6 (surprising) ways to prepare your littles for learning ~
Written by Kari Patterson of Sacred Mundane

My current stage–juggling a baby and a toddler along with a teen and tween–has its challenges, to be sure, but one great aspect is the daily reminder of this important concept:

Begin with the end in mind.

It’s one of Stephen Covey’s seven habits, and can be applied widely. Grand scale: The Psalmist’s prayer: “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Envisioning what it will be like at the end of our lives (and after!) certainly helps bring perspective.

Prefer to listen instead?

But on a smaller scale, through the lens of education, these words can give us extraordinary insight into how we teach and train our toddlers, in order to set them up for successful learning later in life.

Having a 14-year-old helps me connect the dots: This toddler behavior becomes this teen behavior. 

The first time around, I focused primarily on preparing my preschoolers academically. Counting. Letters. Colors. All good stuff.

But now, more than a decade later, I think these six things stand out as preschool essentials!

6 (surprising) ways to prepare your littles for learning

1. Self-control

Ways to teach it young: Little ones can’t comprehend abstract concepts, but this one small practice can help immensely: Teaching our toddlers to clasp their hands together and hold them in their lap. In our house we say, “Get self-control,” and this cues the clasped hands. It gives them something to do to get their bodies under control, rather than just focusing on what they aren’t supposed to do.

What it looks like later: What a gift to a teen and tween when they have already developed a healthy measure of self-control! Rather than relying on outward rules and regulations, they’ve learned (to some extent) to govern their time, appetites, and decisions. Even our 12-year-old daughter, when she’s having a particularly emotional and difficult day, will clasp her hands and remind herself to “get self-control” in order to stay calm. It might sound silly, but it helps!

2. Initiative

Ways to teach it young: Of course we aren’t expecting our two-year-olds to notice needs around the house, but we can intentionally ask them questions and encourage them to take initiative. If something is spilled: “What should we do to clean that up so it doesn’t get yucky?” Or, “The kitty is hungry, what should we do about that?” Or, “We can’t eat dinner until the table is set, what could you do to help make that happen?” This is another reason to relax a bit and not push our children toward academics too young. What a joy to have a young child begging to learn to read rather than us forcing them before they’re ready.

What it looks like later: Ultimately, we want our children to take responsibility for their own education. They won’t really learn something unless they want to, until they’re motivated. Students who sit back and expect someone else to “educate them” probably won’t flourish in life. As I type these words Heidi is working through a Creative Writing curriculum she picked up on her own, because she wants to improve her writing. I never told her to do it, she took the initiative. She’ll grow because she wants to!

3. Memorization that matters

Ways to teach it young: We all know young children are masters of memorization. There are a lot of great things to memorize. I started pretty hard-core with certain memory work, but soon simply focused on memorizing Scripture. We did “Letter Lessons” — each week we’d learn about a letter that stood for a character trait (A — attentive, B — brave, C — compassionate). We’d learn about the character trait and memorize a verse that went with it.  We had fun with it — rewording verses to rhyme or saying them with a certain cadence, with hand-motions.

What it looks like later: I’m amazed how these verses have “stuck” with us. To this day we’ll find ourselves saying a verse the way we memorized it when the kids were small.  Of course we’re all going to have different educational priorities, but we decided to skip the prepositions in favor of the Proverbs. Begin with the end in mind just means we think very intentionally about what material will benefit our kids long-term.

4. Concrete Math 

Ways to teach it young: Using manipulatives and, even better, real life materials to teach the concrete foundations of math will set our little ones up for success later on. Of course some math facts just need to be memorized, but nothing beats a little one comprehending concepts because she has actually seen them at work in the world.

What it looks like later: What a gift when older students can actually SEE math alive in their daily lives! Just today my 14-year-old was trying to convince his younger sister how valuable the math was that she was doing. Though she couldn’t see it, he could, because of his grasp on the ways these abstract concepts played out in daily life.

