What about Sophie?

Surprisingly, since we decided to homeschool the #1 question I have gotten is "What are you going to do with Sophie? Will you teach her preschool or will she do Kindergarten with Max?"

Something along those lines... So, I thought I would kind of share my game plan and what I believe about educating for preschool!

Nick and I have found that the "school of thought" when it comes to education that we most agree with is Classical Education. Read more about it here. So, I basically believe before age 6 kiddos really don't need much "formal" education. So, we will continue with Sophie doing what we have been... teaching her the alphabet and letter sounds through play, songs, and everyday conversations. Learning math through playing and talking about everyday situations. We will continue to read to her every book she will sit through, playing games, and answering all of her questions about the world.

I don't force my kiddos to sit down and do worksheets or book work at this age. Any handwriting practice that happens is simply because she wants to do it and we stop as soon as she gets bored. For now I think the best thing for Sophie's handwriting is encouraging lots of coloring and drawing to work on her fine motor skills and then when she is 6 (or wants to) we will start to get serious about handwriting.

Sophie is actually at a huge advantage though because she likes to be involved in my school time with Max. So, she learns a lot through listening. And I do have some little workbooks for her so that whenever she wants to sit down and "do school too" she has some stuff to work on. Although more often than not she just covers the workbooks with stickers... but hey! That is fine motor skills, right?

Whenever Soph is ready and knows all of her letters and sounds I will have her start on the Kindergarten Hooked on Phonics books. But, that could be in a few months or not until she turns 6 and I am perfectly happy either way. Educating my children is not a race to make sure they are reading before all the other kids. And I never want to make them feel like they are being used to make their mom look good.

So, that is our current plan for our little Sophie bug! If I had to guess I think she will probably learn to read earlier than Max because she is showing more interest but I am fine either way. She is always welcome to join in whatever we are doing and if she wants to sit down and do book work we will make that happen. But, for now, we are having fun and enjoying her childhood!