Transitions from Toddlers to Preschoolers to Academics???
Natalie
I have so enjoyed going back and reading the posts here. I am new
to the idea of homeschooling. My daughter (Lexi) is almost 2 1/2
and shortly after she was born I realized that I felt strongly about
homeschooling her ... but lacked the confidence that it was
something I could do. Since that time I have been involved a great
deal with a wonderful API group with quite a few homeschoolers and
learned a lot. The group I previously belonged to (before moving to
Florida) was made up more of Waldorf homeschoolers. So, much of my
limited knowledge of homeschooling has come from that theory. I am
now in a group that seems more drawn to Unschooling and am taking
this opportunity to learn more. I had read about Unschooling
briefly in the past and was very intrigued, thinking ... well,
that's how we've lived our life so far with Lexi and it seems so
very natural! Why does it feel so natural to live our life this way
and then so intimidating and pressured that I should change to
another approach when she turns 6 or 7 because all of a sudden I am
supposed to start teaching her something, reporting outcomes,
testing, evaluating, channelling, structuring ...??????? I guess
where I am struggling is ... I LOVE what I've learned so far about
Unschooling!!! ... it is how Lexi has lived her life since she was
born ... nursing whenever she feels like it, playing when she wants
to, sleeping when she wants to ... even though daddy and I "play
dead" when she is doing cartwheels in the bed at 11PM so she will
finally get bored and hopefully go to sleep ;-) ... eating what she
wants when she wants (our house is filled with good food so I never
worry about what she will choose) ... etc. The struggle is ...
what do I do when she "needs" to start learning to read, write,
learn mathematics, etc.? I realize that my years of schooling (20+)
to get to the point of receiving my doctoral degree have led me to
be an OVERLY organized person, somewhat ANAL ... which I am doing a
great job of reversing ;-), a PERFECTIONIST ... which my daughter is
doing a great job assisting me in relaxing with ;-), SCHEDULE driven
person ... which has totally been thrown by the wayside since
becoming a full-time mommy ... boy, I'm loving this ... But, when
it comes to education, that is all I know. How does the transition
come about when the child starts learning in a more academic
manner ... asks to start learning to read? ... does she just pick
up a wonderful book that I've been reading to her and read it
herself? ... she already seems to be trying this out. Does she
place 2 stuffed animals next to 2 more stuffed animals and count out
that there are 4 of them? I know this may sound naive and I hope I
am not frustrating those of you who are more advanced and wise in
this area. I guess I am just trying to get a feel for where to
start (actually where to NOT start if I am following her lead ;-)).
I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...
into more of a school-age level?
Thanks so much for all your wisdom on this subject!
Best of Health,
Natalie
to the idea of homeschooling. My daughter (Lexi) is almost 2 1/2
and shortly after she was born I realized that I felt strongly about
homeschooling her ... but lacked the confidence that it was
something I could do. Since that time I have been involved a great
deal with a wonderful API group with quite a few homeschoolers and
learned a lot. The group I previously belonged to (before moving to
Florida) was made up more of Waldorf homeschoolers. So, much of my
limited knowledge of homeschooling has come from that theory. I am
now in a group that seems more drawn to Unschooling and am taking
this opportunity to learn more. I had read about Unschooling
briefly in the past and was very intrigued, thinking ... well,
that's how we've lived our life so far with Lexi and it seems so
very natural! Why does it feel so natural to live our life this way
and then so intimidating and pressured that I should change to
another approach when she turns 6 or 7 because all of a sudden I am
supposed to start teaching her something, reporting outcomes,
testing, evaluating, channelling, structuring ...??????? I guess
where I am struggling is ... I LOVE what I've learned so far about
Unschooling!!! ... it is how Lexi has lived her life since she was
born ... nursing whenever she feels like it, playing when she wants
to, sleeping when she wants to ... even though daddy and I "play
dead" when she is doing cartwheels in the bed at 11PM so she will
finally get bored and hopefully go to sleep ;-) ... eating what she
wants when she wants (our house is filled with good food so I never
worry about what she will choose) ... etc. The struggle is ...