5. Excellence

Ways to teach it young: We have a children’s book called Halfway Herbert. It’s a hilarious story about a little boy who does everything only halfway. It’s fabulous! At every turn we have opportunities to teach our children to do a task with excellence, all the way, never half-heartedly, even if it’s something they don’t enjoy.

What it looks like later: Of course the ability to do things with excellence, even when you don’t want to, is HUGE later in life! We’re still working on this one as well (smile), but it’s worth the work.

6. How to ask for help

Ways to teach it young: I think every homeschool mom faces this at some point — a frustrated child who either won’t ask for help, or who too-frequently asks for help, or who over-reacts and cries. We see this in toddlers all the time. While they’re young this is the perfect opportunity to teach them to try their very best, but when faced with something they cannot figure out, to calmly (and without shame!) ask for help. Every time our children face an obstacle we have the opportunity to teach this process.

What it looks like later: I remember in college, hearing professors say that their office-hours were the most under-utilized resource on a college campus. Students would struggle, even flunk, but still not go in, in person, and ask for help. If a student has learned to take the initiative to calmly (and without shame!) ask for help, they will be lightyears ahead of so many! Some of us adults need to go back and relearn this as well.

How about you? I bet you have a wealth of wisdom on other ways to prepare your littles for learning. We’d love to hear!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

This post is part of an ongoing series about the educational philosophy Leadership Education (also known as A Thomas Jefferson Education.)

“Core Phase is the basis of a life. A good Core Phase naturally provides the foundation for a good life, a great Core Phase for a great life, and so on.”
~ Oliver and Rachel DeMille, Leadership Education, page 40

Would you rather listen instead?

I stared at the desktop screen late one night, engrossed in a popular homeschooling forum where members could ask for help and receive advice. Someone had asked a question–I don’t even remember what it was–and one of the responses said something like this:

“I recommend you check out A Thomas Jefferson Education.”

It included a link to an overview of the method, which I clicked. Then, as sometimes happens in the midst of epiphanies, I sat up straighter as I began to read. In a flash of insight, I absolutely knew that this was part of what I was looking for in our homeschool.

The method combined the freedom of unschooling with a balance of structure, responsibility, and academic focus–especially in the teen years–that resonated with me.

Though my kids were all young at the time, I ordered every book I could find about it and began to internalize its principles. And it turns out I had plenty of time to focus on my own education–because all my kids were in Core Phase.

What is Core Phase?

Leadership Education divides childhood learning into four phases (head here for a short overview) and Core Phase is the first. It encompasses the initial eight or so years of a child’s life, the most impressionable and foundational time for all that follows.

“Solid inner core” – yes, that’s what we’re after! Image credit: NASA

If we envision the phases of learning as a planet, then core phase would be at the center of it all, each phase that comes later building on top of it. You can imagine, then, the vital importance of it being strong and solidly built.

Without it, nothing that comes after could last or grow.

“The tools for academic learning are present, as are the tools for cooking or making home repairs, and little children use them more in the context of tagging along or playing at the work of adults. There is no adult skill that children are obligated to master at this stage.”
~ Leadership Education, page 42

The curriculum for Core Phase

In core phase the “curriculum” is this:

• right and wrong
• true and false
• good and bad
• relationships
• faith and security
• family identity
• routines and responsibilities
• accountability (learned through the above, not through academics)
• the value and love of work and play

The first time I read this list I loved it. It whispered and confirmed to my soul the most important lessons in life.

You’ll notice that academics don’t appear on the list, and that is a deliberate omission. Parents work hard in Core Phase to create an inspiring atmosphere (following the seven keys of great teaching) that exposes their children to good and beautiful things, including academics. But children are not expected to master any of it until much later.

“When we give in appropriate attention to academic achievement…, it can teach our children that they dislike academics because everything is hard and boring, and/or offer our children an alternative sense of self-worth that is inferior to a genuine and positive self-concept resulting from living according to true values such as faith, good works and accountability.”
~ Leadership Education, page 41

I get emails regularly from worried homeschooling parents of young children under eight, complaining that all their kids want to do is play. But what if, in fact, that is exactly what young children are meant to be doing?

