2011-2012: Preschool
I am very low key about preschool — and even kindergarten. In fact, I wasn’t really going to do anything with Ilse one-on-one at all except for making sure we get in picture books with our couch time. But these last couple months I’ve noticed on a few fronts that things that just happened with the older two aren’t happening as much for her (like picture books!), and as we move up and on with the boys, she’s not getting as strong a foundation as the boys. So, I reserved 10-15 minutes a day for only Ilse (who is 3 1/2) and Knox as he pleases to cover the following:
- Mother Goose.
Picture Book. My choice; I don’t want her to miss the cream of the crop.
Bible Story Book. One of the things I realized is that now that we read mostly straight from the Bible, she is not comprehending and is being left behind.
The Jesus Storybook Bible I just bought and have only glanced through. But everyone recommends it, it seems. :)
Catechism Q&As 1-14 (she only knows 1&2! Ack! The boys knew more than 14 by her age and the fact that she doesn’t is 100% my fault — I haven’t done them with her) & Psalm 1 (same deal).
Alphabet book.
(I got this one to be a special one for Ilse, but it has only uppercase letters, so I’m not thrilled with it, even though it’s illustrated by Tasha Tudor)
Ilse not only sits with us for most of our other work, she insists on not being left out. So I have coloring sheets and number sheets and letter sheets so that she can do “math” and “handwriting” and “school” with us whenever she wants. I also have puzzles and pattern blocks and peg boards and such for “school work.” She learns the hymns with us and she loves the memory work set to music. Her favorite thing to sing is Geography Song’s “Pacific States.”
I have no hard and fast academic goals for preschool. What comes when is so tightly tied to development, which varies so widely and is so individual and unpredictable, that insisting on standards is just asking for trouble. So far I’ve never sat down and instructed any of my children in colors or shapes or numbers or letters, but in the course of life, without an agenda, they’ve picked it up just like they’ve picked up talking. It is only vocabulary, really, and they learn it just like other vocabulary. So, it’s not something that would be on my agenda to “teach” or worry about it until 5 or 6. Learning through discovery and just picking it up is much, much to be preferred in all academic areas during the preschool ages, I think. Moreover, pressure to learn in preschool is not good and can be positively bad. That’s not to say a preschooler should never feel any pressure, but that should be applied to obeying and learning to be cheerful, not to letters and numbers. That is my theory and philosophy for 1-5 year-olds. And that is why potty training has been traumatic. None of mine picked up potty training, none of mine even showed signs of being ready, but 5 year olds in diapers is rather frowned upon.
So, I have one question: I now have 2 children who form their letters incorrectly by habit, and it drives us all nutty when I try to crack down on it. Ilse, just like the other two, is beginning to write Os & Hs and her own invented letter shapes. She loves to write “words” on lined paper. The boys both did this too at her age, and that’s when the bad habit began. Still, I mean, isn’t it rather ridiculous to do handwriting instruction with a 3 year old? But should I do it on the hope that then she will start off right and not already have ingrained bad habits at 5? Or will you all promise me that since she’s a girl she’ll learn her handwriting beautifully? :)
