We don't have a lot of money so I didn't buy any kind of teaching books for my son this year. We are starting preschool and I found a nice free curriculum online and I have been using it. I have spent hours and hours and hours researching and printing and preparing turning out living room into a homemade school room but all that stuff hasn't prepared me for a son who has no interest in learning. We are doing cows as our weekly theme this week and yesterday it went ok. ds has some speech issues so getting him to pronounce things correctly was very hard and upsetting to me. By the time we got to our craft time we were just going to do something easy our first day so we were going to color a cow printout and ds just took a crayon and made two scribbles and threw it on the floor then laughed. I had no idea what to do by then and to make matters worse Hubby thought he would help out and said he found a cute video on youtube about cows for them to watch. It turned out to be an innappropriate video about cow poop and bombs. Then i got upset at hubby for not watching it before and he got mad that i was mad and it was just a horrible day. Today hubby is at work and my 2 year old dd just is clinging and won't stop. Everytime i try to focus on ds she starts screaming and yelling for attention. Even though its only day 2 im ready to just sit down and cry.
How old is your son? My three year old started pre-k yesterday, and I think the coloring thing is pretty common in preschoolers, even kindergarteners. Do not worry. In preschool, you can relax a little... he will be fine. Just do short work periods, stopping when he loses interest. Then start up after he has had a break. Preschool does not take very long each day to complete. I thought it was sweet that your husband tried to help... that is so funny. Just tell him to actually watch it next time, because your son is not learning about poop and bombs. As far as not spending a lot of money, don't worry. I spent a lot of money when my daughter was in pre-k, and I hated the curriculum and never finished it. It had sooooo much prep work, I just got burned out. Sounds like you have the right idea!
Please try and relax and don't worry. You really do not accomplish anything by trying to start early schooling except frustrating yourself and your child. He will learn all he needs just by playing with you. Play , do little puzzles, color, etc.. I did not start anything until my children were 6 or so. They are now ages 29 down to age 11 Please get these books if you can off Amazon. Both are by Raymond and Dorothy Moore Better Late Than Early The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook
(((HUGS))) Agreeing with Bren. There is no need to push anything this young, this early, especially seat type work. Go with the flow and interests. Read to him A LOT. Play games. This is how I've handled preK, kinder and 1st with all three of my kids (okay, the youngest is still preK). Anyway, all three of my kids LOVE learning because they've learned to discover on their own. And they settle into seat work as the get more mature. My middle who last year HATED seat work, is still a bit slow at it this year but does not argue and fight and is picking up speed. My oldest...she is a box checker and is done school fast! LOL Anyway....slow down, hug yourself, hug your child, have fun and enjoy them!
I second the suggestion to simply play with him. Preschool is a fancy way of saying daycare (and make working parents feel better about sending their children). So if your child doesn't need daycare, he doesn't need preschool. He won't be behind. He won't read "late." You won't be an awful mom. Right now he's going to learn best by playing with you. Yes, you can make your games geared toward learning (e.g. sorting games, counting games, coloring letters....), but it should be fun for him. The last thing you want is a toddler who already hates the word "school."
I never did any formal preschool with any of my children, it was all about play. We played games and did activities that inspired learning in a fun way. There is plenty of time later for them to sit and learn from books, right now let his classroom be the world around him.
What is this "starting" pre-K? Pre-K is just doing what you've BEEN doing with them. EVERYTHING is done pretty much in the context of play and life. You learn to count by counting the steps in your house. You learn one-to-one correspondence by setting the table. You learn colors at the grocery store. Yes, you might sit them down time to time and do worksheets, etc., but even they should be STUDENT-DIRECTED!!! I am NOT against kids following their interests. I'm all for kids learning how to read at age 3 IF THEY ARE INTERESTED. Why do we think we need a specific curriculum for that age? We just buy into the lie that "the experts" are more qualified than us to know what's best for our kids.
I agree with Bren. Let them explore. Here is a good animal site you can have your children look at. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner3.htm
Sounds like your dd may be a wee bit jealous over the attention you are giving your ds. I would set up two desks and let your dd participate. Give her paper and color crayons or a coloring book and see if feeling included helps. When my oldest started K my youngest wanted to do exactly what his brother was doing and it worked out well for us allowing him to start K two years early.
hugs, you have pleanty of time to do anyting, at your dc's age coloring playign with legos and such is learning!
I think it's okay to do preschool. However, I think there is a difference in opinion of what preschool is. My preschooler did two pages yesterday. They took maybe 5 mins. to complete. Just learning to draw lines and a little coloring. Eventually he will have an introduction to letters. Still this should take no more than 10 minutes. I used to be a preschool teacher, and yes, most children there go b/c the parents work. They learn a little, but most is just what everyone else said... playing. Preschool should not, IMO, be formal learning. Just little bits of work at a time. Lots of singing, art, etc. As far as my three year old, if he learns anything, great. If not, oh well... he's young. There should be no pressure at this age. If they don't want to do it, let them get up and do something else. Again, this is my opinion. I agree with "light preschool", not rigorous preschool.
Hi MommyMichelle, Sorry you had such a bad start! What is your son interested in? Explore those things with him. If he is into dogs then read about dogs, count dogs, color dogs, go to a pet store, teach your dog a trick, learn that dog starts with d, etc. Go with his interests and you may find a more willing learner. I'm not a preschool fan either. I didn't start my eldest on anything school-like until age 5 1/2. My second child started at 4 1/2 but wasn't very interested in anything school-like until age 5. Something helpful for me to remember is that play is the work of the child. Playing is how young children learn best. Children with good play skills have a greater likelyhood to go on to have good language arts skills. You don't have to have a cartload of fancy toys either because your child needs to develop imaginative skills.
Sending lots of hugs yoru way. As a mom of high school boys....read to your kids and enjoy them. I promise you won't regret it later on. Start slowly with your son-you will know when to speed things up. And you don't need a fancy curriculum. Grab a Sonlight catalog and check books out at the library and get a few workbooks from Walmart. You will be doing more than most kids get in school because your children will have your one on one attention.
All excellent suggestions. It is so easy to get caught up in what WE think school should be like and loose focus on why we are homeschooling. Play Play Play and read read read... (definitely preview youtube. Ha ha) Your son can't do preschool wrong...it is PRE school...if you have specific exercises to do for his speech that might be plenty for "school" Some kiddo's don't like to color. I have one that paid his brother to complete one of those fuzzy posters that he got as a gift. He would do the one line of red where it said and one line of blue on the sky...he knew what he was "supposed" to do, just thought it was tedious to do it. (still doesn't write much...but can type up a storm) Instead of spending as much time front loading your curriculum try this. Just go through your day and try to be aware of what he is doing...write it down. Look at what the "experts" think he should be learning at his age, you will be surprised, for the most part with little effort (from you) he will be practicing those skills.
