Beginning Our Homeschool Journey: Preschool, the Early Years Education at Home
*This blog post includes affiliate links. You can view my affiliate disclaimer here.
One quiet morning, I watched my daughter finish her breakfast, ask to be excused, wash her own hands and then move into our living room and begin playing. As I stood there, the sunlight pouring inside our living room, I realized… She’s not a toddler anymore. There was no more wobble to her step. There were no more words I couldn’t really decipher. She was potty trained, she was becoming very independent and she was leaning over a tiny spot on our carpet, explaining excitedly over the “tiny rainbows” she saw. She asked me how they got there and I had the opportunity to explain they were sunlight, refracting off the glass in our front door which acted like a prism and split the light into colors - or “rainbows”.
We moved on about our day, but that evening as I pondered the day, my thoughts began to turn back to the fact that my little girl was growing up. She had asked a curious question and was already old enough to understand light refraction in a small way. It was then that I realized I had a preschooler.
Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a similar situation? Maybe you, too, have noticed your little one is suddenly more mature and did they grow another inch?! Or you’re wondering if it’s time to teach them their ABC’s, 123’s and shapes and colors. Maybe you’re past that and wondering what you need to be doing now that they know those things and… what’s next?
It's really hard to know when to begin educational training. Or when not to. Or what to do first…And where to start.
My daughter is my first child so as she neared the age of three, I began to wonder if we should be doing something to start steering her towards school and learning. I asked my sister in law, an early education teacher in the public school system, what some things were that my daughter should know before she started kindergarten and my sister-in-law adamantly said, “How to tie her shoes!”
We laughed and she offered no further thoughts. But that conversation started me thinking… and researching.
So many precious mamas who homeschool or teachers who specialize in early education have shared both in person and online that the focus of the preschool years for them was much less about education and more about learning skills, emotional regulation and playing. This allows time for formal education (reading and writing) to begin between the ages of 5-6. This method really resonated with me.
My husband and I desire that our daughter have the most innocent and precious of childhoods, filled with wonder, exploring, imagination, creation and joy. We are in no hurry to press our precious, exuberant little girl into a rigid schedule that doesn’t allow room for these things. We hope to cultivate a curiosity about the world around her, a desire to make our world a better place, a passion to share Jesus with others and a deep love of learning. Those thoughts are what led me to begin to curate our lives and the spaces we occupy, while ushering in new rhythms, activities, books and toys as a means of home education in the early years.
I’ve also spent a great deal of time observing my daughter… Seeing what she loves, how she uses her hands, how she utilizes the tools we give her and what she naturally gravitates towards and what she does not.
I’m of the camp that if a child expresses an interest in learning something new, by all means, encourage it! With that being said, if my daughter asks me to read her a book, I always try to make time. If she asks me a question I don’t know the answer to, we find someone who does, we research it together and we then review that information excitedly. We encourage questions, ponderings and musings. We encourage imagination and construction. We encourage art. We allow for time to be bored, time in nature and time to just be curious.
As you read the rest of this post, please keep in mind that I am sharing my personal experience and what was right for our family, our daughter and myself at the time.
Each family, parent, child and situation is uniquely different so I encourage you to prayerfully consider the many aspects that go into education (whether it be at home, private school, unschooled or public school) and find what works best for you and your child, in that season. If you don’t know what to specifically pray for, simply let your heart do the talking and pray the Scripture below. God will lead you just as He did for us!
Proverbs 3:5-6
Here are some details that may help you understand a little bit more about us as you read this post.
We live in a small, older suburban home with only 1,100 sq. ft. making up our main living space and approx. 600 sq. ft used as a playroom and laundry area in our basement.
My home office is our shared space in a 9x9 room (the majority of our sensory toys, homeschool books, and related educational materials are stored in the office closet). We also have a small closet in our living room (a coat closet) converted into a child’s closet to store puzzles and open ended toys.
My personality is type A. I’m a bookish introvert who loves reading, planning, research and visual inspiration. I tend to do things in a slow methodical way and often require silence for concentration.
My daughter is extroverted, high energy, artistic and exuberant. She’s creative and loves to construct and build. She loves to piece things together. She struggles with focus and attention. She talks non stop and asks questions regularly. She learns well through music and does things at an always fast pace.
Here are some things we implemented into our home and routine:
(This was done around Sweetpea’s 2nd Birthday)
Open Ended Toys
Duplo Legos, Picasso Magnet Tiles, Mega Blocks, wooden blocks and puzzles
Sensory Play
Plastic bins with rice or beans, Play-doh, foam bubbles, cotton balls, nature items and water play, to name a few.