What if play is a child’s work and the inbuilt curiosity that God gave them the inner force they need to one day succeed in this world?

Voices in support of Core Phase:

“The first education should be the harmonious development of the child’s physical, mental and spiritual powers. Providing warm and understanding responses to your children’s ‘hearts’ accomplishes far more than pressuring book knowledge into their minds. ”
~ Raymond and Dorothy Moore, homeschooling pioneers and authors of Better Late Than Early

“…my object is to show that the chief function of the child–his business in the world during the first six or seven years of his life–is to find out all he can, about whatever comes under his notice, by means of his five senses…”
~ Charlotte Mason, 19th century British educator

“Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility — these three forces are the very nerve of education.”
~ Rudolf Steiner, founder of Waldorf Education

“Children are, by nature and from birth, very curious about the world around them, and very energetic, resourceful and competent in exploring it, finding out about it, and mastering it. In short, much more eager to learn, and much better at learning than most adults.”
~ John Holt, founder of unschooling

“Education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment.”
~ Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator

To me, seeing such a wide variety of experts in their fields–philosophers, researchers, doctors, teachers–proclaiming the benefits of Core Phase in their generation is wildly comforting. It reminds me that this idea just makes sense–that actually institutionalized schooling is the latest educational experiment.

If they don’t play now, then when?

We have a crisis going on in our culture. We stop our young children from playing at the season in life when they should. Resentful and bitter–even on a subconscious level–not only does this often create a hate of learning, it also results in adults determined to “play” in other seasons of life where their behavior has more serious repercussions on their families, their children, and society as a whole.

Maybe a major “mid-life crisis”  is nothing more than someone who lacked a secure core foundation as a child. One way or another, we will learn the core phase lessons of good and bad, right and wrong, true and false, but wouldn’t it be best to learn them in a way that doesn’t cause suffering to ourselves and others?

And if that is true, then maybe the best gift we could possibly give our young kids isn’t the earliest reading skills or math drills. Maybe their future happiness and success rests upon the foundation of the pyramid we allow them to build now–through play and work and natural learning in the midst of secure family life.

My experience

We have followed this educational philosophy since that very night when it appeared on my computer screen. Toddlers and preschoolers at the time, my kids have never known any another way. Trishna (10) and Jonathan (9) have now transitioned into the next learning phase. Elijah (8) has one foot still firmly in Core and is dipping his toes into the waters of the upcoming phase as well.

Two of my kids naturally learned to read during their Core Phase with plenty of modeling, discussion, and read-alouds. But there were few formal lessons in any subject to speak of, unless the children asked for them.

These core phase years–that seemed as though they would last forever–are almost entirely behind us. It has been downright scary at times to raise little ones in such a different way to the majority, but it’s also been incredibly freeing.

And for us, it’s been right.

If this intrigues you and you’d like to learn more, check out these resources:

• Tjed.org – the official site of A Thomas Jefferson Education
• A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille (This book explains the WHY of the method)
• Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning by Oliver and Rachel DeMille (My personal fav, this book explains the HOW)

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Affiliate links are included in this post.

Note: This sale is over, but you can still order these resources individually!

Though it now seems long ago, I remember perfectly when my oldest two kids were preschool-age. Steve and I had just made the decision to homeschool, and I couldn’t wait to get started!

Now, years later, my views on preschool have changed. I no longer believe an academic version of preschool is necessary; I believe a child can pick up the same skills that will prepare him for future learning just by being in a nurturing home environment.

But I don’t regret our preschool at home at all – it was fun! While my youngest napped, Trishna, Jonathan, and I sat together at the dining table reading or coloring or crafting or talking about letters.

It was the perfect time to capitalize on my newfound homeschool enthusiasm and their boisterous energy.

There are several helpful resources in this week’s Ultimate Homemaking Ebook Bundle for those of you who feel similarly.