what do I do when she "needs" to start learning to read, write,
learn mathematics, etc.? I realize that my years of schooling (20+)
to get to the point of receiving my doctoral degree have led me to
be an OVERLY organized person, somewhat ANAL ... which I am doing a
great job of reversing ;-), a PERFECTIONIST ... which my daughter is
doing a great job assisting me in relaxing with ;-), SCHEDULE driven
person ... which has totally been thrown by the wayside since
becoming a full-time mommy ... boy, I'm loving this ... But, when
it comes to education, that is all I know. How does the transition
come about when the child starts learning in a more academic
manner ... asks to start learning to read? ... does she just pick
up a wonderful book that I've been reading to her and read it
herself? ... she already seems to be trying this out. Does she
place 2 stuffed animals next to 2 more stuffed animals and count out
that there are 4 of them? I know this may sound naive and I hope I
am not frustrating those of you who are more advanced and wise in
this area. I guess I am just trying to get a feel for where to
start (actually where to NOT start if I am following her lead ;-)).
I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...
into more of a school-age level?
Thanks so much for all your wisdom on this subject!
Best of Health,
Natalie
DJ250
It just keeps going like it's been going! Keep following her interests, living your lives! You will be amazed at what she learns (and you). It will not follow a "school" schedule so don't feel the need to. I can recommend some wonderfully supportive books and sites that have opened my eyes and allowed me to realize we don't have to create special environments for children to learn--they can't HELP but learn. In fact, schools (and schooling-at-home with designed curriuculms) tend to make learning seem like a chore and turn off that natural desire to learn. You'll probably hear from others on this list, too. BTW, I'm a former Waldorf homeschooling mom, myself!
Best wishes,
~Melissa :)
Best wishes,
~Melissa :)
----- Original Message -----
From: Natalie
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 10:23 PM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Transitions from Toddlers to Preschoolers to Academics???
I have so enjoyed going back and reading the posts here. I am new
to the idea of homeschooling. My daughter (Lexi) is almost 2 1/2
and shortly after she was born I realized that I felt strongly about
homeschooling her ... but lacked the confidence that it was
something I could do. Since that time I have been involved a great
deal with a wonderful API group with quite a few homeschoolers and
learned a lot. The group I previously belonged to (before moving to
Florida) was made up more of Waldorf homeschoolers. So, much of my
limited knowledge of homeschooling has come from that theory. I am
now in a group that seems more drawn to Unschooling and am taking
this opportunity to learn more. I had read about Unschooling
briefly in the past and was very intrigued, thinking ... well,
that's how we've lived our life so far with Lexi and it seems so
very natural! Why does it feel so natural to live our life this way
and then so intimidating and pressured that I should change to
another approach when she turns 6 or 7 because all of a sudden I am
supposed to start teaching her something, reporting outcomes,
testing, evaluating, channelling, structuring ...??????? I guess
where I am struggling is ... I LOVE what I've learned so far about
Unschooling!!! ... it is how Lexi has lived her life since she was
born ... nursing whenever she feels like it, playing when she wants
to, sleeping when she wants to ... even though daddy and I "play
dead" when she is doing cartwheels in the bed at 11PM so she will
finally get bored and hopefully go to sleep ;-) ... eating what she
wants when she wants (our house is filled with good food so I never
worry about what she will choose) ... etc. The struggle is ...
what do I do when she "needs" to start learning to read, write,
learn mathematics, etc.? I realize that my years of schooling (20+)
to get to the point of receiving my doctoral degree have led me to
be an OVERLY organized person, somewhat ANAL ... which I am doing a
great job of reversing ;-), a PERFECTIONIST ... which my daughter is
doing a great job assisting me in relaxing with ;-), SCHEDULE driven
person ... which has totally been thrown by the wayside since
becoming a full-time mommy ... boy, I'm loving this ... But, when
it comes to education, that is all I know. How does the transition
come about when the child starts learning in a more academic
manner ... asks to start learning to read? ... does she just pick
up a wonderful book that I've been reading to her and read it
herself? ... she already seems to be trying this out. Does she
place 2 stuffed animals next to 2 more stuffed animals and count out
that there are 4 of them? I know this may sound naive and I hope I
am not frustrating those of you who are more advanced and wise in
this area. I guess I am just trying to get a feel for where to
start (actually where to NOT start if I am following her lead ;-)).
I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...
into more of a school-age level?
Thanks so much for all your wisdom on this subject!
Best of Health,
Natalie
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-The struggle is ...
what do I do when she "needs" to start learning to read, write,
learn mathematics, etc-=-
Your daughter is on the early end of two years old. There should be
no struggle whatsoever.
