what type of abilites are age appropriate for a 2 yo, what should he be learning... Let me back up, I have a very bright 2 year old. I'm very new to the whole homeschooling thing, but I"d like to know what types of things I should be teaching him. Is there somewhere I can find a checklist of things a 2yo, a 3 yo, (etc) should be able to do so I know what types of things to work on with him? I don't particularly need a curriculum, I have enough teaching experience to figure out how to teach my concepts, I just need to know which concepts to work on. A place to get ideas on what to work on next... that sort of thing can anyone help? elissa
Welcome, Elissa! I'm Jackie. I have three kids...10, 8, and 5, and have homeschooled from the start. You will find that many of us here are very opinionated! But the number one rule with homeschooling is that there is no RIGHT or WRONG way to do it. So if someone (me included, LOL!) says something you don't buy, you are free to ignore it, KWIM? Having said that... I believe with all my heart that you shouldn't "teach" 2YOs. At least not formally. Much of their learning is done by reading to them, talking with them, commenting on everything that's happening around them. They are not ready for paper-and-pencil stuff. They might be very happy with matching pictures, but only if it's in a game, and they can decide when they're "done", rather than forcing them to stay unti they're done. Some skills you can easily "teach" a 2YO include one-on-one correspondance. You can have them help set the table: Oh, here's a spoon. Go put it at by Daddy's plate. Here's another; put it by Mommy's plate. Here's your spoon; put it by your plate. Or you can count out three spoons...one for Mommy, one for Daddy, and one for you. Can you put one at each plate? Sorting and classifying can be done with the laundry. Or matching socks. Count steps as you go up and down them. When you walk to across the parking lot, you hold one of her hands and DH hold the other. Then count 1,2,3 SWING!!! And later, you can count to ten or whatever. Count the number of jelly beans you give him at one time. LOOK!!! You have two green ones and one red one! Let's count how many you have together (which is where my 5 YO preK son is right now, LOL!) Count pictures of bunnies, birds, flowers, whatever on the page of a book as you read it. Have them point out the RED or BLUE or GREEN balloon.... Again, the idea is to keep it as fun as possible. Young children learn through play. We don't want to bog them down with formal learning too early. Many are not "ready" for it yet, and even those that are can easily get turned off to learning when it becomes a chore. Right now, just work at creating an environment thatfosters learning and creativity.
Hi elissa! I'm Jo and I have two kids, Sarah nearly 3 1/2, and Daniel nearly 6 months. It's great you have also got into homeschooling so young. I have been reserching hs since before my daughter was born and am sure it's the best chooce. There are a few check lists around but I would be carful with those, some seem realy advanced to me, although if your child is very bright you may not find them to be so. I think the trap can be if your two or three year old is not meeting and may be way of meeting some goals is worry then presure then stress, kwim? Kids this age are sooo different I have found that no list can really 'get it'. http://www.geocities.com/heartland/forest/2468/skillslistage2.html#2 If he seems bright to you then he's doing fine, and you must have been doing the right things before, so just keep doing them Basicly as Jackie said play, talk, read, show him the world, offer him toys he can learn with such as water,sand, puzzles, blocks, play doe and large beads. As far as actual concepts, play games or read books on counting, ABC, colours, shapes, positions such as under and besides, and oppisites such as hard and soft as well as long and short. Thats about all I can think of at the moment. Have fun!