Maybe you want to purposely carve out one-on-one time with your resident preschooler so she doesn’t get forgotten in the hustle and bustle. Or maybe you’re hoping to keep your little one occupied while you spend fifteen minutes on a lesson with older children.

Whatever your needs, here are a few resources that may help.

* 101 Independent Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers by MaryEllen Bream

When my kids were younger I would have loved an ebook like this one – it’s like a huge bucket list of play ideas that little kids can do independently–requiring minimal cost and setup.

Sections of the ebook include Arts and Crafts, Chores, Educational Activities, Sensory Activities, Literacy Activities, Imaginative Play, Fine Motor Skills, and Active Play. MaryEllen is the mom of four young children, and you can tell her practical suggestions are tried and tested activities developed in the trenches of busy family life!

One of the 101 ideas in MaryEllen’s book!

* The Charlotte Mason Way Explained by Dollie Freeman

Discovering Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophy was one of the first steps that encouraged me to give homeschooling a try.

Her focus on nature study, short lessons, living books, character, and her approach to the preschool years completely inspired me:

“…my object is to show that the chief function of the child–his business in the world during the first six or seven years of his life–is to find out all he can, about whatever comes under his notice, by means of his five senses…”
~ Charlotte Mason, Home Education

Dollie Freeman does a beautiful job explaining an overview of the Charlotte Mason Method and how she has used it in her homeschooling journey.

The book provides the encouragement mothers of littles need to focus on real life over stressful academics, but Dollie also describes how the method approaches subject learning for older ages as well, including learning to read, handwriting, memory work, living books, art/music appreciation, and record keeping.

If you’re considering home education and haven’t yet been able to think outside the box of institutional schooling, this book will help you discover a more soul-nurturing way to homeschool.

* The Preschool Journey by Angela Thayar

Angela’s preschool guide reminds me of the activities I did with Trishna and Jonathan all those years ago: simple arts and crafts, read-aloud lists, games, and introducing letters.

I get all nostalgic thinking back to those days that started our journey, and I wish you and yours the same type of sweet memories together!

Image from Angela’s Preschool Journey ebook

Here’s what’s included:

* Detailed explanation of what should be covered in preschool
* Ideas on how to set up and organize your preschool at home, as well as how to schedule your day
* Curriculum for an entire preschool year (for ages 2.5-5)
* 26 weeks of lesson plans centered around alphabet letters. The plans include an alphabet letter craft, games, hands-on activities, and a list of books to read with each letter
* 50 pages of printables to use with these play-based learning activities.

Here’s the full list of homeschooling resources included in the bundle:

• 101 Independent Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers by MaryEllen @ Imperfect Homemaker ($4.99)
• 1777 New England Primer Cursive/Manuscript Printable Alphabet Sets by Jacinda @ Growing Home ($5.98)
• A Simple Homeschool Planner by Tsh @ The Art of Simple ($4.00)
• The Charlotte Mason Way Explained by Dollie @ Teachers of Good Things ($7.99)
• The Preschool Journey by Angela @ Teaching Mama ($6.99)
• Weekly Homeschool Planner by Jolanthe @ Homeschool Creations ($20.00)
• You Can Read by Carisa @ 1+1+1=1 ($10.00)
• Write Through the Bible: Exodus 20 (KJV, Manuscript) by Trisha @ Intoxicated on Life ($5.00)

The titles in this section on Faith for Kids may come in handy for your homeschool as well:

• Be Thankful: Cultivating Year-Round Thankfulness by Amanda @ The Pelsers ($7.99)
• Character Badges by Caroline @ The Modest Mom Blog ($9.99)
• God Gifted Virtues by Sara @ Your Thriving Family ($8.95)
• Learning to Speak Life: Fruit of the Spirit Family Devotional by Michael & Carlie @ Learning to Speak Life ($9.99)
• The ABC’s for Godly Boys/The ABC’s for Godly Girls by Lindsey @ The Road To 31 ($19.98)
• The Warrior Weekend: Helping Dads Raise Boys to Be Godly Men by Patrick & Ruth @ For the Family ($4.99)

What choices have you made for preschool?