You have plenty of time to figure out that she will learn to read,
write and learn math without "needing" to. She will do it naturally
and joyfully if you don't screw it up.
-=-But, when
it comes to education, that is all I know. How does the transition
come about when the child starts learning in a more academic
manner ... asks to start learning to read? ... -=-
She won't ask to start learning to read. She'll learn to read. If
you don't screw it up.
Could you please break your posts up into paragraphs? It was one
long, dense stream of consciousness. Many readers skip by such
blocks of text.
-=-I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...
into more of a school-age level?-=-
The best thing you can do is to stop thinking in school terms. Try
to see the world and think about learning without such terms as
"preschool" and "school-age" and "level." It probably seems
unimportant, but it's part of turning away from school so you can see
the world a whole new way.
http://sandradodd.com/deschooling
http://sandradodd.com/learning
http://sandradodd.com/teaching/
Look for the fun moments instead of the potential future struggles.
You're taking a whole different path. The struggles will be far away.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
what do I do when she "needs" to start learning to read, write,
learn mathematics, etc-=-
Your daughter is on the early end of two years old. There should be
no struggle whatsoever.
You have plenty of time to figure out that she will learn to read,
write and learn math without "needing" to. She will do it naturally
and joyfully if you don't screw it up.
-=-But, when
it comes to education, that is all I know. How does the transition
come about when the child starts learning in a more academic
manner ... asks to start learning to read? ... -=-
She won't ask to start learning to read. She'll learn to read. If
you don't screw it up.
Could you please break your posts up into paragraphs? It was one
long, dense stream of consciousness. Many readers skip by such
blocks of text.
-=-I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...
into more of a school-age level?-=-
The best thing you can do is to stop thinking in school terms. Try
to see the world and think about learning without such terms as
"preschool" and "school-age" and "level." It probably seems
unimportant, but it's part of turning away from school so you can see
the world a whole new way.
http://sandradodd.com/deschooling
http://sandradodd.com/learning
http://sandradodd.com/teaching/
Look for the fun moments instead of the potential future struggles.
You're taking a whole different path. The struggles will be far away.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Joanna Murphy
" I guess I am just trying to get a feel for where to
start (actually where to NOT start if I am following her lead ;-)).
I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this"
As for the environment, I'm going to help you visualize it--close your eyes, then open them
and look around--there it is! You will continue to be delighted by her interests and want to
obtain things/information/etc. to support them. You'll see something that you think might
be interesting, so you'll get it or show it to her. You will play games and count money for a
new toy. You might visit your friends' house where they got a new puppy or have a new litter
of kittens. You'll be pursuing an interest that she asks about and you will have a great
conversation that starts there and ends who-knows-where. You will go interesting places
and meet interesting people. You will mention a current event. She'll ask you about this or
that. It all goes from there.
Have fun!
Joanna
start (actually where to NOT start if I am following her lead ;-)).
I have do doubt that she is learning every day and I have no
difficulty what-so-ever in being able to observe clearly what she is
learning. I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
environment to facilitate this"
As for the environment, I'm going to help you visualize it--close your eyes, then open them
and look around--there it is! You will continue to be delighted by her interests and want to
obtain things/information/etc. to support them. You'll see something that you think might
be interesting, so you'll get it or show it to her. You will play games and count money for a
new toy. You might visit your friends' house where they got a new puppy or have a new litter
of kittens. You'll be pursuing an interest that she asks about and you will have a great
conversation that starts there and ends who-knows-where. You will go interesting places
and meet interesting people. You will mention a current event. She'll ask you about this or
that. It all goes from there.
Have fun!
Joanna
Joyce Fetteroll
On Apr 15, 2008, at 10:23 PM, Natalie wrote:
she reads and writes and does math. If she's never in school, then
she can use those as she needs them for her own personally meaningful
reasons.
As she's learning to speak, is she studying it? Does she sit down and
do lessons? Or does she just use it? Try things out to see how well
they work? Play with it?
It's how we learn everything. At least until school interferes.
learning English and how she'll learn to read, write and manipulate
numbers. She will come up with new strategies, she'll have more
sophisticated needs, but the process of trying things out to see how
they work and playing around with things will still be the foundation.
No difference. That can't be emphasized enough!
