We are planning to homeschool preschool with AE. Since she is now officially closer to age three than age two, I’ve started to think more about what exactly that will look like for us.

I know we will continue our parent-child music, gym and hiking classes. We will do plenty of free-play, arts and crafts and reading. But I was wondering if we needed a more structured, formal plan.

As I was busy brainstorming and researching, something amazing happened this week that promises to inform my homeschooling philosophy for many years.

AE’s first name ends with the “sss” sound. While she has been saying her name for many months, she has always skipped the “sss” sound, pronouncing it as if it ends in a vowel. This doesn’t bother me at all. Actually, I find it quite enduring.

This week, as is the routine in gym class, the teacher asked AE to share her name with the group. I almost burst into happy tears when I heard a quiet “sss” sound emerge from her lips as she finished saying her name. I leaned forward to look with wonder at the face of the sweet child sitting in my lap. Where did that come from? I’ve never tried to get her to say the “sss” sound. I’ve never worked diligently with her on the pronunciation of her name. How did she learn to do that?

It only took a few moments of reflection to remember, learning isn’t limited to formal instruction. In fact, AE will learn much more from hands-on experience than she will from textbooks and worksheets.

I don’t expect our homeschool years to be completely free of formal instruction. But, I am committed to trusting, encouraging and enjoying the wonder that is a child’s innate propensity to grown and learn.

How has your child’s natural curiosity impressed you? If you are a homeschooling parent, how do you strike a balance between fostering experiential learning (through things like play, daily living, exploration, etc.) and formal instruction?

This article has 7 comments

  1. april c Reply

    We have given up formal school after starting and stopping, starting and stopping for a while. I provide lots of books and hands on opportunities…which they can take or leave at their discretion. We’re at the library constantly. I’m sure there will come a time when we do more formal type school for some things, but for now, this works for us. My kids are thriving and reading like crazy. And they don’t realize that they are learning all the time. Sometimes, they ask for some workbook stuff….so we go with it. But we always end up back in free learning mode….and taking advantage of what life presents before us. One of my favorite recent learning times came from finding an odd and beautiful bug in our house. We captured it and learned about google searches and after some effort, we learned that we had found a white-crossed seed bug. As much as I hate bugs, it was a really fun experience.

    • Jennifer Hoffman Reply

      April, you continue to be a hero. Oh, how I ache to live 10 minutes from you again! Thanks for all you’ve already done to support me on my homeschooling journey!

  2. Amy G Reply

    Good luck with your homeschooling expereince. I love hearing stories of discovery and learning-happens-everywhere stuff- it’s completely true and seeing it through children’s eyes is especially inspirational. I look forward to following any of the work you do at home.

  3. Kelli Reply

    This mimics us at the moment. We are doing (ages 3 and 1) a co-op once a week with 2 other moms. It a little more formal with one of us “teaching” each week. The other moms can stay or go run errands and then we all have lunch. The best moments though are the ones that just happen throughout the day:)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *