Best idea I EVER heard for homeschooling preschoolers:
DON’T.
Play with them. Take them on walks. Read to them. Bake cookies.
These precious young years fly by.
“People” say we’ve got to start school at the age of three. But I’ve got to say: I think we miss out on some of the best years of childhood when we start formal education too soon.Of course now that our oldest two are grown, I have the gift of perspective. If I could go back, I would have played more and stressed less over “school” for my littlest ones. Even Kindergarten and First/Second grades require very little “book” work.
Study what crawls out from under the stones on your garden walkway. Talk about the mysteries of the heavens. Smell the flowers in your neighborhood. Nurture curiosity. Above all, nurture their spirit. ♥
Sigh, thank you…I am clinging to my precious daughters “littleness’ so hard..she just turned 3 and so many people are telling me to start her in school or why haven’t I started her..I just want to enjoy her little bittiness…just as long as possible <3
Hug those precious little ones. You’re on the right track. 🙂
Absolutely! I don’t start anyone until they’re 7 or 8 and reading chapter books. The best kinds of lessons are learned from everyday real life!
Thank you!!! I have a 3.5 year old daughter who I spend every day with. Sometimes I worry that I should have started her in preschool, just like her little friends, but I know I’ll never have this time with her again and there is so much I can teach her everyday while we’re together.
So glad I came across this! I am having a very hard time deciding what to do with my two boys. Oldest is 6 and has a September birthday and the baby is 4 and has a July birthday. While they are nearly 2 years apart, schoolwise they’re “suppose to be” one grade behind the other.
The oldest does well- we’re going kindergarten. But little brother couldn’t care less about “school” Of course he wants to do fun stuff, but writing, that’s boring. I’m just struggling at what age do you say “okay, enough is enough we have got to get serious!”
April, we start to “get serious” about the time first grade hits … each child is different. And by “serious” I mean—we do school “work” for about an hour each day when they get to be in 1st grade. Keep at it! You’re right to pay close attention to the needs of each individual child. Blessings!
So agree with you! Our littlest is 19 months and we have people asking us what preschool we plan on sending him too. We always say none and some people look at us like we are aliens!
I have 5 children, ages 1-10 and this is my first year homeschooling. I do a little bit of schooling with my 4.5 year old. She enjoys writing her letters and learning to read. We do hooked on phonics for about 10 minutes a day. Other than that you’ll find her pretending and playing all day with her 6 year old sister. I appreciate your articles and your seasoned advice. Sometimes I feel the pressure to be doing more with my 6 year old (1st grade) and your words of wisdom are comforting and help me to remember that we don’t need to look like the world (public school system).
Thanks for this timely advice. now what should i be concerned with my 4th grader…its our first year. haha
THANK YOU! A million times THANK YOU! My sweet boy is just 4 and I’m feeling tremendous (outside) pressue to get him “schooling.” However, my heart is SCREAMING at me to just let him be little and explore, play, read, wander, dream, color, and…well…BE LITTLE!
I appreciate your affirmation more than you realize! Now…I’m off to see about the “emergency” my sweet boy is telling me we must attend to in the pretend firehouse built of an ottoman and blankets! THAT’S the good stuff!
Thanks for sharing!! What a blessing it is to be reminded to treasure their little years!
Guess I needed to read this today. With a 3.5 yr old, almost 2 yr old and a 4mth old I really get down on myself when I don’t get “school” into our daily routine as much as I’d like. Not “teaching” my kids academic type things is my greatest struggle, just don’t want to hold them back academically. I do enjoy them a lot, why it’s hard to get it all in. Guess I’m doing it right, for now at least.
Sounds to me like you are doing GREAT. 🙂
I needed this as well! THANK YOU! It means so much more from a seasoned homeschooler!
I really needed to read this. I have a 4 year old that I started homeschooling because of pressure from husband and other family members. Our day consists of devotions and memory verse in the morning, reading a story from our Sonlight curriculum and doing some work on ABCmouse.com. Other then that he loves to cook/bake, help clean house and help with the animals on the farm, etc. He cannot write his name or read yet and I don’t push. I do get comments from others though and it does bother me sometimes. Just glad to know I am not the only one that feels no need to push him to excel in everything.