McDonalds ...), they hear stories, they play with words, they write
(for some kids before they read), they ask questions, they watch as
you read .... It's a huge conglomeration of experiences, none of
which by itself is important, but the whole chaotic mess and -- even
more important! -- the process of them making sense of the chaos, is
what allows them to figure out how it works.
problem in isolation isn't the gaol. The purpose of real math is
comparing things and finding patterns. The fact that 2+2=4 isn't that
meaningful or interesting. That there are 4 cats and 3 dogs and 7
dinosaurs is more interesting. (Or something similar to different kids.)
Real math is for helping us see the world in a new way. My daughter
enjoyed sorting her dinosaurs to see how many meat eaters there were
compared to plant eaters, how many Cretaceous versus Jurassic. She'd
asked "How long until ..." and I'd puzzle it out for her. She'd use
the various meters and scores on video games to help her progress.
Real math is used to manipulate the world to get the information from
it that we want.
we learn. School is an artificial subset of the parts that someone
else thinks are important for a child to use to absorb what someone
else wants them to.
It isn't natural for us to absorb someone else's understanding of how
the world works. What's natural is pulling our own order out of
chaos, forming a theory, testing out the theory, refining the theory
and sometimes throwing out the theory and starting from scratch again.
If we didn't enjoy pulling order from chaos, we wouldn't enjoy doing
various types of puzzles. We'd just look at the answer.
We *want* to figure things out ourselves. (As part of figuring things
out, we might also ask questions, read someone else's ideas. We don't
do it in a vacuum.)
This might help:
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/talk
As well as this:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/
The left side is all the academics part of unschooling.
Joyce
> The struggle is ...If she's in school, she'll need to stick to their schedule of when
> what do I do when she "needs" to start learning to read, write,
> learn mathematics, etc.?
she reads and writes and does math. If she's never in school, then
she can use those as she needs them for her own personally meaningful
reasons.
As she's learning to speak, is she studying it? Does she sit down and
do lessons? Or does she just use it? Try things out to see how well
they work? Play with it?
It's how we learn everything. At least until school interferes.
> How does the transitionIt doesn't. There's absolutely no difference between how she's
> come about when the child starts learning in a more academic
> manner ... asks to start learning to read?
>
learning English and how she'll learn to read, write and manipulate
numbers. She will come up with new strategies, she'll have more
sophisticated needs, but the process of trying things out to see how
they work and playing around with things will still be the foundation.
No difference. That can't be emphasized enough!
> ... does she just pickMaybe. Each child is different. They absorb signs (STOP,
> up a wonderful book that I've been reading to her and read it
> herself? ...
>
McDonalds ...), they hear stories, they play with words, they write
(for some kids before they read), they ask questions, they watch as
you read .... It's a huge conglomeration of experiences, none of
which by itself is important, but the whole chaotic mess and -- even
more important! -- the process of them making sense of the chaos, is
what allows them to figure out how it works.
> Does sheProbably she'll do some of that but, unlike school, the answer to a
> place 2 stuffed animals next to 2 more stuffed animals and count out
> that there are 4 of them?
>
problem in isolation isn't the gaol. The purpose of real math is
comparing things and finding patterns. The fact that 2+2=4 isn't that
meaningful or interesting. That there are 4 cats and 3 dogs and 7
dinosaurs is more interesting. (Or something similar to different kids.)
Real math is for helping us see the world in a new way. My daughter
enjoyed sorting her dinosaurs to see how many meat eaters there were
compared to plant eaters, how many Cretaceous versus Jurassic. She'd
asked "How long until ..." and I'd puzzle it out for her. She'd use
the various meters and scores on video games to help her progress.
Real math is used to manipulate the world to get the information from
it that we want.
> I am just wondering how I go about creating the bestThe world existed before school. The world is the natural place where
> environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...
> into more of a school-age level?
>
we learn. School is an artificial subset of the parts that someone
else thinks are important for a child to use to absorb what someone
else wants them to.
It isn't natural for us to absorb someone else's understanding of how
the world works. What's natural is pulling our own order out of
chaos, forming a theory, testing out the theory, refining the theory
and sometimes throwing out the theory and starting from scratch again.
If we didn't enjoy pulling order from chaos, we wouldn't enjoy doing
various types of puzzles. We'd just look at the answer.
We *want* to figure things out ourselves. (As part of figuring things
out, we might also ask questions, read someone else's ideas. We don't
do it in a vacuum.)
