Childhood is pretty much the most impressionable time of our lives. In the words of Haim Ginott, a child psychologist “Children are like wet cement whatever falls on them makes an impression.” So starting out on homeschooling your child might seem a little daunting at first, but with a few tricks here and there, you’ll get the hang of it. Hopefully.
In this article, we have got some awesome tips and tricks for your home school preschool, that’ll help you get started and the next thing we’ll know, you might just end up becoming the best at this.
Tip #1: Don’t forget whom you’re dealing with
First things first, keep in mind that you’re dealing with children. It’s a miracle how much chaos a human of that size can create. Suffice to say, your preschoolers are going to test your patience. A lot. And you might even end up wanting to gouge your eyes out. Yeah, it’s going to be brutal at times. But through all this, keep a grip over yourself and everything will turn out absolutely perfect.
Before starting to train your preschoolers, train yourself. All your actions are going to leave an impression on your children. Keep yourself calm and enjoy the process. If done right, it will be an entirely delightful experience for both you and your child.
Tip #2: Keep realistic expectations
Each child is unique in their own right and they all learn differently. Some might start slower only to speed up later on or vice versa. Don’t look at other children and expect your own to be the same. Just keep in mind to pace your teaching process to your child’s learning process and make sure that you feel good about every single bit of progress, both from you and your child.
Tip #3: Set up a Time table
In life, one of the things you can seldom go wrong with is a good schedule. And for children, it’s almost a sin to not establish a good routine. So, take a good look at your and your child’s habits and routines and structure a timetable that suits you both. Don’t worry about following the timetable to a tee. However, you shouldn’t sway from your routine too much, so that your preschooler doesn’t get confused. And don’t forget about mapping out the whole year before starting. You can use an instructional calendar as a guide to make this task a whole lot easier.
Tip #4: Start small and build up as you go
Remember, you hold the ropes in this situation, so ease yourself and your child into this whole experience slowly and steadily. You don’t want to dive into deep waters on your first try or you and your child both will end up absolutely overwhelmed. Start off small, get a hang of things, and decide what works best for you and your preschoolers.
Tip #5: Employ hands-on learning
Don’t confine your teachings to worksheets and whatnot. Children learn more when they learn by doing. I mean, how many worksheets can you expect a child to write or how long do you expect them to listen and at the end of the day actually retain all that information overload? So, a much better way to teach preschoolers is to employ hands-on learning. Use pictures and sounds to help your preschoolers recognize things, and you could use blocks and even toys to help them count, or you could do a whole lot of other activities which will make the learning process so much more fun. Try out different activities and see which resonates with your child the most. And remember to practice with all 5 senses.
Tip #6: Improvise
This is the beauty of homeschooling preschoolers. You can add so many fun activities to your daily routine, just by improvising as you go. This will definitely keep things from getting monotonous. So, try using random things in the room to make your child learn to count, or use cereal boxes to make them learn alphabets, or colors, or whatever. There are a plethora of possibilities of what you can do when you are homeschooling your preschoolers. Be creative!
Tip #7: Practice Reading
It is essential for you to practice reading with your child. Read storybooks, informative stuff or whatever interests your child, to be honest. Also, try to make them pronounce “big” words.
Tip #8: Hone their motor skills
When you’re homeschooling your preschoolers, don’t leave their motor skills behind. Hone their muscles with the help of fun activities like crafts. And keep the order straight, for instance, bigger, crooked lines and large painting strokes come before your preschooler moves on to smaller, and much finer alphabets.
Tip #9: Don’t Forget the Playtime
Preschoolers need their Playtime. In fact, a vast majority of their daily routine will probably consist of doing just that. So, take frequent breaks from the learning bits and just sit down to play. You can also throw in some learning activities during playtime to make it more productive. But Playtime is non-negotiable.
Remember, you’re the boss. Your way of teaching your preschooler doesn’t have to mirror school curriculums or even other home-preschools. Just do what feels best for you and your preschooler.