This article first appeared in The Informer Magazine, Summer 2014.
Summer 2014
As I look back over my early years of homeschooling, I remember being totally shocked by how easy it could be versus how difficult I had made it (in my own mind, that is). When I thought of preschool, I thought of workbooks and craft projects. I had even anticipated my first child being some prodigy reader and just taking off. Little did I know that preschool is not about numbers and letters but about overall development and recognizing a child’s readiness to learn. After reading some books and magazines, and then attending a few workshops at the IAHE convention, I was armed and ready.
The first thing you should know is that preschool is not necessary. Your child can be a very successful student without doing preschool worksheets or curricula. God created the little mind of a child to learn no matter what he or she is doing. As long as a child is actively playing and conversing, he is learning. Give your child lots of “raw” materials to facilitate that learning: building blocks, Legos, Play-doh, cars, materials to make roads for cars, etc. Don’t think such play is irrelevant to learning! It is an outlet for creativity, which can solve a multitude of problems as he gets older. Never squelch creativity.
A BIG creativity killer is the television. Consider placing strict limits on what I call “tech” time. Tech time includes TV, handheld games, video game consoles, and computers—all of which can be useful for teaching, but too much time can have the opposite effect. For my family, when the kids were young they were only allowed a half hour to watch something on TV, and then another half hour of playing something on the computer. Of course this was adjusted occasionally, especially when someone was sick, but the idea is that the child is using her brain—not amusing it.
Other than just good old-fashioned play, some other things you can do to prepare your kiddos for formal learning are:
Read, read, read! If they are able to listen long enough, start reading chapter books to them. If they are fidgety, let them draw or play with Legos or Play-doh while you read. Start with fun classics such as Little House on the Prairie or The Chronicles of Narnia. Reading to them develops listening skills as well as a host of other cognitive functions that will benefit them the rest of their lives.
Play games. A child learns to take turns as well as any skill a game has to offer. I tend toward “thinking” games. There are a plethora of games for the preschool age; look for those that teach thinking skills rather than games that are just silly. Preschoolers really don’t need any help with silliness—they are natural experts.
Practice fine motor skills. Anything that increases awareness of what their fingers are doing will help greatly in their readiness for writing. Get some lacing cards, or make some of your own. Get a tub and put rice in it and put pennies or other small objects in the rice. Have the child find them and place them in a bowl. Practice pouring—pour water, pour rice, pour sugar. Practice cutting. Draw some straight and wavy lines on a piece of paper and have your child cut them out. Praise the effort, even if they are nowhere close to the line. As time goes on, that will improve. Cutting is hard for little hands.
Teach shapes and colors. There are all sorts of preschool workbooks out there, but you can easily make your own. Play a game of drawing a shape—let’s say a square—and the child can trace it or cut it out and then go around the house to find as many different things as possible which are that shape. You can do the same with colors—teaching primary colors first. Do all kinds of sorting games to teach color or shapes. Get a package of foam shapes that are in primary colors and you can have them sort by color or shape. Mix it up.
Workbooks and curricula for preschool ages are wonderful resources, but don’t feel like you have to do everything in the book. You know your child better than anyone else! When my first child turned four, we began doing some workbooks. I found out rather early on that she was not ready. I spent many a day frustrating us both by trying to stick to the books. My last child started kindergarten level work at the age of four because she was ready. So don’t get frustrated! Go back to the fun side and test the waters again in six months. You’ll know when they’re ready.
Exercise! This one is so important. I’m sure you know how much energy a preschooler has. Set up an obstacle course where there is lots of jumping, climbing, and running. All these help get out energy but also help develop a habit of daily exercise and practice for those large motor skills. I have been known to make my kids run laps around the outside of the house when the energy level is too high.
Rest! Believe it or not, the preschool age child still needs ten to twelve hours of sleep each day. Some may have outgrown naptime. If so, adjust bedtime to compensate. A sleepy kid can seem more hyper or just plain irritable, and neither is easy to deal with. Put them to bed early and let them wake up on their own as much as possible.
There are lots of books out there to help you with your preschoolers, so I encourage you to pick up a couple and glean from them what will work for your family. That’s the beauty of homeschooling: you go at the pace that the child needs and are not forced into a predetermined mold. Preschool is a delightful time of discovery—enjoy it!
Rebecca Barnes has been homeschooling her four daughters for 15 years. She and her husband, Steve, are Region 13 Reps and are active in their local church as well. She has had a wide variety of experiences in homeschooling ranging from the gifted to the average to special needs child–that learned very differently. She loves the closeness that homeschooling brings to the family.