School Ideas for almost 3yo

[Daye]

Hello all...

DH started back to Uni today. I am also doing a short business course
for the next 5 weeks. With both DH and I back at school, DD is really
excited by the idea of school.

On the way home from taking DH to the train, the idea of DD having
school at home. DD will be 3 in June. I will be her teacher. I want
to introduce her to the idea of school, while making it fun to learn.

The areas I thought we would cover is letters, numbers, colors and
animals, to start off with. I will be making some worksheets, as well
as downloading some off the net. She doesn't know how to write yet,
but I thought I would let her have a scribble and try to make the
letters and numbers. For colors and animals, I thought I could do
some coloring pages. If this goes well, it would lean us more heavily
towards homeschooling (which I really want to do).

Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
appreciated.

--
Daye
Momma to Jayan and Leopold
See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/

[Byron Canfield]

"Daye" > wrote in message
...
> Hello all...
>
> DH started back to Uni today. I am also doing a short business course
> for the next 5 weeks. With both DH and I back at school, DD is really
> excited by the idea of school.
>
> On the way home from taking DH to the train, the idea of DD having
> school at home. DD will be 3 in June. I will be her teacher. I want
> to introduce her to the idea of school, while making it fun to learn.
>
> The areas I thought we would cover is letters, numbers, colors and
> animals, to start off with. I will be making some worksheets, as well
> as downloading some off the net. She doesn't know how to write yet,
> but I thought I would let her have a scribble and try to make the
> letters and numbers. For colors and animals, I thought I could do
> some coloring pages. If this goes well, it would lean us more heavily
> towards homeschooling (which I really want to do).
>
> Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
> subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
> appreciated.
>
> --
> Daye
> Momma to Jayan and Leopold
> See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
>
She might be a bit young, yet, as there is the requisite hand to eye
coordination for using a mouse, but when she's another 6 months or so, you
could have her try the first three episode of Headsprout Reading Basics
(http://www.headsprout.com -- first three episodes are free, so you can see
if it even works). There's also a free mouse-training episode that you can
do first, if you're not sure of her ability to use one, and maybe do it
anyway, just for fun.

For the record, we have had one child who, at age 2-1/2, completed all of
Reading Basics. Her mother said she was reluctant to do the last episode,
and actually cried because she didn't want it to be over (we had not yet
released the next phase, "Reading Independence").

Yeah, I have sort of a vested interest -- I'm one of the programmeers at
Headsprout. I took the job just because it was such a wholesome mission --
teaching kids to read -- instead of the usual stuff I was doing in the
graphics industry, which, a good deal of the time, consists of deliberately
misleading people (y'know, advertising stuff). I've seen this program work
for kids all over the world (we track all the learner interactions so we can
see who, if anybody, is having problems, so we can try to figure out why and
fix it).


--
"There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
those who understand binary numbers and those who don't."
-----------------------------
Byron "Barn" Canfield
http://www.headsprout.com
"Where kids learn to read."

[Jayne Kulikauskas]

"Daye" > wrote in message
...

[]
> Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
> subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
> appreciated.

I recommend _Before Five in a Row_ for ideas about activities for children
that age. See:
http://www.fiveinarow.com/before/

(The name means it is before the "five in a row" program for older children,
using a similar format. The parent reads a picture book to the child and
does five days in a row of activities related to that story before going on
to the next one. The books are classics of the genre.)

Jayne

[Jaime]

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 17:41:07 EST, Daye > wrote:


>The areas I thought we would cover is letters, numbers, colors and
>animals, to start off with. I will be making some worksheets, as well
>as downloading some off the net. She doesn't know how to write yet,
>but I thought I would let her have a scribble and try to make the
>letters and numbers.


This was what I used to do with my oldest boy when he was little. I
would make a letter on a pad of paper and have him copy it.
The first word I taught him to write was him name and we did the
alphabet and colours and pictures of different animals.



> For colors and animals, I thought I could do
>some coloring pages.


There are also flash cards out there for these things.
Try finding them at Walmart and teacher's stores
which you can also shop in.....you do not need to be a teacher to do
so.



>Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
>subjects?

Also teach your DD to write and memorize her name, your name, her
phone number and address.
It will be useful if she ever needs to know that information.

I for one believe that a well informed child has a good start in life
and still do this day even though my boys are 13 and 19 years of age,
teach them things such as banking and laundry and cooking etc, etc.

Have fun. I sure did when my boys and I did this when we were
preschoolers.

Oh...and read to her too....even if it just a small picture book of
her choosing before bed each day. You can always sit for a half hour
on the side of her bed while she is tucked in and talk about the
pictures or answer any questions she has....and it is nice to have
that rapport in later life with them. :-)

They love it.

[H Schinske]

>
>"Daye" > wrote in message
...
>
>[]
>> Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
>> subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
>> appreciated.

It sounds as though there are two things going on -- satisfying her need to
"play school," and actually teaching her something slightly academic. I really
doubt that worksheet-type activities are the best way to accomplish the latter.
You might do some as an amusement, but with small children, the real learning
tends to take place in a much more holistic fashion, just as learning to walk
and talk does.

When my son was three, he was in a sort of a preschool (I just called it a
playgroup). The kids were occasionally given worksheets to color, and I noticed
that they were way above what the kids could interpret. Things like "circle all
the number nines on this page." Well, at three or three and a half, my son was
actually somewhat precocious about numbers. He could read a nine, he could
count nine objects, all of that, but sit down and circle all the nines on a
page? No WAY. That was a whole different kind of skill that he just did not
have yet.

--Helen

[Emily]

Daye wrote:

> Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
> subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
> appreciated.

Hello Daye and MKM,

First, I'd like to introduce myself. I've been lurking here for
a bit, and post somewhat regularly in misc.kids.pregnancy and
misc.kids.breastfeeding. My 1st child is almost 2, and I've
got the second on the way.

I wanted to add to this thread, since I have two ideas from
our (admittedly short) experience which might be useful:

-- When DS came home from daycare singing the alphabet song
a while ago, we pulled out a puzzle with the upper case letters.
He really liked playing with the puzzle, and now can recognize
all the letters. We went and got a lower case one now :)

-- DS really likes looking at pictures on the computer. What
we do is ask him what he wants to see, and do an image search
for that with Google. Google defaults to "safe" mode, so in
months of doing this, we've only turned up one pornographic picture,
and just moved along quickly, no harm done. I think that this activity
lays the foundation for valuable skills relating to finding information
online or in a library.

--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

[FibbersCloset]

Hi Daye!

Does she know her shapes? I think it's recommended that they learn those,
and then progress to letters. Solid shapes of different colors would help
you work on both at the same time.

One of my DD's favorites was a set of foam bathtub letters.

In fact, I'm sure they're still around here in one of the closets. ;-)

Dena

"Daye" > wrote in message
...
> Hello all...
>
> DH started back to Uni today. I am also doing a short business course
> for the next 5 weeks. With both DH and I back at school, DD is really
> excited by the idea of school.
>
> On the way home from taking DH to the train, the idea of DD having
> school at home. DD will be 3 in June. I will be her teacher. I want
> to introduce her to the idea of school, while making it fun to learn.
>
> The areas I thought we would cover is letters, numbers, colors and
> animals, to start off with. I will be making some worksheets, as well
> as downloading some off the net. She doesn't know how to write yet,
> but I thought I would let her have a scribble and try to make the
> letters and numbers. For colors and animals, I thought I could do
> some coloring pages. If this goes well, it would lean us more heavily
> towards homeschooling (which I really want to do).
>
> Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
> subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
> appreciated.
>
> --
> Daye
> Momma to Jayan and Leopold
> See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/
>

[Kevin Karplus]

In article >, FibbersCloset wrote:
> Hi Daye!
>
> Does she know her shapes? I think it's recommended that they learn those,
> and then progress to letters. Solid shapes of different colors would help
> you work on both at the same time.
>
> One of my DD's favorites was a set of foam bathtub letters.
>
> In fact, I'm sure they're still around here in one of the closets. ;-)

My son's foam bathtub letters are still next to the tub, though he now
reads about 300 words per minute in the same fantasy books that I read.
He doesn't play with the foam letters often any more, only about once
every couple of months, and then usually in a game of some sort with me.
(He makes up the rules as he goes along, and I can't remember what
they were last time.)

