Another preschool ?

My twins will be 4 next month & I plan on homeschooling for at least preschool.
My DD loves academic websites, worksheets, talking about letters and numbers.
My DS takes off any time he sees these things! He does like to do crafts, but really prefers physical activities.

I don't want to hold my DD back as she seems ready to progress forward. If she was a singleton I wouldn't think twice about it, but as a twin I am nervous about creating a big gap between them.

Any advice?

 

Sounds like they just have different learning styles. You may want to try to pick up a book on learning styles to give you some hints on how to teach to each one differently. I wish I had suggestions, maybe someone else will have a book suggestion that they like...

 

I should add my DS loves, loves, loves music - so I have been utilizing that as much as possible. I guess I should research some auditory learning ideas.

 

Your son sounds like my son. He's almost six and hates to sit and write his name or anything to do with formal learning. He's going to K this fall and I'm trying out homeschool with my 4yr old DD. If I decide to homeschool him next year I'm really going to have to be creative on how to reach him. He's definitely not a sit and listen type of kid.

 

Ok, after all my FIAR info I gave, here's my real view on preschool... it's not necessary. Here's what I mean, if you have a family where the kids are taken care of and read to and get to spend time outside enjoying nature and go on outings to the store, bank, etc. children are learning, exploring, interacting with people of a range of ages and learning appropriate "pre-school" skills. (Obviously that's sadly not true of too many children in our country, and they really can benefit from a well-run preschool.) I did use FIAR, as a preschool of sorts with Sage when she was 4 1/2 to 5. She read young, loved books and it was a good fit. I think it would be fine with lots of kids. But many children (especially a lot of boys) are just not ready for school at that age. And it's not only ok, it's normal. I think it can be hard when you start homeschooling young kids to want them to always be the best and brightest and doing advanced things. It reflects well on the parents, especially to all the non-homeschoolers in our lives. And the homeschoolers you always hear about are either the ones who go to MIT at 14 or who are complete social misfits and who never cracked a book. Of course we want the positive. But I believe most children really are best served by waiting on formal academics. So I would say to continue reading to your children, your DS might actually hear and enjoy more of the stories than you think, while he's bouncing around the room or zooming his cars all over. When your DD has questions, answer them, give her books, play word and number games, let her (or both of them if he's interested) make up stories and you write them down so they can illustrate, etc. But keep it light, watch for very short attention spans, and encourage their different strengths. I have twin girls, but they're fraternal and very different in their strengths and weaknesses. One is MUCH more physical, but not nearly as interested in words and numbers and schoolish things, the other is the opposite. But I also homeschool 3 older children, so I'm used to kids being at different levels and having different strengths and abilities (not that it's always easy to juggle, but it's the norm). So we go with the flow and are very relaxed still with them being 5 1/2.

 

Do you guys write posts and then no one comments and you get all worried you offended someone? Um, I do.

While I do really believe what I wrote, I also want to say that if you feel like homeschooling preschool is the right thing for your kiddos, by all means go for it! I can tell that a couple of you really like FIAR (though as someone pointed out the B4FIAR is really more the preschool level), and I'm genuinely glad that you're finding something that feels right for your children! I've homeschooled from the beginning and bounced around a little until finally settling on what I really believe is the best thing for our family (Ambleside Online), which we've done for a year. I'm still learning and tweaking and hoping to make a few changes in little things for the next school year, but it feels good to really have that confidence in what we're doing. And I don't in any way want to take that from anyone. One of the blessings of homeschooling is the ability to do it in whichever way you feel is right for your own children, and no 2 families I know do it the same way.

And the one BIG benefit of me homeschooling preschool for Sage was that it won over my husband. Up until that point, he was very skeptical of homeschooling in general, and not sure I was organized enough to pull it off. That year really changed all that for him (even though I'm still a generally unorganized person), so I'm very glad I did it.

 

I appreciate your input!! It is a good reminder to not push formal academics too soon. I am trying to muddle my way through my questions and concerns and probably need to just relax and roll with it. I feel a lot of self imposed pressure to succeed for them and with them.

Thanks.

 

I also want to chime in and encourage you not to push formal schooling too much, too soon. I did. I expected my little 4 yos to sit still and listen and do worksheets. I really regret that! I felt I had something to prove to my DH and, if our kids weren't the best and brightest I was failing. That couldn't be further from the truth!!!

So while, yes, you want your kids to learn, more importantly you want them to enjoy learning! This age is where you can set that standard. If they get antsy, let them get up and go play for a while. If they want to sit and "play school" with worksheets, let them do that. But, you have to take your cue from them at this age.

The biggest suggestion I can make is to play games with your kids to help them learn. Also, offer a variety of ways to learn a single thing and watch to see what each child seems to get the most from and enjoy the most. For example, if you want them to learn to recognize their letters, you can do flash cards if they enjoy that, but maybe you will also draw the letters outside with chalk and ask them to run and jump on the letter you call out and make up paper fish with letters on them that have a paperclip and go fishing with a string and magnet for the letters. The kids feel like they are playing, but they are learning at the same time. And some of the games can be great for active little ones (especially boys).

For me, the most important thing would be, if they are sitting still and doing more formal things, great. But, if they are antsy or whiny or not enjoying it, take a break. If you force them to sit still when they want to be playing, they will start to see school as boring and more like a time-out than a fun learning adventure.

All, in all, I think you might really be surprised how much your kids will pick up just by having a family who is actively involved in their lives and who answers their questions.

 

I've been homeschooling my 4 year old DD's since around January 2010. I stumbled on a blog of a lady who was a teacher before she had her kids. Her blog is more than just a blog. It's a complete resource for teaching preschool for kids! I'll share the website, because I honestly think it's wonderful! I had no clue what to do for my kids, and she helped me a lot. She uses a lot on hands on activities and learning toys as well as reading to her kids.


Here's the link to her site: Preschool blog


I do have to say because homeschooling preschool was one of the reasons my DH decided that I could take on the older two. I was able to homeschool all four this past year, and I LOVE it! GL!!!