Homeschooling: TK and Kinder Ideas

Starting to home school your child can be nerve-wracking, to say the least. You might wonder if you can even do it. Maybe you've got questions like:

"Don't I need a degree or something?"

or

"OMG, How do I even teach them how to read?"

or how about the age-old

"I wasn't good in Math so I can't teach it."

Ooo! What about

"If I home school, how will they make friends?"

And 100s of other things may cross your mind. (What you may hear from others, and how to navigate that feedback is for another day. When it's completed it will be linked here.)

Well, I'm here to tell you that you can quiet those thoughts down now. Remember, I have home schooled for over 12 years, and while I am not the expert on your family, state mandates, or charter requirements, I am an expert on my experience, and in sharing it I have hopes that it sets you up to find the confidence that is already inside of you to do this. (Spoiler: don't let nerves talk you out of trying it out. You'd be nervous if you were sending them to public school too. Trust me - you can't ruin them.) (Spolier 2: Youre already teaching them!)

TL;DR Let this time be full of magic, for it is just that - magical.

This article is a little bit info and a little bit story time.

Please know - I will not speak ill of public schools here, while I have feelings on the public school system as a whole, I also have feelings of some home school systems. However, that is not what this article is for, so please don't go looking for it, and extra please, do not try to convince me I should say something like that. If you want to go do your own blog about it, please do - remember - this is my blog. :D

*claps hands together* 

Ok, Now that that is out of the way.

Things to know:

• This article is going to be a short (maybe) and sweet primer on how to navigate the early years of homeschooling. (In all reality it can be used as a foundation for any age if you're bringing your child home after being in the public school system for years.)

  
  

• Keep in mind your own state may have specific requirements so be sure to know what they are - I am in no position to speak against your charter/state mandates.

• I will speak from a perspective of someone working with a home based charter (HBC) school, but the suggestions can realistically be used for all families.

• These suggestions will be secular as to align with what charters in California require of items purchased with school/enrichment funds.

  
  

• I can help you navigate requirements of your state or charter if you provide them to me.

What this article will not do:

I will not tell you:

• what you should, or should not do in your home school

• how to home school

• what your state or charter requires

Now for the good stuff!

Books

Indulge me, and allow that I start here. Please. I've got some strong feelings about books and, TL;DR = I LOVE THEM! Books are life. I love books for everything. You learn to read and you can learn anything.

While I could tell you all my favorite books for this age range (which I may do at a later date) I don't want to limit you to my, nay, our tendencies. So, in this section I'll quickly speak about using books in these early years. Ultimately, I had one goal:

• Model a LOVE books, and everything literacy

I can't go any further without mentioning the shining beacon of exuberant light that is Julie Bogart, creator of Brave Writer. I had already started homeschooling by the time I learned about Brave Writer so when I began immersing us into the program, and learning her philosophy I was hooked! It was validation for everything I had ever done up to that point.

Back to trying to start... To support the goal set, we read. We read newspapers, comic strips, cereal boxes, magazines, fliers, junk mail - you name it, we read it. And of course - we read books.

We had weekly trips to the library. We attended story time and checked out pretty much any books we wanted. Usually the rule was if you could carry them, you could take them home. We had a system for where library books lived at the house and in all these years and thousands of books later we only lost 2 that I can remember having to pay to replace. We read books in the car, at bed time, to grandma, to baby sister, to the animals at the shelter - always. We talked about the books we read and the books we wish existed. We did have a rule for a while that in order to watch a movie from a book you had to read the book first. I eventually let that rule dissolve (COVID). (I only sort of regret that choice.)

We owned our own books too, of course. In their own room they had a book shelf and I had mine. I would LOVE to have wall-to-wall built-ins, but I resist the urge, and limit myself to what I can put on the shelves I have. The one time I did break down and buy a small shelf for my bed-side was when I tripped and almost died (not really) on a stack of books on the floor by my bed. I have often wondered if more (books, not near-death experiences) is better but in 2019 Sikora et. al., revealed that, while "growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills [...] beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment. The effects are loglinear, with greatest returns to the growth in smaller libraries." So, smaller it is.