Disclosure: I have included affiliate links in this post. Read the fine print about this bundle and read the answers to frequently asked questions about the bundle.

Note: This sale is over, but you can still order these resources individually!

Homeschooling Preschoolers: Life Is the Curriculum ~
Written by Sarah Baldwin of Bella Luna Toys

When I am asked by those who are homeschooling preschoolers to recommend a curriculum for their 3- to 6-year olds, I tell them, “Relax! Life is the curriculum for the young child.”

Young children will learn everything they need to know and be prepared for formal learning later by participating in family life, household tasks and receiving nurturing care.

Being conscious of what children need to grow in body, mind and spirit, allows you to provide them with everything they need during these early years through daily living.

Ideas for Homeschooling Preschoolers from Waldorf Education:

Domestic Arts

As homeschooling mamas, you know how challenging it can be to get dishes done, laundry washed, meals made, and the house cleaned. It’s easy to feel like these chores need to be done in addition to homeschooling, which can feel overwhelming.

Children love to imitate the work of the adults around them. By understanding the imitative need of young children, we can include them in our daily tasks.

• Allow time for your preschooler to help prepare meals, wash dishes, hang laundry, sweep the floor and so on. Many parents don’t realize how capable young children are of doing real work for a real purpose.
• Provide them with real child-sized cooking and cleaning tools, so they can really help, and not just pretend to.
• Cook with natural, healthy whole foods. In doing so, you have the opportunity to teach them about nutrition and where food comes from.

Not only are children learning practical life skills, but they also gain self-confidence through helping. Chores like chopping vegetables help develop fine motor skills, and big jobs, like sweeping, develop large motor skills.

Realize that children are learning math when they practice measuring and counting ingredients. They are introduced to scientific concepts like substance transformation and chemistry through baking.

Imaginative Play

You’ve probably heard it said that “play is a young child’s work.” In Waldorf education, it is believed that imaginative play in early childhood leads to creative thinking later in life.

In a Waldorf early childhood classroom, ample time is allowed each day for imaginative free play, which is considered the heart of the morning.

Studies have shown that children who attend preschools where imaginative play is emphasized (think playing house, dress-up, and role-playing) actually perform better when they reach grade school – both academically and socially – than children who attended more academic preschools which emphasize reading and math.

Natural toys that are open-ended will encourage children to play imaginatively. For instance, a basket of shells or wooden tree blocks can become money, dishes, play food, and so forth.

Music

Not only does singing bring joy and lightness to our days, but learning songs also helps develop vocabulary and language skills.

Singing through the day is a wonderful way to ease transitions, and to use while working.

For a wonderful collection of songs to sing while cooking, cleaning and so on, I highly recommend This is the Way We Wash a Day by Mary Thienes Schunemann.

Movement

Photo by Phil Romans

The importance of movement for young children cannot be over-emphasized. Brain research has proven the direct connection between movement – both small and large – and a child’s brain development.

Allow plenty of time outdoors every day for active play. Activities like jumping, climbing, swinging, sliding, climbing trees, and building snow forts may look like play, but it’s important to understand that these activities are actually strengthening your child’s brain and preparing him for lifelong learning.

Nature

Photo by nicoleta gramada

Spending time outdoors through all seasons observing nature provides your science “curriculum.” There is no need to give a child scientific explanations of the processes of nature, which are abstract and meaningless to a young child.

• Encourage your child’s sense of wonder, awe and reverence for nature. Let him marvel at the changes she notices throughout the season.

• Collect items found on your nature walks and display them on a “nature table” at home.

This sense of wonder will lead to curiosity about the natural world and a desire to learn more, as he gets older.

Games

Games are fun, but there is so much to be learned through game playing!

Classic physical games such as jump rope not only help develop a child’s body and brain, but through reciting rhythmic jump rope rhymes, a child is also developing memory and language skills.

