Question: Why homeschool preschool children?

[eloquence]

Just a question? Why do people homeschool preschool children? I don't want to interrupt the support thread but the whole concept has me.....

[SweetMamaMe]

In our case, it's what our daughter needs. She is fascinated by words, numbers, music, and taught herself to read at 2. She's now really into addition and math concepts. She's happiest when she has an almost constant stream of learning. She absorbs so much, so quickly, and always wants to know more, explore, etc. So, we just facilitate what we can. We don't necessarily homeschool her with a curriculum, because I cannot find one that really fits her, we just take her lead and do what we can. I don't know about other people, but I don't see anything wrong with it if that is what they choose for their family.

[moominmamma]

Speaking as someone who hasn't homeschooled her preschoolers, I think there are a number of reasons why people do. None of them really appeal to me, but here they are, as I see them:

• They may use the time as a special one-on-one bonding time apart from siblings and/or from the flow of daily chaos.
• Their children may take delight in the scheduled nature of home preschool activities.
• They feel the social or family pressure of enrolling their children in preschool and feel that doing something at home instead arms them against the critics.
• They may be treating it as a 'test run' of Real Homeschooling, to find out whether it is something that works for them before they make the momentous decision to wave the big yellow bus on by.
• They may be philosophically committed to the use of a curriculum and have a child who is ready for a Kindergarten-level curriculum earlier than age 5.
• The parent may simply enjoy the process of creating and administering a learning plan with their children.

Miranda

[mamabohl]

we don't actually do school for our preschooler but I'm still reading/joining the thread just for fun activities and because we plan on homeschooling eventually.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by SweetMamaMe

In our case, it's what our daughter needs. She is fascinated by words, numbers, music, and taught herself to read at 2. She's now really into addition and math concepts.

See, I too had a child who taught herself to read at a very young age, and to me that was reason not to start "homepreschooling" -- because she was obviously learning just great without an adult-initiated approach, and because, being literate so young, she could challenge herself to learn new things by reading about them.

So I think parental perspectives and choices still play a large role, even when a child is very advanced and an insatiable learner.

Miranda

[SweetMamaMe]

Of course parental perspectives and choices play a role! For my daughter, who does appear to be very advanced, whatever, she still needs help. There are some things that she is mentally ready for, but otherwise not, and wants to learn so bad. That's where I come in, and try to help her as best as I can. I don't know if it's homeschooling, or not, but it's what we do.

[True Blue]

:

[SweetMamaMe]

[Roar]

Originally Posted by moominmamma

See, I too had a child who taught herself to read at a very young age, and to me that was reason not to start "homepreschooling" -- because she was obviously learning just great without an adult-initiated approach, and because, being literate so young, she could challenge herself to learn new things by reading about them.

So I think parental perspectives and choices still play a large role, even when a child is very advanced and an insatiable learner.

Miranda

Yes, I was just about to post the same thing. We also had an early self taught reader and we didn't do preschool academics at all and I'm glad.

[Roar]

Originally Posted by SweetMamaMe

Of course parental perspectives and choices play a role! For my daughter, who does appear to be very advanced, whatever, she still needs help. There are some things that she is mentally ready for, but otherwise not, and wants to learn so bad. That's where I come in, and try to help her as best as I can. I don't know if it's homeschooling, or not, but it's what we do.

But, if she isn't ready for something how can you help? I don't really understand how that works. One of my biggest goals as a homeschooler is not to get in the way. If it gets to the point where I'm needing to "help" the child in order for him to be able to learn I feel like I'm getting in the way.

[SweetMamaMe]

I don't know how to explain it, other than to say her brain is advanced and wants to do things her body doesn't quite know how to handle. Somebody help me word this better!! For instance, she just wants to know everything, but there is a process and sometimes she gets impatient with the process. Her brain thinks and processes like a 1st or 2nd grader sometimes, but she's still a 2.75 year old with limited motor skills. She used to be behind in motor skills and that made for a very frustrated child. Somehow, she got caught up on her motor skills, and then some, and can handle these instances better. She's also a perfectionist and is very hard on herself. It takes us to let her know that it's okay if it's not perfect, but that is so hard for her. She was constantly wanting to know how to spell words, etc. and we came up with a game to teach her how to sound out words. Now she's a very happy child when it comes to reading. Some things she taught herself, some things we help her with. I understand where you are coming from, though, but I think it's just the differences in the children and the parents. We all meet our children's needs according to their needs, I think.

[loraxc]

Well, in our case, in large part because I would like DD to be be in preschool but we can't afford it.

My DD needs stuff to do. When she gets bored, her wheels spin, and we find ourselves battling. She loves it when I say, "Hey, DD, I have a fun activity for us to do!"

I think you may be thinking of "home preschooling" as all about sitting down and drilling letters--it is much broader than that. Today we made and played with cornstarch "goop" and sorted glass marbles. Later she will help me sort and fold laundry and I will probably get out the paints and collage materials. I consider all of this part of home preschooling.

[loraxc]

If it gets to the point where I'm needing to "help" the child in order for him to be able to learn I feel like I'm getting in the way.

Really? I don't know if I'm understanding you. Are you saying that if, for instance, your child needed specific help learning to read you would feel you were getting in the way?

[Wolfmeis]

We homeschooled our children at preschool age because yes, they were quite precocious and it was a nice way to engage them in a tangible way. Further, we are big proponents of Montessori, and that cycle begins at age 3.

We weren't preparing for "real homeschooling." We were homeschooling. We've gone a little eclectic in the years since then, but the Montessori method is still the major vehicle from ages 3-6 'round here.

[Roar]

Originally Posted by loraxc

Really? I don't know if I'm understanding you. Are you saying that if, for instance, your child needed specific help learning to read you would feel you were getting in the way?

I was specifically addressing my experience with a gifted preschool age child. I understand what the poster is saying about the asychrony of these kids. It is very easy to step in and do for, to eliminate frustrations, to spoon feed them...but I think a lot is lost in that process. I'm struck again and again that the ways the child finds to work on something are often more interesting and more meaningful than anything the adult will come up with. And, my position may be different because at this point I see my son's greatest strength as a learner is his independence and self motivation. I think that some of that emerged because his learning wasn't programmed by others early on.

[SweetMamaMe]

No, I think you were specifically asking about my child, which I answered. No spoon feeding here, just obviously, a different child from your own.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by loraxc

Today we made and played with cornstarch "goop" and sorted glass marbles. Later she will help me sort and fold laundry and I will probably get out the paints and collage materials. I consider all of this part of home preschooling.

And I consider it simply parenting...

dar

[SweetMamaMe]

Amen.

[Roar]

Originally Posted by SweetMamaMe

No, I think you were specifically asking about my child, which I answered. No spoon feeding here, just obviously, a different child from your own.

Of course they are different. All kids are different. I don't think though that it fully explains the difference in approaches. My child had very significant motor delays by the way and I'm hard pressed to think you'd find a lot more asychronous kid out there.

[SweetMamaMe]

I guess I'm unclear why it matters that our approaches are different.