Then there was Poetry Tea Time. Julie Bogart coined the phrase and I'll make a separate post about Poetry Tea Time some day. I will say this- it is lovely, and promises to make a life-long impression on your lives. It can be a time to explore new topics or could be a culmination of the week prior, or a pleasant time to just breathe and read funny, inspiring, and sometimes weird poems. It encourages reading aloud and togetherness, and snacks!

If you try Poetry Tea Time, hmm, let's say 5 times and hate it, let me know. I'll buy you... well whatever beverage you'd like. That said PTT does not demand you have tea - it demands nothing. That's why I love it so much.

• Bottom line: Have books. Read books; read books to your children, and for yourself. Listen to audio books. Write stories. Weave literacy INTO your life.

Writing

Writing our thoughts is so sacred, I honestly don't have the words for it (ha!). With this I also had one goal:

1. Show them their thoughts matter, and are worthy of being written down

Again, encouraged to continue what I was already doing by the work of Julie (Bogart), I lived a life that said your thoughts matter, let me show you.

(more on this soon)

Subscription boxes

Subscription boxes are a total win! There are so many available these days and I'm so jealous because when I was homeschooling this level it was during the wild west of subscription boxes. Lucky! (said in my best Napoleon Dynamite impression) You could create an entire education plan (unit study) around subscription boxes since there are so many!. (If you'd like help with this, let me know!)

I'll link some below. (I am not an affiliate so I do not get any money for my suggestions.) As the kids age up the range of appropriate boxes increases!

Little Passports (geography +)

Learning With Kelsey (math)

Literati (literacy)

The Story Time Box (literacy)

Radish Kids (cooking)

MEL Science (science)

Green Kid Crafts (science)

GiGiL (STEM)

Fave: Ivy Kids (multi)

Art

(more coming soon)

History

'Why cannot history be studied and written and read for its own sake, as the record of human behavior, the most fascinating subject of all? insistence on a purpose turns the historian into a prophet and that is another profession." - Barbara W. Tuchman

(more coming soon)

Math

Oh, Math. I love math so much. I find it fascinating. It's a language I may never fully understand but I'm gonna keep trying. I have a past with math that was, suffice it to say traumatic, and worked hard to not pass that to any of my children. Here are some things you can do in these early years to support math joy, and awareness.

• Bake and cook. You will have so many opportunities to use math when you bake and cook. Let kids know math is everywhere and they will begin to see it. You can weave math into finding recipes, shopping for the ingredients and then of course, in the act of making it.

  (In case you don't already have some, I'll post some simple recipe that are really good for this! Message me if you don't see a link yet!)

• Play games. Lots of them. Find games you love and play them often. Make games central to your days. You will have no regrets! To keep your costs down you can even join a group of other families and rotate games, or check your local library! Many have something like a "Library of Things" that include great games.

Finally, here are some of the books that supported my decision to home school and sustained me along the way, listed in no particular order. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, simply what I can remember as I sit here staring at my book shelf, and type.

• Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto

• Punished By Rewards by Alfie Kohn

• The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer

• The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

• The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child's Education

  by Ainsley Arment

• The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie

• Modern Miss Mason: Discover How Charlotte Mason’s Revolutionary Ideas on Home Education Can Change How You and Your Children Learn and Grow Together by Leah Boden

• Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter O. Gray

  (Side note, this is one of my faves because when I first got it, the kids pictured on the cover exactly like my kids. <3)

  
  

Rounding out the list is my all-time favorite, Julie Bogart:

• The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life

• Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent's Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age

• A Gracious Space: Daily Reflections to Sustain Your Homeschooling Commitment (Fall, Winter, and Spring)

• Help! My Kid Hates Writing: How to Turn Struggling Students into Brave Writers

• Poetry Tea Time Companion

The take away: Let this time be full of magic, for it is just that - magical.

Be well,

Eme xo