Either way, if I had never had someone tell me about homeschooling, our lives would have taken a drastically different path. Therefore I am going to write about why parents should consider homeschooling their toddlers and preschoolers, in fact, why they should consider homeschooling “all the way”.

I do understand that homeschooling, while having been around for centuries, can often rub people up the wrong way, I do hope that my readers will read to the end and enjoy a glimpse into a different possibility for their families.

Parenting tip

When it comes to homeschooling toddlers, parents want to jump in and start on ABC’s and 123’s. After all, that’s what they do at school, don’t they? Well in our homeschool we chose to rather follow Charlotte Mason’s advice and rather allow them to be educated by life, living alongside mom, doing things that happen naturally in the home, reading lots of books to them and enjoy daily nature walks. We did this for up to 5 or 6 years depending on the child.

Is it hard to do this when all around you others are teaching their children to read and count? Yes, of course it is. But what happens in these early years is that you are building a foundation in your children’s lives that you can build on when the K-12 years come.

The other huge bonus of stalling academics until 6 years is that you are able to spend time developing your child’s character through chore times, reading times and discipline times. Formal academics crowd into this time as often we as moms have a daily agenda we want to get through and we see training as interference in this. When in fact the training and discipling of your child’s heart should be the lesson and take precedence over any workbook or activity.

But there are times that you may want to spend in adult directed learning…read on for some ideas….

You and your toddler

I was recently asked to review Susan Lemon's new book called Homepreschool and Beyond and was thrilled with it! Susan is a qualified preschool teacher who homeschooled her own 4 children. She takes not only her wealth of preschool teacher knowledge but also her long years as a homeschooling mom and shares them in this book. She shows parents how simple it is to homeschool through the preschool years using real life, good books and learning opportunities as they arise. She has extensive book lists for each age and category as well as recommended books for parents to learn from. This is a must for all parents wanting to keep their preschoolers at home with them or for those who are considering homeschooling all the way.

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready is a great gentle way to build learning platforms for your toddler.

Hands on Homeschooling is another way to learn without workbooks. Terri’s plans are fun to do and don’t require much more than an hour a day.

ABC Fun and 123 is for preschoolers from 3 onwards and uses large motor skills to learn the alphabet as well as being full of craft and cooking ideas for moms to do with their toddlers.

How to homeschool your preschooler on a $1 a day is full of ideas for you to use which will cost you literally nothing and are often just the thing moms need to validate how much learning is happening in their toddler’s day.

Also read my article entitled creating a learning lifestyle

Other educational activities for preschoolers can be found here at Free Preschool Activities

Character building

As I mentioned before, these first 6 years when you keep your child home from play and preschools offers a mom valuable time to mould and shape her child according to the family values which they hold dear.

Other benefits are helping your child to develop healthy social skills. One of the major questions asked of all homeschoolers sometime during their homeschool adventure is “But what about socialization?”

I challenge any mom of a toddler to spend a day quietly in the corner of a preschool class or on a playground at a school and ask yourself thereafter is what you see is “healthy” socialising. My friend and business partner has written an article that is well worth the read about the effects of playschool, preschool and daycare can have on your children. Read Best Mother, Best Preschool

Bible link for moms

In this day and age where more and more moms are going out to work it can be a challenge for a woman to walk away from a career, especially when you have spent years studying at college or years moving up the corporate ladder to get to a management position.

Another problem is the current economic trend where many husbands and fathers are being laid off or their hours cut back which has a direct effect on the family purse. It is in times like these that we need to “lift our eyes to the hills where our help comes from.” We need to stand firm on the Rock and remember that He is our provider in all circumstances. We need to pray each day for God to direct our steps and our choices so that we can stretch a dollar, develop a homemaker’s heart and walk more closely with Him.

When I left my career at 24 years of age to come home to have our first child and thereafter another 3 little ones in quick succession, I never knew the road that God had mapped out for me. What I did need was an open mind and heart for Him to do the work in my life. For the first few years, living on a single income in a double income world was not easy and even though there were sacrifices to be made to be able to stay at home, every one of them were worthwhile.

If this article has nudged your heart in anyway about coming home and homeschooling your toddler then please do not shut the door too quickly, it could just be the nudge you need to start on a wonderful lifeling adventure with your children.

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