--
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
Affiliations for identification only.

[Byron Canfield]

"Kevin Karplus" > wrote in message
...
> My son's foam bathtub letters are still next to the tub, though he now
> reads about 300 words per minute in the same fantasy books that I read.
> He doesn't play with the foam letters often any more, only about once
> every couple of months, and then usually in a game of some sort with me.
> (He makes up the rules as he goes along, and I can't remember what
> they were last time.)

My daughter is eleven, now, so the memory is fading, but I remember that
funny aspect, games that had rather elaborate rules that evolved as the play
went on. :)


--
"There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
those who understand binary numbers and those who don't."
-----------------------------
Byron "Barn" Canfield
http://www.headsprout.com
"Where kids learn to read."

[Karen G]

Age is a big issue in teaching her through worksheets and things off of
the net. A great deal of the value of preschool is the socialization
and the hands-on kind of learning IMO. We have our oldest (who will
start kindergarten in the fall) in preschool this year. She has learned
to count, write her name, letters, numbers, colors, and animals at this
point (in preschool and at home), but the way that they have been taught
is through crafts and activities. In fact, very little "sit down" type
of activities have been used for academic learning. This is for
children at the age of four. Expectations for three year olds should be
scaled down appropriately.

I do not discount the social skills that she has learned during this
school year. We opted not to put her in preschool at 3 as she had a
younger sister (15 months younger) to socialize with. However, the
preschool environment has broadened her social skills perceptibly. She
is not bound by my expectations or other family members. As a result,
she has made friends and developed attachments to a broad range of new
people in her life. I consider these skills to be a very valuable part
of her preschool education. The feedback to me as a parent has also
been helpful.

Homeschool curriculums do exist for preschool, but there are other ways
of "preschooling." Library story hours are a good place to start, as
are regular trips to the library. Reading books about numbers, letter,
colors, and animals and giving your daughter lots of access to paper,
pencils, scissors, crayons, paints, and playdough are IMO a better way
to lay a foundation of learning.

I am a "neatie." That is one of our words to describe the fact that I
don't like to have fun making a mess. It is very challenging for me to
keep the playdough out for more than an hour or so. I do like to color,
but only if the crayons are kept in the crayon box when they are not in
use. Our 3 year old (will be four in the Spring) just figured out that
scissors are for cutting things out. She used to just cut paper into
smaller and smaller pieces. What a mess! Anyway, the reason I mention
this is that it is hard for me to let them explore in many of the ways
that the preschool prgram is equipped for. You may want to factorthat
into your decision to start homeschooling at this age.

Karen G

[Louise]

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 17:41:07 EST, Daye > wrote:

>Hello all...
>
>DH started back to Uni today. I am also doing a short business course
>for the next 5 weeks. With both DH and I back at school, DD is really
>excited by the idea of school.
>
>On the way home from taking DH to the train, the idea of DD having
>school at home. DD will be 3 in June. I will be her teacher. I want
>to introduce her to the idea of school, while making it fun to learn.

It might be fun for your daughter and illuminating for you to give her
a turn being the teacher, with you and the stuffed animals being the
students.

Louise

[Beth Gallagher]

"Daye" > wrote in message
...
>
> On the way home from taking DH to the train, the idea of DD having
> school at home. DD will be 3 in June. I will be her teacher. I want
> to introduce her to the idea of school, while making it fun to learn.
>
> The areas I thought we would cover is letters, numbers, colors and
> animals, to start off with. I will be making some worksheets, as well
> as downloading some off the net. She doesn't know how to write yet,
> but I thought I would let her have a scribble and try to make the
> letters and numbers. For colors and animals, I thought I could do
> some coloring pages. If this goes well, it would lean us more heavily
> towards homeschooling (which I really want to do).

