on when children play. The benefits of play are obvious and logical. Yet we sometimes think we must do more, offer more, plan more, to keep up in a fast paced world where we want our children to succeed.

The truth is, the best start you can give your children is the opportunity to enjoy their childhood and play.

If Your Preschooler Wants to “Do School”

Some young children ask for ‘school work.’ Certainly this isn’t a bad thing and is common especially in families where a young child wants to emulate an older brother or sister.

I’m not against incorporating young children into your school day and certainly think it is beneficial and even necessary in large families. When I encourage letting young children explore and follow their natural curiosities, I’m certainly not discouraging letting a child learn to write their letters or add numbers or anything you think is best.

This is the beauty of homeschool. You know your children and you can offer them the environment that sets them up for a lifetime of learning.

Flexibility of Preschool at Home

Do what seems best for your family, your situation, and your child. Don’t be overly concerned with the local public school calendar or what the kids down the street are doing – if your child is not interested in the alphabet in the fall when ‘school begins,’ don’t worry.

Keep reading. Keep playing. Keep trusting a child’s natural curiosity.

When December or February or April rolls around, and you feel that your child is ready to learn his letters, introduce them. Or wait until next year.

You know best. You may not get everything right every time, but that’s OK. Because you have their best interests at heart, so try things and be willing to be flexible.

If you begin teaching and your child isn’t ready, change the approach or give yourself permission to back off and come back to it later. Without panicking. Because they will learn all these things and so much more when they’re ready.

You’re learning as well when you begin this journey. You’re not failing if you regroup, reschedule, reset.

Homeschooling your Preschooler

If you are reading and talking to your child, allowing them to play and observe the world around them with wonder, and encouraging them to get outside and use their imaginations, explore, and naturally exercise their little bodies, you have all the tools you need for a successful preschool and a healthy, intelligent start to a successful academic career. Not to mention your child has a fantastic life, period.