Hi Elissa.... Welcome too I have 3 boys, 10yo 8yo and 4yo...and you wouldn't think that was a *loaded* question :lol: but it could very well be :wink: . The reason I say that is having taught the older two to read, I can say they were just about on the opposite ends of the spectrum so to speak as they could possibly be. Developmentally, they both were on the same level, imho in the 2 yo and even 3yo age. It wasn't until about 3 1/2 that I noticed the oldest *ready to go on* and the second * wanting to stay right there on the ABC's*. Yes my oldest read when he turned 5, but my middle one at every bit of 6. I can tell you this that I don't think the one that came to the *reading table* later enjoys it any less than the former one,kwim? So now on my 3rd one who is 4yo and trying to read all I can say is *whatever* LOL :lol: I have learned to sit back and enjoy the teaching/learnig process. I do know one thing: That the child who has a print ready enviroment and is read too and does tons of hands ons activities in his early years as opposed to lots of writing and formal adamecis they seem to enjoy learning. Just the plain fact of learning anything delights them. With that being sad though, i do have very fond and vivid memories of my first few years. I too was filled with the same questions: What is normal? Are they ahead? Are they gifted? Are they not?....and you should seek guides... Here is website that will help you that I referrred to.. http://www2.worldbook.com/wc/browse?id=pa/tcs Just remember they are GUIDES only.....If your background is in teaching, then you already know how to keep track of what concepts your child learns on what dates... That is what I did..I wrote down dates when each child knew the basic shapes, could recite the whole alphabet by memory, then when they could recognize the letters, then when they could recognize the letters *out of order*,etc... There are a lot more concepts that have to deal with *writing readiness* and *math readiness* and *reading readiness * skills. These skills include left to right, reading top to bottom. Find the front fo the book, the back of the book. What is an author? What is an illustrator?...I also pointed out the *dots* and called them dots, then called them periods.. I point out several things when I'm reading like the quotation marks I call *talking marks* and the question mark.... I worked on simple AB patterns then progressed to ABC or AABB,etc. We also worked on fine motor skills everyday..... All these things can start around 2 yos or 2 1/2 depending on your child's willingness to listen and do... A lot of children know the alphabet by 3yo and can count to 10 or even 20 by 3. My oldest and youngest can/could. But not my middle one...again, it hasn't affected him at any stage for all the worrying I have done :lol: I always remember there are kids who will be ahead of mine, on the same level and behind. So when you get a *bunch* that is mixed, it makes for a nice variety and spice in your home educating. I have so enjoyed the differences. So enjoy the journey and welcome again Blessings
Oh, another thing, Ellissa! I also have a background in Special Ed. So when my oldest turned four and said, "Mommy, when are you going to teach me to read?" I was at a complete loss. What I finally did was sit down and write her an IEP! I listed what she already knew, and what I felt she should be able to learn within a year. She already knew both upper and lower case letters (she was like Tina's oldest one!), so my goals included reading CVC words, recognize sounds in beginning, medial, and ending positions, recognizing some "sight words". Patterning (as Tina mentioned), recognizing numbers to 100 (she already knew her numerals to 10 and a little beyond), and simple addition/subtraction using counters. After that first year of having an IEP to work from, I've never done another. But it sure was a big help at the time!
Thanks for the info you guys! and let me throw my weight into the NO FORMAL SCHOOLING FOR YOUNGSTERS argument. I'm SOOOO with you on that one. Alex probably won't see any worksheets or flash cards until he's 6 maybe. All of our learning is done with story books, puzzles, blocks, magnets... you get the idea. He just seems to lap up everything I teach him. he already knows his letters (letter recognition and consonant sounds) numbers to 15, colors, shapes, car models (thank dad for that one). I'm running out of things to teach this kid! He has a great attention span, and he's very teachable, so I really want to take advantage of that. Thanks you guys, anyone else want to throw in their opinion something else alex and I can work on? elissa
Car models? LOL.... There really IS something about boys, ya know? By that age, my son went down an aisle at the local department store and named every single ball in the sports department (and his dad is NOT a sports fan even!!!)
One thing that my kids LOVED (and didn't realize they were actually LEARNING anything) were the LeapFrog videos. We noticed they were repeating songs and lines from cartoons, movies, etc. and thought, "Why not give them something good to memorize?" We checked them out from the library, and later purchased them at Wal-Mart. They have one on letter sounds, one on combining letters into words, and one that teaches counting. It's set as a fun cartoon and has really catchy songs for everything. After the first time they watched it, my 2yo started singing "The A says Ahhhhh....." everytime she recognized the letter while we were out. It was great!! In fact, they learned their phonics before they learned the letters of the alphabet. Making learning fun is most important thing you can do at this young age!!
