Had the baby yet, I mean--although I'm working on it, still having contractions and keeping the Husband in a ferment by alternately deciding my water's about to break or that I'll just stay pregnant until Littleman is ready to go to college. Pfff. Enough about that.
I thought you might like some homeschooling thoughts! Because I can!
Here's the thing. Miss Boo is only 3, but likes school. However, she doesn't get worksheets, and I don't know that worksheets are the best way to teach concepts anyway. The way that Miss Boo does a worksheet is to do the activity--say, tracing the letter "T"--but then improve upon it. Generally this means coloring in the entire box in which she was supposed to trace the letter "T". Because it was empty, and it looks better to her colored in. The result of this is that, while she does the work, our worksheets would never pass muster in a state where we had to prove we were doing work.
At age 3 I am not worrying about it. I doubt the trend will continue, but even if it does, at age 7 when I have to start proving to the state that I'm not locking her in a closet with old Days of Our Lives episodes, she'll be able to reason and understand that she needs to complete a few inferior worksheets for recordkeeping purposes. My advice, or at least what I'm doing, is therefore this:
1. Don't get too hung up on doing it right, especially at first. Keep letters, numbers, and learning as fresh and exciting as you can, and have as much fun as you can. Any "school" is better than watching endless episodes of Dora. Trust me.
2. Don't spend a lot of money on fancy worksheet books. They'll just get colored in. If you feel you *must* have worksheets for a preschooler, you can try Rod & Staff, who sell high-quality, cheap workbooks. I bought a set for Miss Boo that, in retrospect, I should have saved for next year. However, it was only $20 for seven workbooks, so I think I'll probably just re-purchase them when Miss Boo has the sit-still-ability for them.
3. Read aloud a lot. Listen to music. Look at pictures. Walk outside. Don't worry.
4. But try to set up a routine, for your sanity's sake. It helps to get up, go to bed, eat, and read at vaguely the same times each day. I expect this one to go out the window any moment when Littleman puts in his appearance. He may wind up like his older brother and shock me with his good-natured adaptability, but I am bracing myself for the worst--he may be like his older sister, and decide that sleep is a punishment.
(Item: Buddy slept six hours at a time when he was two weeks old. I thought children like that were a myth. Miss Boo had so thoroughly trained me to deal with a kid who was, seriously, made drastically uncomfortable by such things as a polyester sock or a crooked blanket that I worried there was something wrong with Buddy, he was so mellow. This is the irony of childrearing.)
Now I hear Buddy chirruping from his bed, where he just woke up from his nap. Ciao.
Cheers,
Breanna
I thought you might like some homeschooling thoughts! Because I can!
Here's the thing. Miss Boo is only 3, but likes school. However, she doesn't get worksheets, and I don't know that worksheets are the best way to teach concepts anyway. The way that Miss Boo does a worksheet is to do the activity--say, tracing the letter "T"--but then improve upon it. Generally this means coloring in the entire box in which she was supposed to trace the letter "T". Because it was empty, and it looks better to her colored in. The result of this is that, while she does the work, our worksheets would never pass muster in a state where we had to prove we were doing work.
At age 3 I am not worrying about it. I doubt the trend will continue, but even if it does, at age 7 when I have to start proving to the state that I'm not locking her in a closet with old Days of Our Lives episodes, she'll be able to reason and understand that she needs to complete a few inferior worksheets for recordkeeping purposes. My advice, or at least what I'm doing, is therefore this:
1. Don't get too hung up on doing it right, especially at first. Keep letters, numbers, and learning as fresh and exciting as you can, and have as much fun as you can. Any "school" is better than watching endless episodes of Dora. Trust me.
2. Don't spend a lot of money on fancy worksheet books. They'll just get colored in. If you feel you *must* have worksheets for a preschooler, you can try Rod & Staff, who sell high-quality, cheap workbooks. I bought a set for Miss Boo that, in retrospect, I should have saved for next year. However, it was only $20 for seven workbooks, so I think I'll probably just re-purchase them when Miss Boo has the sit-still-ability for them.
3. Read aloud a lot. Listen to music. Look at pictures. Walk outside. Don't worry.
4. But try to set up a routine, for your sanity's sake. It helps to get up, go to bed, eat, and read at vaguely the same times each day. I expect this one to go out the window any moment when Littleman puts in his appearance. He may wind up like his older brother and shock me with his good-natured adaptability, but I am bracing myself for the worst--he may be like his older sister, and decide that sleep is a punishment.
(Item: Buddy slept six hours at a time when he was two weeks old. I thought children like that were a myth. Miss Boo had so thoroughly trained me to deal with a kid who was, seriously, made drastically uncomfortable by such things as a polyester sock or a crooked blanket that I worried there was something wrong with Buddy, he was so mellow. This is the irony of childrearing.)
Now I hear Buddy chirruping from his bed, where he just woke up from his nap. Ciao.
Cheers,
Breanna
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