I’m in the same boat as many of you with regards to preschool. It seems that everyone around here thinks that 18mo-3yrs of age needs to go to preschool. When I was little we didn’t even think about going to preschool until age 4-5. As I was exploring schooling options, including homeschooling, I came across this article and it really got me thinking (just ignore the small doses of guilt here and there and it is a great article…LOL)
“Many parents these days are putting their children in preschool in the mistaken belief that the sooner their young ones are institutionalized, the better. While some parents are forced by circumstance to put their children in the care of others during the day, many are doing so as the result of being influenced by the propaganda of the universal preschool lobby.
In targeted advertising campaigns, news reports and parenting magazines, preschool is being touted as the best place for children to spend their day. Families are being inundated with the message that if they do not separate from even their babies, their children will suffer dire consequences. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact is, there is no evidence that healthy children from healthy homes benefit from preschool at all. Furthermore, the research shows that there are no long-lasting benefits to preschool even for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Studies have shown more advanced developmental skills and greater empathy in children who stay home with mom, while increased aggression and sadness occur in those who spend the day away from their mothers.
What we are seeing is a massive push to divide families, to have most American children raised by strangers in institutions. Digging through the web pages of the universal preschool advocates soon reveals their perverted goal — to foist mandatory, state-funded preschool on all states, for all children, from infancy. Christians need to believe the Bible and what has worked from the beginning – God’s divine design of having MOTHERS nurture their own babies, toddlers, preschoolers and older children in a loving Christian home, full-time. God created the family as the vehicle for taking care of all a child’s needs.
Those who intend on homeschooling need to understand that homeschooling begins at birth, so they should not put their children in preschool while they wait for the child to attain compulsory education age.
Corralling kids together in institutional preschools is no different than putting them in public school – in fact, it is even worse, as these formative years are when the child’s spiritual, emotional and academic foundations are being set. Parents CAN teach preschool at home – and do a much better job than any institution! If you are a loving Christian mother who can provide a safe and wholesome home for your children – then with YOU is where your precious children need to be. Trust Jesus to give you the wisdom you need to raise your own young!
Please consider these reasons why not to place a child in a day care or preschool:
1. Preschool promotes inconsistent discipline
Children need consistent, biblical discipline. Preschool divides a child’s heart between two sets of rules, two authorities — preschool and home. Preschool workers do not have a vested, eternal interest in raising up your child. And, they miss a lot of bad behavior because God never intended one unrelated adult to oversee many kids of the same age at the same time.
For those who remain unconvinced, try “the 30 second test” — watch children playing outside in a preschool yard. Within seconds you will see many instances of gross bullying and other dysfunctions — and the child care workers are too overwhelmed to notice or to care. After all, it takes a lot of energy and staff time to monitor so many children per adult and to keep the wild ones in “time outs” — energy and time they do not have.
In contrast, a husband and wife will work out one set of rules for the household and have their children adhere to those rules no matter what time of day. Discipline at home is given by the same person, with the same values, and by someone who is intent on shaping the children’s behavior, not just to keep the peace for the moment.
2. Preschool undermines the child-parent bond
A child has tremendous spiritual, emotional, physical and learning needs from babyhood on — that are best met by someone who has an eternal, loving interest in them.
Children need to try out their verbal skills one-on-one with an interested adult who knows and cherishes them, to safely ask all kinds of questions, to get sincere praise for the little accomplishments they have throughout the day, to get loving Biblical discipline, to get their basic needs met by someone who cares tremendously, and to get kisses and hugs every hour from their mommy, not a stranger.
Parents are told that children will “get over” their despair and pain at being left by mom in a preschool each day, but they won’t get over it — they will just “get over” trusting mom.
3. Preschool undermines sibling bonding
When you child is grown, they will not remember their “preschool friends” — it is their brothers and sisters whom they will call when they need help — if they forged a strong bond in childhood. Preschool artificially separates siblings from each other, depriving them of the quality family time they need to learn to love each other and be best friends in the deep, lasting way that God intended. God chose them to be together — He hand picked the sibling team you have been blessed with — do not force them apart.
