Preschooler at Home Not Motivated!

Hi M.,

I too am a homeschooling mom. My son is the complete traditional school at home type homeschooler. He is in the first grade, but we are in fifth grade type lessons as he reads and has the vocabulary of a fifth grader. My daughter on the other hand is the complete opposite. Loves to just play, sing, listen to music, and is the creative one. She will be preschooling next year, however, it will looking nothing like the preschool curriculum out of the box materials I had for my son.

My suggestion is to just let her be. A preschooler does not need curriculum. Through singing, listening to music, drawing, painting you can sneak in the concepts you want her to learn. Don't package up her learning, be free with it and let loose. Make up counting songs, go to the park and count how many slides and ask questions about what if one of the slides were taken away, how many slides would be left, by just talking to her and allowing her to enjoy the things she likes to do she is learning everything she needs to know. Read her favorite story books and take her to the library and let her choose some of her own that she wants read to her.

As homeschoolers, we have this traditional schooler inside of us who was in that enviroment, that believes they aren't learning if they aren't completing worksheets and following some type of state guidelines. This is just not true though. Relax, breathe, and have fun and sneak in the necessary concepts through her personality and interests and everything will work out accordingly and she will be ready for kindergarten.

J. E.

2 moms found this helpful

Hi M.. I have a 3.5 year old daughter that is totally a free spirit - music, art, dance, puzzles and games kind of kid. That's after having three kids that thrive on school at home.

For my free spirited preschooler we go with the flow. We make letters in play dough, count out our snacks, do lots of puzzles, play games (board games are great for learnin), and do lots of art projects. She's now teaching herself to write. I have found she likes the Kumon books but they can be rather pricey.

I don't really have any unique ideas. What kinds of things are you already doing with her? She's four, you said, right? So does she write her name and the alphabet? You could always finger paint instead of write. She's painting but learning letters at the same time. Or count with dried beans or other little things like different colored puff balls from the craft store or different colored and shaped pasta. I don't know what she already knows how to do...can she read at all already? Art projects are always good for learning colors and shapes...
Are you knew to CA or new to the mamasource website?
Sorry I didn't help more...

I don’t have any experience with home schooling, but I also have a “spirited” child. Yours sounds like a free spirited child as well! Good for her! I have found and read that these children need more sensory learning tools then lecturing. They can not sit and be motivated by simply answering questions correctly or looking at a book. They need to feel more in control of the project and like they are expressing themselves. I used art projects with my three year old to teach colors and shapes. If I ask her to draw a square or a circle she would become disinterested very fast and antsy. So I would use cut outs and as she would choose one to glue (a tray with a blob of glue and a toothpick or Q-tip works well) onto a plain piece of paper, I would ask her what color or what shape she chose. When she was pre three I was also told too, to always tell her what she was doing, not ask open ended questions that she may not know the answers to yet. “That is a red square.” Free spirited kids can easily become high energy kids who act out and seem out of control, so this type of teaching creates high self-esteem and self confidence. Pretty soon she will start telling you what it is as she picks it up. As long as mine is still using her own creativity and using her hands she is really eager to learn this way. Your 5th grader can participate in this as well and you can have him/her actually create a picture or fill in a shape that you draw on the paper. (Kind of hard to explain this way)

I hope this helps even though it is only one example…for more let me know <GRIN>!

Second borns are creative, so playing into that creativity will be to your advantage. The more your curriculum is centered around art or music the more positive response you will recieve from your daughter. For example there may be preschool computer curriculum that would meet her need or a free online version, using tactile letters to pick out while singing an alphabet song. playing matching games with pictures and letters or number cards and dominos. Counting numbers on dominos. Adding with mnm's ...if she gets it right, she gets to eat them...of course this works best as the last math activity and only a few problems. Hope this helps.

Hi M.,
For very inexpensive, but excellent preschool, try checking out a parent participation preschool (also called a co-op preschool). Most of the preschools have a curriculum that would be perfect for your creative energetic daughter - involving music, circle time and lots of hands on activities. These schools are very inexpensive because they require parent participation to function. But if your schedule could accommodate it, they would be a great option. You can search this website for some preschools near you: http://www.ccppns.org/find_preschool.php
Good luck,
A.

