For Those Wondering About Homeschooling With Younger Children

Becky asked me awhile ago about what it was like homeschooling with pre-school aged youngsters underfoot. I found this post from my first year homeschooling, when Emeline was two, and thought it might strike a sympathetic chord.

We went on our first "official" field trip today to the church history museum. It was awesome. Not only was there the replica of a boat (the reason we went) and the ship bunks to play on, but also a cabin with mud chinking and a wagon and the "I Am a Child of God Exhibit" upstairs that had a fantastic array of things for the kids to touch and play with. I can't BELIEVE I forgot my camera!!! ARGH!!! Oh well, the kids want to go again . . ..

The first week of school went well except that I forgot that Cowen likes to do exactly what Miriam does. The second day we did some hands-on math, and that was fine. But when we did book work and I had no book work ready for Cowen--that was not so great. I have since rectified the situation and Cowen has a math binder with his work sheets in page protectors so he can use the dry-erase markers.

Fixing Cowen's problem was easy, but Emeline--that is different. She wants to use markers. She's not allowed. She wants a white board. I didn't buy her one. She DOES NOT want crayons because nobody else is using crayons. Hmm. She's wound up in her crib twice because she was too loud. Cowen was never like this. I'm hoping the girl starts adapting . . . any day now.

The other thing that is interesting is how different young kids are from older kids. I didn't ever try to "teach" Miriam much when we did pre-school. We made pyramids out of sugar cubes, and colored pictures of kids from other countries, and made yummy Chinese food. But, not much sitting down and telling her things. Obviously, since sitting down and telling kids things is very ineffective at EVERY age, imagine my surprise when I sat down to tell them about the mysterious lost colony, Roanoke, and Miriam and Cowen sat on the couch CAPTIVATED. What??? By a lecture?? Granted it lasted three minutes, sounded like a story, and I was holding a doll. Who knew a prop would have such an impact? The doll wouldn't have done anything for my tenth graders. Miriam even remembered the doll was named Virginia Dare and was the first white baby born in the New World to tell her Dad at supper.

Of course, when I was done telling my "story," Miriam and Cowen insisted on sitting in the chair and holding the doll to tell their stories. And that was when I REALLY wished my video camera was handy. Miriam's story was convoluted, long, lacked resolution, and was HILARIOUS!! This school thing is fun!