4. Preschool undermines a mother’s intention to homeschool
A mother gets used to “the break” and often goes back to work when her children are in preschool. Even if she intended on homeschooling when the children became five and older, coming back home is often too much of a lifestyle change for her. She never learned to handle multiple children at home all week and becomes intimidated at the thought of suddenly being home alone with her own children. Deep in her heart, she knows the bond between her and her offspring has been disrupted, and that she has not “gone through the fire” of learning to deal with her children all day, all week.
In contrast, there is a peace about homeschooling mothers who stayed the course, who did not delegate thier children to others, who cultivated a close walk with Jesus – they have gone through His refining fire as they cared for their little ones, and found He never let them fall. They look back on the preschool years with great fondness.
Another reason preschool undermines a potential homeschool is because mom has not experienced teaching her child many of the basics – the preschool has done her job. She may then lack the confidence to become her children’s teacher. For example, the preschool may have potty trained her children, taught them their colors, numbers, letters, and even to read.
Children who have always been home and taught the basics by their own mother usually have no problem accepting mom as their main teacher. But preschool children are often confused at this point, some folding their arms and declaring, “But you’re not my teacher — you’re my mother!” This has caused moms to feel intimidated by their own children.
5. Preschool exposes children to destructive peer influences
Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” Parents of children sent to preschool have no idea what type of peers their children are being exposed to. Even in Christian preschools, there are children who come from homes that have pornography present, that allow foul TV and movie programs to be seen, where abuse occurs, etc. You just do not know. Even cruel words or unjust behavior from a peer or preschool worker can cause lifelong damage to your children’s view of learning and life.
Your children are gifts from God. Children are just learning the ways of the Lord and when thrown into an unstable environment of constantly changing peers and child care workers, their Godly character formation is sabotaged. God gave children parents to be their close supervisors and the guardians of their heart – do not delegate this divine responsibility to anyone else.
6. Preschool teaches a child a perverted form of justice
Sometimes parents say, “Children need to go to preschool to learn to handle bullies”. But a bullied child often becomes a bully. After all, no one stopped the bully. In preschool, children learn a worldly, Darwinian view of life — the survival of the fittest. Children in preschool quickly find their place in the pecking order, with weak and less attractive children getting harassed. In contrast, children who stay home can learn a solidly biblical worldview — a mother can make sure the bigger siblings learn to treat the little ones with the kindness of Jesus, doing good “to the least of these”.
7. Preschools may inaccurately diagnose a child
We are witnessing an epidemic of young children being tested, labeled and drugged for ADHD and other modern conditions. Preschool these days serve as a place where teachers and educational “experts” prescreen children for various mental, social, physical problems. The parents of this generation are more vulnerable than previous generations to think normal childhood and discipline issues are clinical problems that need therapy and drugs. Testing and labeling a child whose brain and motor skills are still undeveloped is like diagnosing a newborn bird with a flying problem. It’s best to keep your child home and far from the labeling fanaticism that is going on.
Why not give your children a loving, stable Christian environment, surrounded by those who love them? If you have a baby, toddler, preschooler – you ARE a homeschooler. Homeschooling starts when that newborn baby is put in your arms and is a natural continuum. Get off to a solid start in homeschooling by keeping your little ones at your side.”
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My children are 23 and 21 now, and i too felt that pressure to put them in preschool. I was sick and that made the pressure even worse…but thankfully my husband was supportive of keeping them at home and my how very faithful GOD’s grace has been to my family. He blessed us with being able to homeschool our children all the way through…and truly HIS grace was and is sufficient and HIS power was and is made perfect in our weaknesses as parents! My daughter is at a private CHRISTian college in her last semester of nursing school and is at the top of her class, and my son, married a homeschool CHRISTian gal he met at church, and is in his first year of medical school after graduating near the top of his class in Electrical Engineering.
I say all this to brag on GOD…to say, “GREAT is HIS faithfulness,” and relax and ENJOY your little ones!!! One of my favorite books is “A Charlotte Mason Companion, the Gentle Art of Homeschooling,” by Karen Andreola. CBD carries it, probably Amazon…get it, and read it, and enjoy your precious children….GOD is making a beautiful family to bring glory to HIM, trust HIM to be faithful to the calling HE has on your life to homeschool them. To GOD be the GLORY!!! PS. i continue to have health challenges and i marvel at what GOD has done and continues to do in our weaknesses as parents…believe me, we didn’t do everything right!