Homeschool resources for the pre-schooler?

[BabyBliss]

Hi all,

My daughter is 2.5 and so far we have been doing great with stuff that is around the house, books (the human body is her favorite book), the outdoors, etc. I am starting to feel that I need more ideas to help her satisfy her natural inquisitiveness and her constant desire to "do science". Any ideas?

Thanks!

Amy

[NoHiddenFees]

There is an excellent series of science books with dozens of titles called "Let's Read and Find Out About Science." They are readily available from most libraries and Rainbow (http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php) sells them in sets (get their catalogue if you don't have it already, the website is less than intuitive). Janice VanCleave's books are excellent as well; chock full of easy to do experiments.

[wonderactivist]

At that age we also went for nature walks, followed the seasons and the things we discovered - it was great fun. There is a book source that is geared especially for preschool nature and science stories: Childsake (http://www.childsake.com/) and also a magazine which you might enjoy getting some ideas from, Animal Babies (or maybe go straight to Your Big Backyard (from the National Wildlife Federation (http://www.nwf.org/kidzone/kzPage.cfm?siteId=2) )

It sounds like you are following her inquisitive paths, and that really is where I would keep it at this age rather than introducing any formal curricula or "lessons." It's just my humble opinion, but I think it is just as important for gifted kids to get those early years of relaxed discovery and imaginative adventures.

Lucie

P.S. Oh, and we also SO enjoyed the unit blocks - building more and more complex structures...and I used to hide things in the sandbox for them to dig up and then tell them all about them. like when Sam was interested in the sea, I hid a whole bunch of fish and then we talked about each one - it lasted for days,

[muttix2]

http://letteroftheweek.com

I used that when my oldest was a baby. I didn't follow the lessons exactly but it gave me a lot of good ideas.

[OTMomma]

When my dd was 2 I did some reading about montessori theory and found a lot of their stuff gave me wonderful ideas. montessorimaterials.com has some lovely free stuff, and there are other good websites I can't recall just now.... But I hope this helps anyway.

[BabyBliss]

Thanks everyone for your ideas. I am starting a new wish-list of books! My daughter did enjoy Wild Animal Babies and is now enjoying Big Back Yard. Our latest on-going project is working on floatation devices for different figures/animals of different sizes and weights. Big fun! Thanks again -- and I am always excited to get new ideas!

[mamajody]

I started a homeschool co-op for DD this fall. :) We are following the seasons, and really having a blast. Monday is Apples Day 1. The group is going to focus on the harvest in our area for 2 months so we are making trips out to some local farms to learn about pumpkins and apples and and we also have some cooking activities planned. These are the kinds of activities that wouldn't be as fun by ourselves, so we are really excited to have 10 like minded families joining us. Not to mention my twins will be here in about 3 weeks, so I am excited that she will have support from other people, and won't miss out this fall while I am dealing with two infants. Next year, DD is 3 now, we will look into more of a curriculum. Right now we are leased with the unschooling, child led approach.