I always look at those "educational" videos at the library, but my dh never lets me get them. He always says "you have a degree in education - YOU TEACH THEM!" but maybe I"ll ignore him when I go this week, and get some anyway. Yes I CAN teach them, but maybe these will reinforce them... plus it'll keep him quiet while the girls are sleeping. hee hee elissa
Ellissa, what a bright little guy you have, no wonder your wondering what to teach him lol he's already got all the kindergarden concepts. :lol: How are his physical skills? large and fine moter? Perhapes concentrate more on craft, cutting with sissors, threading beads, riding a trycicle, catching and throwing balls etc. I think if I was you I would look around or make some games to re-enforce what he knows and to extend it somewhat. If he knows the basic shapes why not extend those and add in cresant, cone, hexagon etc. Same for colours bring in other colours or shades of colours like grey, hot pink, lilac, kahki etc. Maybe he would like to sort buttons into an egg container. I wouldn't expect him to jump into reading, although then again he might. I have heard that some children can learn letters and not go further for some years. It certainly wouldn't hurt to teach him vowel sounds and show him some cvc words that can be put togther with some picture cards. Personaly I think flash cards are great! they make nice large game cards. To play Memery or finding the mate you start with 6, so there are 3 pairs. Turn them upside down and mix them around. Then he turnins over cards to find the pairs. letter'b' card is the mate to the card with the ball picture, or the word 'dog' goes with the picture of the dog etc. With the numbers I would keep going as he enjoys it, even up to 100. I would also try some games, simple ones with a large dice and a character that can hop around a board. You can get all kinds of counters in animal or car shapes to play, count and sort. Maybe he would like to play at patterns. one green car counter, one blue, one green, one? You might also like to invest in a good ballance scale with a 'bucket' an each end (this is something I want to buy for my dd) so plastic animals, counters, or water can be measured.
Hi Elissa.... I don't know what it is about our *Firsts*, but somehow a lot of them are advanced for their age.. :wink: Though this is not the case with all of them, a lot are just very serious and dependable. Along with that though, I could tell my oldest from a very young age expected everything *just right* and IF it wasn't WOWEE we had a meltdown. :shock: He is still that way when it comes to learning.....If he can't it get it quick, he's STEAMED. :shock: I have to say I have loved all the Leap Pad phonics and reading programs. I would highly recommend them....Go to their website to see what they all have... Also, get him started on www.starfall.com. It is a free on line reading program...I don't know about your son, but mine was very *technical too at two* :lol: He figured out real quick how to click and run the computer....Starfall has the alphabet and rhyming and beginning reading.. It is very interactive,nice sounding,fun and free. This is the only computer time my 4yo is allowed since I limit computer time along with TV. :wink: In addition, most young kids can recognize both upper case and lower case when they are shown together. I gather since you have a teaching degree :wink: that you know that the lower case letters need to be recognized separately from the capitals. For example, I will test my son one day and he gets 26/26 of the letters when I flash both the uppercase and lowercase letters, then when I flash just lower case letter its about 18/26 consistently or what I call consistently...Some days more some days less...So this is what we have been working on along with him trying to read the Bob books..... Also, another suggestion to do nothing but literature activities.. We do this ALL THE TIME.. We take a book and we do SOMETHING with it for working on recall and oral retelling skills. For example, today we read * If you Give a Mouse a Cookie* then we got a paperplate and fingerpainted it brown...then we used black to make dots to look like chocolate chips on a giant cookie.. Then we cut a triangle (turned sideways) on each side of the plate. This makes a *window*....I attached 2 wheels with brads on each window. So on the right side of the plate you turn the window and it showed a mouse with a cookie and he would say * if you give a mouse a cookie* then hewould turn the wheel on the left side to find the picture of the milk...So now he says *I'm reading* :lol: So he keeps turning each wheel working on his recall and oral skills. I do this I guess lots more than I did anything else besides read as far as the languarge arts skills were concerned. Well, i did also have them draw their *masterpiece* and I put their words under their picture. So you can use poems, fairy tales, factual books....We did Goodnight moon and I find sites that have the pictures and we colored it and glued on popsicle sticks and acted that one out last week...We read books about space and did a space drawing with chalk and glitter...We ate *space food* I found at the teacher's supply store.. We will do a poem about a Teddy Bear tomorrow and make one... We did a lapbook on the Ginger bread man .......... For math, I played store with ALL of the kids..Real simple prices like: 2 marks or lines is two instead of numbers at first, then I would use both marks and numbers together and label our plastic food and wooden food... I also got the kids going regulary to story time at the library just because our librarian was worth her weight in gold when it came to finding good books.... Those are a few of the things I have done ......