Art
Painting with washable paints and watercolors, crayons, markers, and stickers. Learn about our Wacky Art Wednesdays here.
Books
I actually started Sweetpea’s library before her birth, but we definitely grew it around this age!
These four simple things were budget friendly and simply required a little bit of intentionality on my part. Grandparents and family were open to my gift suggestions for birthdays and holidays and that helped as well.
*This blog post includes affiliate links. You can view my affiliate disclaimer here.
Lastly, I considered our home and the workspaces our daughter had. In addition to our kitchen table and living room coffee table, we utilized our highchair for art, bought a plastic child’s table and chair for our kitchen, thrifted a small desk and table for her bedroom and upcycled some end tables as a child-height workspace in our basement playroom. My husband also built a beautiful mud kitchen that we use outside on our deck too!
These things created a great foundation for our sweet girl. By her 3rd birthday, she was familiar with sensory play and using art supplies, as well as my rules to not dump or eat items, or draw on anything but paper. She could assemble a simple wooden puzzle and sit through a story (for the most part!), too.
In addition, she already knew her basic shapes, colors, how to count to ten and had a fairly good vocabulary. This was largely due, in part, to watching Little Baby Bum and Cocomelon. (Gasp! I know. Yes, I was one of “those” moms.) Listen friends, screentime is a tool. Use it wisely and limit it. You are in control of what your child does and does not watch when they are in your care. We simply choose to offer educational programming right along with Mickey Mouse and Paw Patrol. It’s all about balance.
The next steps I took, between ages 3-4:
Connect with other mamas both in my life and online. Asked them to share what they found to be working for their families. I was intentional about asking the same questions of mamas who homeschool, used private school, used public school and who simply hadn’t even started schooling for their little ones.
Continued to build our home library, offering a balance of both imaginative storybooks, Biblical-based books and books that were educational
Visited our local library and signed up for a library card then talked to the librarian about digital resources available to us (Hooray for Hoopla!) and storytime.
Began attending library storytime (we actually began this shortly after age 1 but made it more routine at 3).
Started a Pinterest board divided into categories for educational materials, printables and ideas I came across.
Continued to watch my daughter and observe how she learned new things best.
Focused heavily on emotional regulation using books, charts, colors and simple sentences, saying words like happy, sad, mad, disappointed and proud over and over.
Made time, space and allowances to allow my daughter to help me with cooking, baking, cleaning, laundry, groceries, gardening and made it fun at an age appropriate level.
Read lots and lots and lots of books to my daughter:
Read a handful of books myself on early education and homeschooling
Began to read about and understand the different methods of homeschooling. I’m still working on this! (Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Unschooling, etc). Here’s a great post on that from Homeschool Compass. I’m also reviewing different curriculum options.
Used family vacations, outings and events as a way to learn little tidbits of information. For example: we visited the aquarium while on vacation at the coast. Visited a pumpkin patch during the fall. Watched the Disney Frozen movie and learned that you can turn water into ice!
Spent lots of time in nature! We love 1000 Hours Outside for this reason.
Signed up for email newsletters from online homeschool companies. I set up a Gmail account dedicated simply to this and check it once a week. Here are a few of my favorites so far: For the Love of Homeschooling, Homeschool Compass, and Treehouse Schoolhouse
Incorporated audio stories and books into our daily rhythms. We highly recommend a Toniebox and Patch the Pirate
Continued to learn with music and educational shows! A handful of our favorite music options are Cedarmont Kids, Twin Sister Productions and Veggie Tales. We also really loved Boz DVDs!
I assure you, with intentionality, each of these things was very easy to implement! They have also given us plenty to consider, pray about it and work with.
If you’re beginning a little bit of preschool at home and you’re not sure where to start, please know, I was right there with you, not long ago. I’d love to connect with you and you can contact me here with any questions or leave them in the comments below!
My best pieces of advice?
Start slow. Create rhythms.
Observe and understand your child’s personality (and your own).
Know your limits, but push them occasionally.
Find your tribe. Ask them questions. See them often.
Read often.
Know that there is always room to change, grow or adjust.
Don’t spend a lot of money. Use what you have.
Play, talk and interact often with your little one.
Offer moments of boredom, wonder and pure joy.
I can’t wait to share more about our journey here! I do hope you’ll stick around and share with me in the comments below or connect with me on Instagram! Until next time,
Mandy