This might help:
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/talk
As well as this:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/
The left side is all the academics part of unschooling.
Joyce
Jenny C
How does the transition
exactly that at the age of 4. Her mom was really surprised and when she
ended up in school she was put in all the advanced classes because she
knew how to read. Learning how to read is just one of many skills that
a kid learns in their lifetime. It's an important one for sure, but not
the be all end all of skills. My daughter didn't start reading until
about 11 or 12, and at 14 reads book after book, can't get enough of it.
Her friend that learned how to read at 4, rarely picks up a book for
pleasure and her skill set has leveled out to match all the other kids
in school. She's smart for sure, but it has more to do with her
personality rather than anything she was taught.
Both of my girls at various times have asked me to teach them how to
read. We've used various things over the years, but ultimately what was
best was video and computer games, combined with lots of books on
tape/cd, and me reading to them. My youngest is 6 and doesn't read yet,
but can read some words.
You will know when they can read, because they will be reading. Picking
up books to look at when they are young is part of that process of
learning about those mysterious symbols.
Does she
computive skills with money. Anything beyond money, she's not
interested in, it's not really her thing, her mind works in other
directions. She can figure out those hand manipulative type puzzles at
science museums really well, even the spacial ones, she can visualize
something in her head and create things like clothing and acessories,
but if you ask her what 25 plus 37 is, she will have no idea or interest
in figuring that out, unless of course it is money. My younger daughter
does multiplication in her head. She's always got numbers floating
around in there. She can count to ten in 3 languages and does simple
addition in those languages. I don't know why she does it, she must
find it fun and fascinating. She adds and subtracts and multiplies and
divides in her head, she has a unique concept of abstracts like
infinity. I didn't "teach" her those things, and she didn't count
stuffed animals either. It started with fingers and toes and other
people's fingers and toes. She's just recently figured out how to count
to one hundred, while my older daughter figured that out much earlier
than 6, because of the money thing.
I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
> come about when the child starts learning in a more academicSometimes. My oldest daughter's best friend from a long time ago did
> manner ... asks to start learning to read? ... does she just pick
> up a wonderful book that I've been reading to her and read it
> herself? ... she already seems to be trying this out.
exactly that at the age of 4. Her mom was really surprised and when she
ended up in school she was put in all the advanced classes because she
knew how to read. Learning how to read is just one of many skills that
a kid learns in their lifetime. It's an important one for sure, but not
the be all end all of skills. My daughter didn't start reading until
about 11 or 12, and at 14 reads book after book, can't get enough of it.
Her friend that learned how to read at 4, rarely picks up a book for
pleasure and her skill set has leveled out to match all the other kids
in school. She's smart for sure, but it has more to do with her
personality rather than anything she was taught.
Both of my girls at various times have asked me to teach them how to
read. We've used various things over the years, but ultimately what was
best was video and computer games, combined with lots of books on
tape/cd, and me reading to them. My youngest is 6 and doesn't read yet,
but can read some words.
You will know when they can read, because they will be reading. Picking
up books to look at when they are young is part of that process of
learning about those mysterious symbols.
Does she
> place 2 stuffed animals next to 2 more stuffed animals and count outAgain it depends on the child. My oldest daughter learned math
> that there are 4 of them?
computive skills with money. Anything beyond money, she's not
interested in, it's not really her thing, her mind works in other
directions. She can figure out those hand manipulative type puzzles at
science museums really well, even the spacial ones, she can visualize
something in her head and create things like clothing and acessories,
but if you ask her what 25 plus 37 is, she will have no idea or interest
in figuring that out, unless of course it is money. My younger daughter
does multiplication in her head. She's always got numbers floating
around in there. She can count to ten in 3 languages and does simple
addition in those languages. I don't know why she does it, she must
find it fun and fascinating. She adds and subtracts and multiplies and
divides in her head, she has a unique concept of abstracts like
infinity. I didn't "teach" her those things, and she didn't count
stuffed animals either. It started with fingers and toes and other
people's fingers and toes. She's just recently figured out how to count
to one hundred, while my older daughter figured that out much earlier
than 6, because of the money thing.
I am just wondering how I go about creating the best
> environment to facilitate this beyond toddlerhood ... preschool ...Provide lots of interesting things to do and see and explore.
> into more of a school-age level?