Tina I am very impressed with your activities. Where do you get your ideas from.? I have an activity book for arts and projects that my girls l love but I also like yours. I won't mind if you update us on your projects from time to time. that would be great Randa
Randa.... Well, let's see how do I say this: I pull a lot of them out of my BUTT :lol: ROFL....I think by the third child you might be able to make up SOMETHING :lol: Nooo..but seriously, a lot I do pull from books because it makes the job so much easy.. I tell you what has been the best resources for me....I use to spend tons of time scouring the net for free print outs on stories and literature :shock: and I did find some but usually not enough for a good amount of time.... So the best little tools I have found are a series of books called Mailbox. Most public school teachers use them...they have ALL kinds and ALL grades... The ones that I got the most use out of were the ones entitled *Literature*.....Basically it is a huge book that has pictures and activities to do with the books that are listed in the table of contents.. So I take a look at the table of contents to see if I have most of the books,which I usually do by the third kid and then I purchase the book. The book is WONDERFUL, you can't find that many figures and animals if you scoured the net every day ALL DAY.... Another one he wants to do is the Sleeping House...It has all the animals on one page,,it has the old lady, the dog, the cat and even the flea.... We just copy the page since I have a copier at home, we color cut out and you count mount them anyway you like. YOu can put on popsicle sticks or I have strips of peelable magnet backs to place on the back and you can put them on a magnetic board which I have too. OR put velcro on and put them on a felt board that I have too...... Also, Evan Moore does those themed books called *pocket books*.. One they have is called nursery rhymes. It looks real sweet ..where you make little books that are movable...... I just dont' what I am going to do when the youngest moves out of this stage, I have liked this age/level of teaching so much.... I think the Mailbox also makes the books called Learning Library that I use with my 4yo...I use the Math and Reading one for Kindergarten. Its a combination colorful workbook and it has ideas and crafts...Beautiful layout and good too! That is where some of my ideas come from.......... Does that help? Tina
Elissa, I started with my four year old when she was 18 mos. I used Mailbox Magazine, preschool level. Now that we have internet I used www.thevirtualvine.com a lot, plus www.hubbardscupboard.com It is true those Leapfrog videos are excellent. Tell your husband to ignore the whine of the VCR and pop one of those in for your little one. I'm a believer in starting as early as you can to teach a little one, and I don't mean drab, uninteresting worksheets and the like.
Hey, Tina- were you talking about Literature for Little Learners? We're using that right now. I like all the Mailbox magazines!
Wow! what a wealth of resources you guys are! I"m so glad I found this board! Thanks for all your tips, I'm going to have to go back through them, and process them a little better. On a side note, I"m so with you on the first born thing. Ever read anything about birth order? I'm reading the birth order book by Kevin Leman, and it explains a lot! I'm interested to know which of my twins will take on the "middle child" persona and who will take the "baby" persona. thanks guys! elissa