Traditional circle games such as “Ring Around the Rosey,” or “Duck Duck Goose” help children develop social skills, like learning to take turns.

There are many great cooperative board games to help develop logic, language, sequencing and so on.

Competitive games with winners and losers are very difficult for children under five to handle, and often lead to crying or cheating because of a preschooler’s strong desire to win. On the other hand, cooperative games allow everyone to work together toward a common goal.

Artistic Activities

Painting, drawing, handwork, and crafts help develop a child’s fine motor skills.

Again, neurological science has shown us that the nerves in the fingertips are directly wired to the brain, and by developing a child’s small motor skills through these activities, neurological pathways are being formed and strengthened, which lead to an increased capacity for learning.

By living life consciously and with purpose, and by including our children in daily living, “Life” has more lessons to teach our children than even the most prestigious packaged curriculum could ever hope to provide.

Are you homeschooling preschoolers? What activities will you fill your days with this coming year?

Originally published on September 9, 2011.

I absolutely love reading blogs written by well-organized, energetic moms who are creative enough to dream up fun activities for their preschoolers, and disciplined enough to follow through with their plans.

However, for all my reading… and dreaming… and planning… I’ve learned that I’m just not one of those moms. In the haze of multiple pregnancies, post-partum fogginess, regular household duties, and everyday life caring for four children ages 18 months to 10 years old, I’ve never consistently taught preschool at home.

The good news for those of you who are like me is – you can set your guilt and fear aside. My older children are excelling academically despite their mama’s shortcomings.

I’ve finally relaxed and embraced the truth about preschool – preschoolers can learn everything they need to know in the school of life.

Preschool in Our Home

If you peek into our home on an average day, you won’t find my preschooler doing circle time, reciting the days of the week and months of the year, charting the weather, exploring sensory bins, or playing with carefully crafted learning trays.

You’ll probably see him running around in a super hero cape or jumping from the couch to a beanbag to avoid the hot lava floor. You’ll see him helping mom with chores and making hot dogs in his toy kitchen. You’ll see him comforting his baby brother, pestering his sister and complaining that his big brother is cheating at Candy Land.

And, somehow, after a couple of years, he’ll just know all of the letters, numbers, shapes and colors. He’ll know how to write his name and count past 10. He’ll know that dark clouds mean rain is coming and tadpoles turn into frogs. He’ll know how to stand in line and take turns, and he’ll know it all without having been in preschool at home or otherwise.

Once again, I’ll be amazed that in the joyful mess of our lives together, my child managed to learn everything he needed to know.

How Children Learn

In a society that emphasizes early childhood education, it can be easy to forget that children are curious, inquisitive and wired to learn.

If you feel stressed, overwhelmed, guilty or afraid your preschooler will be behind, consider the following ways children learn naturally in everyday life:

Math

You don’t have to use worksheets to teach shapes, colors, comparisons, counting, addition and subtraction. Even the youngest preschoolers know how to figure out who got the most M&Ms or the biggest piece of cake. They scramble to be first in the line for ice cream. They only eat sandwiches that are cut into triangles. And they wear the same red shirt 5 days in a row. Math is, quite simply, everywhere.

Calendar

Words like yesterday, today and tomorrow are a natural part of everyday conversation.

“Mom, what are we doing today?”

“Honey, tell grandma what you did yesterday.”

“Time for bed, kiddo, we’ll read the rest of the story tomorrow.”

Weather

You don’t have to use elaborate charts and graphs to teach your children about the weather. Just open up the blinds and take a look outside.

Weather is another topic that’s easily addressed in daily conversation. “We better take the umbrella with us. It looks like rain.”

Community Helpers

Children see firefighters, policemen, postal workers, and medical professionals as a part of everyday life in a thriving community. They have moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins. Why rely on worksheets and projects when you have access to the real thing?

Art

Do the crafts we plan for our preschoolers really encourage creativity? Or are our kids just cutting what we tell them to cut and gluing where we tell them to glue?

