When I ask young mothers who are feeling drawn to homeschool why they want to homeschool, one reason stands out, they want to preserve the innocence of their children and make learning joyful.
It is not hard to notice that a growing number of parents are following their intuition which is telling them that there is something very wrong happening in formal education today and that it is their job to save their children. Not all of these new homeschool parents can explain exactly why they feel homeschool calling to them, but they feel confident enough that they can provide what their young children need better than our educational institutions. This is good. What is not good is when, out of ignorance, well meaning parents simply copy the public school model at home without understanding that it's not just pernicious social influences within the education systems that are dangerous to children but the order and structure of how and when academic skills are taught that is causing harm.
One of the questions most asked by new homeschool parents is about what curriculum to use for their young child just starting out in homeschool. In this blog post I hope to impart some sound advise on how to build a developmentally appropriate approach to education in your home. With this knowledge you will be able to recognize what to teach and when to teach it and your search for good resources and curriculum to help you meet your goals will not seem as daunting.
What Public Schools Are Doing Wrong:
Our formal systems of education today use instructional models based on standards and testing requirements that are not developmentally appropriate. This means that the standard requirements that have been set and the type of instruction that is delivered to meet those requirements are not fitted to the developmental needs appropriate to the age of the student. In simple terms, our public schools teach the wrong skills at the wrong age and in so doing they stifle essential stages of cognitive development.
All modern state led education initiatives such as, NCLB, Race to the Top, and now Common Core, are built on the pernicious beliefs that education is a race—and that the earlier you start, the earlier you finish. They assume that learning follows the same principles at all age levels—ignoring the science of brain development and the fact that academic skills, which in their logical complexity and difficulty, are not suited to all stages of brain development. Thus we see schools trying to teach algebraic concepts to five year old's and structured writing skills to 1st graders, while time in their seats in direct instruction is continually increasing and the stress of standardized testing dogs them every year they are in school.
How is a Developmentally Appropriate Education Different:
In a developmentally appropriate education the question isn't what curriculum to use when a child is five years old, but rather what should I teach and how should I teach it. Resources like apps, games, manipulatives, and curriculum can be helpful in teaching your children the foundations of education; reading, writing, and arithmetic, but more important than all of these components is an understanding of how children learn and the basics of human development science.
In a developmentally appropriate classroom (home), children are busy taking care of plants and animals, experimenting with sand and water, drawing and painting, listening to songs and stories, and engaging in dynamic play. It is hard to believe that these young children can learn more from work sheets than they do from engaging in these age-appropriate activities. For home instruction to be superior to public school one must first free their educational philosophies from the cage of public school instruction and build a dynamic developmentally appropriate learning environment for their home.
Learning for young children should always start as play. Children should learn almost entirely through play and physical work up to the age of 6-7, and remain a component of education through elementary school. Those calling for hours of direct academic instruction of the young don’t seem to appreciate that math and reading are complex skills acquired in stages related to age. Children will acquire these skills more easily and more soundly if their lessons accord with the developmental sequence that parallels their cognitive development. Don't start too early on concepts your child’s brain is simply not yet ready for. If you wait for the right developmental stage you will discover that teaching a child reading, writing, and arithmetic will not be as hard or stressful for either of you. There are some exceptions with children who have serious learning challenges, such as a child who is dyslexic, but for struggling learner it is even more imperative that you do not push direct instruction and book work too early because their needs will require multi-sensory and systematic approaches at the right age.
What is most important in Early Ed is not a “rigorous” education but rather an enjoyable one. For young children learning should be fun, an education where creativity is cultivated, and curiosity is not squashed. The environment for learning is more important than the curriculum and teaching methods more important than resources. Don't stress yourself out, ignore the public schools standards and methods, and remember that a healthy happy child can learn what they need to know at any age (and much more quickly at the appropriate developmental phase) so there is no reason to be in a race or comparing your child to other children.
MY READ FIRST LIST:
Here I would recommend some important reading: "How Children Learn" by John Holt, "The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents" by Peter Grey Ph.D., Much Too Early, By DAVID ELKIND, and study Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, there are many sources for this as his work is foundational to our understanding of how children learn, here is a summary. And finally, I recommend that you and your spouse begin ordering your homeschool using principles taught by Nicholeen Peck in her book: "Parenting A House United: Changing Children's Hearts and Behaviors by Teaching Self-Government"
Relax and Have Fun, and Good Luck,
My Treasure Trove of Education Resources for Early Ed instruction
Here are the apps I like the most (they are in the apple app store):
- Endless ABC
- Endless Reader
- Endless Numbers
- Phonics Farm from 22Learn
- TallyTots
- Bob Books Apps
- Quick Math Jr.
- Phonogram Sounds: All About Learning Press
- Duck Duck Moose Apps: all the apps in this family of early ed apps are great the ones that you start with are
- Fish HD
- Reading HD
- Park Math
- Letter School App: This is a handwriting app that has the Handwriting Without Tears font as well as two other standard programs.
- MakeChange App: For learning money
- TT Clock: For learning time
Activities that help prepare a child prepare for reading and math:
- Leaf Frog Alphabet Magnet Toy
- Leap Frog "Letter Factory" DVD (other Leap Frog Videos)
- Word World program on PBS (Streams on Netflix)
- Read out loud to them!
- Doing Puzzles
- Learning Patterns (string beads in patterns), they make large wooden beads for toddlers
- Coloring; some toddlers won’t tolerate coloring and building things, painting, or clay would be better.
- Cut & Paste activities (and other small motor activities), Legos words for fine motor skills as well.
- Connect the dots; again, some toddlers and young children, especially kids who are likely dyslexic will not tolerate this kind of activity.
- Storytelling Activities
- School House Rock: all of the old stuff
Games we Love:
- Sequence for Kids
- Monopoly for Kids
- Rummy Card Games
- "Chunks: The Incredible Word Building Game" by Smart Kids: (for beginning readers; age 6)
- Bananagrams: You can use this for lots of early learning activities and you don't have to play the intended game. Early on I would have Charlie put a set of random letters together and we would try to sound out the word he made. Most of the time the words were a jumble of sounds, but it was funny and helped him understand that letters need to be placed in the order with vowels to make sounds and words we can understand.
- Learning Resources "Pop for Letters" game: All of their games are fun.
Curriculums Worth Having (just in case they seem ready before 6 or 7 years, I used some of these at 4 years old):
- “Parenting: A House United” by Nicholeen Peck (and her children’s books that go with the method)
- Explode the Code Primers
- Handwriting Without Tears
- All About Reading & All About Spelling: Level 1
- Horizon Math: Level 1
- Math Manipulatives, such as, base ten blocks, cuisenaire rods, abacus, teaching clock
- Math Inspirations Method
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