I need a book recommendation please

[TonyaW]

I am homeschooling my son who is almost 3, of course not formally yet.

I am not a very creative person so I need ideas. My son seems to be learning well, but I want a book which gives me ideas on simple creative ways to teach my son basics. I am talking a about a preschool book. I know everyday activities offer much by way of learning, but I guess I want more specific ideas and ways to teach my son the very basics.

Thanks!

[heatherdeg]

Not a book--it's shorter. And WONDERFUL:


http://www.besthomeschooling.org/articles/lillian_jones_ps_kdgtn.html

I would also read up on this link (at least the "first stage"):

http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_...evelopment.asp

And for us, we realized that part of our 5yo's complete disorganization was that the environment he'd been living in for the last 5 years wasn't as organized and neat as it should've been--so he mimicked what he saw (we'd been undergoing construction for years on and off). Once I read the second link, I was like and I realized that this was the foundation of his organizational skills for life. We stopped trying to force him to make his bed and clean up (which he was perfectly CAPABLE of doing) and realized it was more important that he saw them completed at this point in his life--so that he became accustomed to his environment looking a certain way.

I mean, he may be a "messy" by nature; but I don't need to exacerbate that.


Also, a great book that will take you through many years to come is "Teach Me To Do It Myself" by Maja Pitamic. I believe you can start these at 3yo since most Montessori classrooms start at that age. I have a number of Montessori books and this was the very best "teaching manual" so-to-speak--and it went way beyond all the others.

Hope these help.

[lach]

I got a book at Border's called A Survival Guide for the Preschool Teacher. It is amazing. If anything, there's too much information to weed through! Obviously it's designed for a preschool teacher in charge of a whole classroom of kids, but I found very little in there that didn't translate over to the home environment. It had good suggestions about organizing things, games, activities, and everything's arranged by subject and with details about what leads into what.

I'd actually suggest going to your local Barnes and Noble or Borders and taking a look in their education section. It's mostly designed for teachers, but I've found so many really cool books. I love the art books by Mary Ann Kohl, and there's a good science book called Science is Simple. That's what I can remember off the top of my head, but I have a whole bookshelf of stuff in the other room. They have giant books that lead teachers day by day through a year, and subject-specific books, and everything in between. Teacher supply stores are probably good too, but I don't have any near me.

[SageR]

PP has made some good recommendations. That article great. I like Maja Pitamic's book for activities a lot too. It is great for basics. Most of her activities do not require special materials and if they do they are things you can make. After a while you will see that there are ways of practicing those skills which can be done doing regular things around the house but it is still a good place to start. I'll add How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way is a nice start for organizing your environment.

I also agree with the rec for Mary Ann Kohl's books. We just got Great Anerican Artists and it is wonderful. It is like a junior art history course with pictures and info about the art! Really inspiring. She has been writing books for awhile so I bet you could find some of them at your local library.

I know you asked for books but a blog I really like for art ideas is www.artfulparent.typepad.com. She does all sorts of fun things with her preschool aged daughter and also has book reviews and links to other great sites.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

Not a book--it's shorter. And WONDERFUL...

Thank you, Heather - and that is what I think of as the basics. I was just thinking earlier today about what it is that we really and truly consider to be the most important and valuable things in living a satisfying life. Ironically, those things unfortunately don't tend to be the things that come up in conversation about getting started in homeschooling with a young child, although there's no practical reason why they shouldn't.

- Lillian

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Thank you, Heather - and that is what I think of as the basics. I was just thinking earlier today about what it is that we really and truly consider to be the most important and valuable things in living a satisfying life. Ironically, those things unfortunately don't tend to be the things that come up in conversation about getting started in homeschooling with a young child, although there's no practical reason why they shouldn't.

- Lillian

LMAO because I copied the link, noticed it was a "Lillian J" and thought "Hmmm...?" but wasn't sure it was you.

I think a lot of us come into it thinking exactly opposite: that this is the time to really TEACH them. In reality, public education is failing miserably for not developing critical creativity and organizational skills in the early years and holding off on academics until they are able to accept information at a whole 'nother level (other countries follow that model and perform leaps and bounds over us--Finland is one of them)

Granted, if you have a young child that starts digging--yeah, you follow them. But that's different. I have one of those (and only for specific subjects).