If I were going to try to create preschool-at-home, I'd set up a new and
special place as our "school place." I'd put the new materials (coloring
books, playdoh, puzzles, ...) there and plan to go there on some regular
basis, maybe for 30 minutes after breakfast every day to "do school."

In preschools, they always have a letter of the week, sometimes a number of
the week; they often have a little figure of some sort (felt?) with various
types of clothes, and every day the kids help dress that person
appropriately, giving them the opportunity to learn about the seasons and
the weather. They always have hooks with the child's name on it, so the
child starts recognizing that name. Preschools tend to go nuts over every
holiday, with special craft projects, learning the songs of the holiday,
etc. They are heavy on consistency and structure: we always do it this way,
and then we do this this way, and etc. They also often punctuate the week
with "music day" and "library day" and the like.

You could recreate all of this at home, even with a 3 YO -- just don't have
unrealistic expectations. I think the goal is more "exposure" than anything
else. Most kids go to preschool for 2 or 3 years, and they encounter the
same stuff, pretty much, over and over and over and eventually it sinks in.
Learning stuff in preschool isn't like learning stuff in 3rd grade, when
they present material, practice it with you, make you practice it some more,
then expect you to remember it.

But let me caution you that IME and IMO, the fun part of "school" for 2 and
3 YOs is the stuff that only comes with "real" school: having teachers who
aren't us and who therefore do things and say things differently than us and
treat them slightly more formally than we do; meeting the other kids and
making buddies; learning the rules, like where you hang your backpack, how
to line up, being a "line leader," etc. (yes, I think most kids that age
find this kind of thing very exciting).

I'm not sure how well you could generate that kind of excitement -- the
excitement of the new -- in your home. Kids aren't dumb. Your DD knows that
you and her dad go *off* to school; you don't just go "over there" to your
desk.

But, hey, maybe I'm wrong. Setting up a little school and dressing the
little person and doing the letter of the day and all that actually sounds
pretty fun. Nevertheless, I personally suspect that, pretty soon, your DD
will start to say, "Not today, Mom," and you'll be forced to decide how
important it is to you to create preschool-at-home. That is, is "going to
preschool" (at home) her choice, or not?

Let me suggest, anyway, that she doesn't need to do "preschool-at-home" to
learn all the stuff that kids are expected to learn before they hit "school
age" (seasons, letters, numbers, holidays, etc.). I value learning,
including "book learning," very highly, but I personally sent my kids to
preschool for fun and so I could get some work done or spend time with their
siblings. Simply by "mothering her": reading books, singing, taking her out
and about and talking to her while you do everything you do, she will learn
her ABCs, her numbers, her seasons, her months, her address, etc.

As far as homeschooling a young school-age child (5 and up) : I think the
beauty of it is that it is NOT school. While "preschool-at-home" sounds like
it could be a hoot, if only for a while, the idea of "school-at-home" (in
the early grades) does not sound fun or worthwhile to me (unless your reason
for homeschooling is that you object to the mainstream culture and want to
keep your kids away from it). I homeschooled my son for 1st and 2nd grades
(that's 6-7 and 7-8 years old here), and we did very little "desk work." He
had to do handwriting and math from a textbook most days, and I occasionally
made him write a book review or answer questions about a subject he'd been
reading up on, but life was his classroom (sorry if that sounds silly; it is
true!). He drew, rode his bike, wrote stories, made and lost some friends,
wrote an encylopedia of rock n' roll, read a small library's worth of kids'
literature of his choosing, explored under the rocks, read armfuls of books
on his current obsession whatever that might be, went to museums, made a
movie, looked up projects to do on the web, recorded an "album" of original
songs, blah blah blah.

> Anyone have ideas about what else to cover or how to cover these
> subjects? Books and website recommends would also be very
> appreciated.

For future reference, the book "The Well-Trained Mind" offers plans for a
classical education at home. I never wanted to get that formal, but it
sounded like a great education to me. A few educational websites:
funbrain.com (games for kids), edhelper.com (for parents: spelling lists,
grade-level skill lists, etc.), brainpop.com (*great* educational movies on
lots and lots of topics, but mostly geared for older kids than yours, say, 6
to 12). Good luck!