Don’t succumb to the pressure to micromanage every activity. Make paper, crayons, scissors, glue and other craft materials available, and see what your children can do on their own.

Reading

If you live in a literate household where books are available and children see others reading, your children will WANT to learn to read. Read to your children because reading is useful and pleasurable – not because you’re afraid they’ll be behind.

And remember, you don’t have to run to the library for stacks of books about every topic you discuss with your children. Out of all the books I’ve brought into my home, my preschoolers have always tended to gravitate toward a few favorites.

Learn from My Mistakes

I spent way too much time hovering over my oldest child, pushing him to do more, to know more, to be more.

And when my second child was a preschooler, I was too busy teaching my oldest and nursing a baby to do much of anything other than feel guilty about what we weren’t doing for preschool.

However, by the time my third child became a preschooler, I think I mostly figured out the winning formula – love, laugh, encourage, and get out of the way.

What does preschool look like in your home?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

I always believed that preschool was for over-achieving mamas. I tend to agree with my fellow Simple Homeschool writer that “preschoolers can learn everything they need to know from the school of life.”

I did “preschool” with my eldest children because we needed a routine of some sort to break up our days. But it was very laid-back. I chose a curriculum I could manipulate, pick and choose from, or not do at all.

And I usually went for option 3.

My third child learned by osmosis and jumped into first grade without any formal preschool. I have simply assumed that this tactic would work for the several other Littles I have coming up in the ranks.

And then came my fourth child… My highly opinionated daughter, who is driven by forces I do not understand. She pushed, cajoled, wheedled, and nagged until I gave in and agreed to “do school” with her. Because while she certainly doesn’t NEED it, who am I to argue with a child when she WANTS education?

The challenge, then, was to combine our low-maintenance philosophy for school with a preschool program in the midst of our normal schooling and living chaos.

I’ve seen the cheap, downloadable curriculums online. They’re pretty, well-thought out, and my daughter would enjoy them. But the last thing I needed was a project for ME. With this sort of program, I’d need to do daily or weekly printing and hunt down pipe cleaners or buttons at 10 o’clock the night before. Too much pressure…

The truth about preschool curriculum is that we don’t really need it. We could conceivably come up with a print-out about the letter A and then go around the house naming all the things that start with “A.” We can play rhyming games without a piece of curriculum to tell us what to do.

But sometimes, when a mama is mired in a lot of other subjects with other children, her brain simply doesn’t have the energy to think about counting syllables with the three year old or painting the letter B on the ceiling with shaving cream. She’s too busy wondering what to have for lunch and why there are crayons in the bathtub.

My criteria for low-maintenance preschool curriculum became the following:

• Open and go – no prepwork required.
• Disposable – I’d love to be cheap and reuse the workbook, but low-maintenance mamas don’t have that kind of time.
• Fun for my daughter, fun for me.
• Not time consuming. We have a lot of people to educate around here.
• Includes my other children, because I need them in my line of sight at all times or they’ll burn down the house.

Once I found a curriculum that suited us, I’ve been surprised to discover that we actually enjoy preschool. My daughter’s enthusiasm is contagious. She keeps me accountable and makes sure we do her school every day. She is making good progress and will have a great foundation for learning to read.

Beyond that, I’ve discovered there’s extra joy in spending regular, focused time with my Littles every day. It’s a short time, but it’s Fun Time, not just “meet their needs time.”

Does this make me a reformed fan of preschool? I suppose it does. I still don’t believe it’s an absolute necessity, especially if your child isn’t that interested in formal school time. This is a great age to let them play and live and soak up the world around them.

And while, in our large family, it would certainly be more convenient if all of my kids were content to learn by osmosis, the benefits of the consistent time with my little people far outweigh any added “inconvenience” to our day.

I’ll probably never be a fan of cutting, pasting, and 800 rounds of “Itsy-Bitsy-Spider.” But I will always be a fan of fun learning with my kids.

So do you do preschool? Do you go all-out or are you more low-maintenance in your approach?