Hello!
I am very new to all of this and currently making my way through the Charlotte Mason series.
As I am picking up information greatly and mostly without struggle.
I am needing advice on how to maybe do an educational reset?
I took part in homeschooling my nephew for about 2 years. As he was homeschooling my DD would want to join in and be a part of everything so I started making her activity trays and bins to play with. As months went on and our first year past she wanted to do more so I allowed basic letter strokes and counting games. She was 2 1/2 when I started homeschooling my 7 year old nephew, so she was introduced to everything very young. His mother has taken over the roll of schooling him, however, my DD still wanted to learn and do “school work” which at the time I had no clue about Charlotte Mason methods.
She is now 4 and still a ways off from 5 and knows all of her letters and sounds, vowels, we started doing word building and recognition activities months ago. She writes her name with ease along with a majority of her letters and shes able to make some word on her own writing that she recognizes or memorizes like my, me, i, as, cat, rat etc.
She loves doing it. However, for a short moment she was resisent on things so I perceeded to put what she wasn’t liking away. I started looking for differnt methods, which led to montessori, I found that to be lovely but pricy, then that proceeded to led me here. Over the last two months I have been readin and studying the Charlotte Mason method to get a better understanding.
But now I’m also feeling like a bad mother for doing things with her so young. And since there isn’t too much reccomended to do with children at her age now, mostly being outside and exploring the world around which we have started to adopt the habbit of doing which has been going wonderfully.
But as far as her word building and wanting to learn new words and wanting to learn how to perfect writing her letters and words that she knows. Do we continue this? Do I stop it and just read to her?
I’ve just really been having trouble pondering how to continue things with her. I’ve been worried that it’s caused to much pressure which it doesnt seem to be, but have slowed down any type of lessons at all. But now mentaly I feel a stress of bad mothering.
Would reading to her and having her orally speak back to me about what she read be ok at this age? Her love for learning is admirable. And reading and learning about Charlotte Masons views have really struck a spark in me. I know this would be a route she and I both would love to experience. The living books, artistic and nature aspect, and the musical part are all things she enjoys and my favorite part has been how in everything i’ve seen or blogs i’ve read make Charlottes methods seem as if they bring families close. Her dad would love an opprotunity to be involved in her blossoming educationally as I have. We read every morning at breakfast, we draw, paint, or color pictures together every day and we’ve always sang songs together, she also enjoys poetry (the kind we’ve went through has been mother goose) These are things we’e done together since she was able to hold a crayon and not eat it.
For now the only answer I came across for myself was to get the delightful reading sets 2 & 3, I also got her the delighful handwriting book since these are things she already knows. My plan and hopes are to embrace this method fully to my capabilities and anything I purchase I will use with my DS when he gets of appropriate age.
My worry is that if I stop what we’ve been doing this last year she’ll feel as if I’m giing up on her and all i want is to provide her with the best education possible and allow her to be herself and have a wonderful full childhood.
Any help or advice would be greatly appriciated and I am so sorry for the rambling