Should You Have A Schedule For Preschool Homeschooling? June 5
Children, especially young children, learn best when their learning is incorporated into all of their other daily activities. This is one of the many reasons why homeschooling can be a better option than public school for many children; children don’t see learning as something that they do at a certain time but rather consider it a part of the daily process of living. However, children also tend to do better with their days generally when things are a little bit structured for them. Combining a sense of structure with the idea that learning takes place all throughout every day of life is one of the best ways to make homeschooling work for your preschooler.
| Let’s take an example of what this might mean. In public schools, there is often a reading time. Come on, you remember when the teacher started the story and then went around the class calling on kids to read aloud. If you were one of those kids who didn’t do well in reading, you were probably terrified to be called on. Therefore, you hated reading time and associated that with hating reading. Reading was not something that you wanted to learn. Contrast this with the child who has a parent read to him every night before bed. This comforting ritual helps wind down the evening and lets the child learn without even realizing that’s what he’s doing. |
Applied to the homeschool environment for your preschooler, what this means is that you should establish rituals but do so in a way that compliments your personal style and your family’s schedule. The beauty of homeschooling is that you don’t have to have a set time that you’re going to sit down with a workbook and make lessons happen. Instead, you can incorporate learning into the things that you’re already doing every day with your kids. Your existing rituals can become the basis for your homeschool activities and what you’ll find is that you have a schedule which works for you and your kids.
Well, why not just go with your whims every day instead of having rituals? Obviously, children need consistency. Knowing that certain things are going to happen throughout the day is comforting to children. And children who are comfortable in their homeschool environment naturally excel at learning. Additionally, as your child’s teacher, you will probably feel more confident in your ability to educate your children if you can see that certain progress is being made. Knowing that your kids work on their alphabet daily or develop their motor skills through regular games that you play will increase that confidence and make you a better homeschool teacher.
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