I love my little guy to pieces. With Xander getting older and our family starting to do more formal learning activities, I’ve been working on how to integrate everyone in, including my (almost) three year old.
The prospect of teaching multiple ages at one time can seem daunting. But even more so than that is often what to do with the toddler…
I’ve found the 14-30 month age the most challenging when my kids are growing in independence and exploration, but lack advanced communication skills and self-control. During this phase, I attempted to do anything ‘messy’ during naptime. Thankfully, all of my boys have taken two naps until they are about 16 months old. We managed to get a lot done during those key times!
But even at this age, and especially as they get older, I’ve found it best to include them when they want to be. We have a ‘family learning/leaning all the time’ approach! Learning is just a way of life around here and we are all active participants. Each person in the family gets what he/she is able to understand and grasp from the topic at hand!
There are a few subjects that are generally specified by age/development – namely phonics, spelling, grammar and math. Since my oldest is still so young we only do math and our spelling/phonics/handwriting program apart from full involvement with his brothers. Aside from these ‘skills acquisition’ subjects, everything else is fully integrated.
I thought I would take the next couple of posts to highlight what has worked for us as we learn together as a family. Since each child is so unique and their little stages are so fleeting, we are constantly adjusting over here. (Does that happen to anyone else?)
But for now, here is a sneak peak at what is {currently} working for us:
- Circle Time - our daily morning start to the day.
- Multi-Level Teaching – bringing them into the action
- Special Toys/Activities – what we do during math/phonics times
- Special Time – daily one-on-one time is critical for every member of the family
- Family Preschool Day – periodically catering the family learning activities to the interests and abilities of the youngest.
My little ones have always been content to color or work on something similar to my older ones. They, more than anything, want to be a part of the group that is learning. I always found that if I had different activities for them to do than the rest of us, they weren't as happy.
ReplyDeletePhyllis, you nailed it. They want to be included!!! I've found the exact same thing!
ReplyDeletelittle jd and ab are constant saboteurs in our house :) i get a lot more done when the baby is sleeping. ab tries so hard to do the older stuff, and the trick is finding ways to include her... looking forward to seeing how you integrate everyone!
ReplyDeletemy boys are close in age- so I never had much of a problem. when we started homeschooling , mine were 4,6,7.
ReplyDeleteWe did lots of Unit Studies and science experiments and built things.
I had to do Occupational Therapy with my youngest for a few years and he had a few years of lots of asthma treatments- but we are over that and they are all fairly autodidactic in their schooling now.
~~Stopping by from Hip Homeschool Hop,
-Kimberly
visit me at http://kabersblog.blogspot.com