Making Homeschool Fun for Early Learners

 

Making Homeschool Fun for Early Learners via www.RaisingLifelongLearners.com

disclosure

While I’ve been homeschooling Molly and Logan a bit over the years since we pulled Trevor out of public school, this is the first year I have focused goals for the girls. It’s also the first year I’ve had to notify that we are homeschooling Molly. She’s officially school-age now!

With special needs abounding in our home {twice-exceptional – gifted/ADHD/SPD} and a nursing baby, I need to make sure that the activities I give the girls have value, are engaging, and can teach them something in an interesting way.

And are fun for them.

It’s the beginning of their schooling adventures and I want them to grow to love learning and grow to become lifelong learners. I’ve recently found a few resources and strategies to help make learning fun for everyone – especially the little ones.

Here are some of my favorites:

 

Mama’s Learning Corner

This is a fabulous site jam-packed with printable worksheets, notebooking pages, resource packets, and fabulous file folder games. The member’s only section is well-worth the $15 per year.
 
And, if you subscribe to Mama’s email, you’ll get exclusive freebies and coupon codes! I downloaded an adorable color by sight word packet for Molly since she adores coloring and needs more sight word practice.
 
A brand-new Color By Number A B C book is available for $3.99. I downloaded my copy already and plan to print a copy each for Molly and Logan and bind them into coloring books for the car using the handy binding machine I bought last year.

 
50-page Color-By-Number ABC Printables for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

 

Hands-On Puzzles and Toys

I like to have a lot of different hands-on puzzles and toys to bring out on a rotating basis. It’s important to me that the toys and games we buy are able to serve multiple purposes. For example, I love the game Connect Four:
  • With my littlest ones, it’s great fine-motor practice. Picking up the pieces and grasping them correctly to fit into the slots really works their pincher skills.
  • My middle kiddo is learning to play the game, but can also use the board grid and pieces to create patterns for math practice.
  • My big kid plays against his beginner-level sister and works on good sportsmanship, empathy, and patience. He plays against me and needs to focus on strategy, using his critical thinking skills.

Match Rings, Perfection, Tantrix, Othello, and Jenga are some other examples of games I use with different levels and rotate to keep interests piqued.

 

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Getting Outside

It’s no secret that we love nature and science around here. I try to get the kids outside as often as possible, and it’s great to have a few resources to grab for a concentrated nature study like the amazing books by Cindy West from Shining Dawn Books.

We’ve tried Peaceful Ponds, Coping With the Cold, and Animal Signs. We’re looking forward to the new Spectacular Spiders we just downloaded last week.

I’m also thrilled about using Maureen Spell’s {from Spell Outloud} new eBook Nature Study Printables for Toddlers and Preschoolers. It’s fabulous. I know the girls will LOVE making paper bag books to go along with their studies.

 

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I’m still learning to navigate the world of homeschooling several kiddos at once and teaching little ones in general. I worked out of the house when Trevor was this age, and then he went to school until first grade, so it’s my first time teaching kids to read and juggling multiple lessons.

And I do not have all the answers.

I’m looking forward to using these resources as I get more confident in this juggling act, and from the looks of them, if you have little ones at home, they’ll love them too.

So… for those of you who have been there, what advice do you have for those of us new to juggling the little ones and keeping them engaged while still teaching the big kids? Any pearls of wisdom to offer? And, for the newbies like me, what questions do you have for the experts?

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