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Homeschooling a 2 year old
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My youngest child (aside from the one I am carrying in the womb 🙂 is 2 years old and I’m wondering what I should be doing with her as far as schooling and what a child of her age ought to know.
She is very active, so when we are doing school I usually let her run around or have one of the children watch her while I work with the other. She absorbs a lot, so she seems to pick up a lot just by being around while the others are learning, but I am wondering if I should purchase some type of curriculum for her age to focus on specifically with her?
Also, she does not like being read to, lol. I don’t know why, but she will not sit to listen to a story, should I try to make her sit still for one or no? I’m not sure if it is normal or not for a 2 year old to not like to sit and hear stories, but she doesn’t. she would rather we sing and dance, do finger plays and such.
Anyway, what should I be teaching her and should I buy a curriculum? If so, any recommendations?
A 2 year old doesn’t need a curriculum or any formal schooling at all. Ones that have older siblings especially learn so much from just living. I find that my kids tend to learn colours, basic shapes, the alphabet, etc just from life. – but that isn’t necessarily when they are 2…
She sounds very smart. My oldest was that way. He picked up on everything. I know that Sue Patrick taught all of her children to read before they were 4 yrs old. You may want to check out her website and call and ask her questions or order her webinars or book. They can learn so much so quickly that even educational songs would be great for her.
Blessings!
Please don’t start homeschooling your 2yo yet. I am “that” mom who started with her firstborn too soon, and I wish I could rewind the clock and wait a year. They grow up so quickly that they don’t need us pushing them along. Just enjoy your 2yo and let him enjoy you. Encourage his natural curiosity. He’s going to learn more from exploring the world around him with your masterly inactivity than he will from any workbook or activity you can plan for him. Read to him, make sure he’s learning obedience, and just take advantage of this time that passes so quickly. In fact, please don’t even think about curriculum and all that stuff for at least three more years! You won’t regret letting him just be.
Blessings,
Lindsey
She’s two. I would not stress over any “school” or curriculum now. Singing, dancing, fingerplays, pointing out shapes, colors, counting, letters, etc can all come during real life experiences. She will learn a lot from that. The older I get and the more I learn, some of the “stuff” we slave and worry over when our kids are still really young (like potty training and all those little preschool plans) can be accomplished SO MUCH easier when they are a little older and more prepared physically, mentally, and emotionally.
If you really want to use CM philosophy and methods with your younger children, check out the SCM Early Years Handbook.
Here is a link: http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/early-years-charlotte-mason-preschool-handbook/
To help ease her into reading stories with you, seriously check out the Carl books recommended by SCM for the early years. They are FABULOUS and the child tells the story from the pictures because there are only words on the first and last page. My reading resistant and independent child loved them! We have one with 5 of his stories in it and I want to get more. Go to Amazon and look up Carl by Alexandra Day.
Make and play lots of free file folder games for letter, number, color, and shape recognition. You can get those here: http://www.filefolderfun.com/SearchPreschool.html
Get some dry dolored beans and some measuring spoons and store in a tub. She can play with those on a large cookie sheet or a towel for some more fine motor skills and math concepts.
Listen to music, watch the LeapFrog Letter Factory, put some rice or sand in a shallow pan and practice writing letters.
I printed these out for free: http://www.prekinders.com/pattern-blocks/ and bought the blocks. My preschoolers love them. You can buy sets of pages and blocks together from Amazon.
Here is another site you can use to make little activities for her:
http://homeschoolcreations.com/EarlyLearningPrintables.html
Right now Walmart has a set of 5 wooden puzzles in a little holder for only $9.99. You can make your own with pictures cut into different large pieces.
When she is a bit bigger and you want a fun way to do alphabet activities, look at this site. I love her stuff and it is planned so well that I can pick what I want to do and still have a great school day. And it is only $10.00 for the plans and hundreds of super cute printables. http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/letter-of-the-week
Remember though, she is only TWO! Let her be a kid for as long as possible. She will pick it up so much quicker when she is older!
Sorry, I said “he”, and you have a girl. Oops! But I totally stand by what I said and agree with the others. Please don’t stress out about school right now.
@sheraz is right when she said that if you wait, your dd will pick up on things much faster later on. We have seen this over and over in both of our children. We introduce a concept or skill, and if they don’t pick up on it after a few tries, we stop and wait a few months and then try again. In fact, both of our dc learned to tie their shoes in under 5 minutes because we waited until they were 8 and 7 to teach them! That might sound crazy, but there was no tears, no arguing, no frustration for anyone. It just happened. If you want to avoid the unnecessary tears, arguing, and frustration, wait to begin schooling and just let her be a toddler right now. She is JUST a toddler!
Thank you for all the tips ladies, we are already doing so many of the things you recommended and my dd learns so much. I really don’t want to add in a curriculum I have to try and stick to and force her to participate in right now anyway, but I also worried I should be doing something structured with her and you have all gave me peace of mind, thanks!!
I agree that you should just let her be 2. There is no need to push things on kids at such young ages. That being said, my oldest DD needed some sort of structured time when she was 2. We started gluing a colored circle on a poster one time a week and throughought the week talked about that color. Say we glued a red dot on the poster, so we would wear something red that week and eat strawberries for a snack, etc. I also printed off outlines of the numbers (one number enlarged to fit on one paper) and she glued beans in it and I’d tell her that is a 1 or 2 or whatever it was. This amounted to about 30 minutes per week of structured “school.” I wouldn’t really call it school. Basically she just needed some structured attention so I used it to introduce colors, numbers, etc. That little bit of time was all she needed to quit getting into everything each time I turned around. Let her be 2, do a project/craft with her each week (doesn’t have to pertain to numbers/colors/letters – just something to do), and for the reading just read really short stories or stop when she is done and pick up again later. My oldest loved being read to since infancy. I would read to her while nursing, before naps, during the day. She loved it. Still loves to have stories read to her. But, she is a struggling reader and HATES to read. My youngest did not like being read to. If I read out loud while nursing, she would quit nursing. She didn’t want to sit and listen to stories until she was around 3. She is the one who was teaching herself to read at 4 and now at 6 is reading on a 5th grade level and spends a large part of her free time reading. Just because she isn’t interested in sitting for a story at 2 doesn’t mean she won’t love stories and reading later.
And even at two her interest in stories may suddenly spark. My ds2 would not sit and listen to me read to the other 2 children so I’d find him something quiet to do where I could keep my eye on him. After a while he started choosing a picture book and asking me or his sister to read it to him. Now he has favorites that he asks for over and over.
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