Because of the obesity/overweight epidemic several curriculums exist to get kids up and moving while learning at the same time. They might be helpful for your little one because the kids learn while playing active games and having fun. Here's a couple of titles that you could check out, Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK), I AM MOVING I AM LEARNING and SMART MOVES. I'm not sure if they are just available to me because I work in the preschool arena, but doing a google search on these might be a good place to start.

What are you trying to get her to learn? I know that with letters, numbers, and shapes that my son LOVES when i take the bath crayons and write/draw them during bath time on the walls.
Then after a while when he knew the info that I was trying to teach I would then quietly write/draw on the walls and then quiz him. Like i would randomly write letters in a row and then ask him what each letter was. It also made him love bath time. Also if there is a cost co near you I bought a hooked on phonics there for preschool that was $24.00 it had like 5 workbooks, one cd rom, one dvd with music!, and charts with stickers. The dvd was a great hit with my son and they have these sets up to I think 1st or 2nd grade.

Hi M..

I home schooled both my boys from preschool. They are now in 5th and 2nd grade. The curriculum I started with is "Sing, Spell, Read and Write." You can find it online, or email me if you can't and I'll look up the publisher for you. There is a cost involved, but it sounds like what your daughter might enjoy. You get CDs with music that teach the alphabet, short and long vowel sounds, and then many other tools for learning to read and write. It is fun because it is learned through song, but it is meant for preschool through 3rd grade, so it is a good investment. There are also workbooks to practice writing, plus cut and paste, etc. I highly recommend it.

Also, since she loves song and activity, go for lots of walks and teach her through nature. Count your steps, add brown leaves and yellow leaves, go to grocery stores and add apples and oranges, etc. At her age, learning can be lots of fun. There are also tons of free printables online. Just google "free preschool curriculum" and you should be able to find lots.

My boys are completely different in their learning styles, but that is the great thing about home schooling. You can work with each in their own "language." My oldest started reading in preschool, my youngest didn't even grasp the alphabet until 1st grade, but he now reads better than his older brother. No worries. They all eventually get it. Good luck to you and God bless your family.

Use sand to make letters and numbers.( put glue down and have her put the sand over it.) every time she uses this she will be running her fingers over the letters and numbers.Use paint. Get sing a longs so its fun.. use dice and cards.
K: KEEP
I: IT
S: SIMPLE
THIS FROM A MOTHER OF FIVE HOME SCHOOLED KIDS. 22 - 12

I have taught many children over the years and have found that those who are more energetic at home need an avenue to release their energy in a fun creative way that is also an educational process within itself.

I am the owner of All About Theatre, a local children's theater company and although we do not have classes right now we have a new series of classes that will be announced March 1st and starts April 1st. No only do we offer movement and dance classes but creative arts classes with the assistance of local artist and muralist Dawn Meader.

Let me know if you are interested in finding out more... I'd love to help in anyway that I can.

Sincerely,

L. Chester
Artistic Director
All About Theatre
www.allabouttheatre.org
###-###-####

My advice would be to go with her strengths. If she loves music, have her learn her numbers to a song (like "1-2-3 Count with Me" by Sesame Street), or if she likes to draw, then have her draw a house that uses three shapes -- things like that will keep her interested.

How FUN to be able to home school. and I bet equally rewarding. Creative children dont stay motivated like the thinkers of our kids. Try adding another child. See if someone wants to have their child of the same age home schooled by you and let your little one follow their lead. All kids are different and if she is really creative then I promise she is learning just as much and just as quickly as your first one did, just in more creative thinking patterns that we dont fully comprehend.

That's such a hard situation. Each child needs, of course, individual, focused attention aimed at their abilities and challenging their present ones. I'm not sure how that is mentally or physically possible with such diverse age groups. You might consider doing a preschool program outside the home for the preschooler. I was doing a preschool homeschool program for my kids but I shopped around and found a great program for my son---who now goes outside the home for three hours of structured preschool. When he's with me, I do different things than what he gets at school. My preschool daughter I try and keep focused by taking her to playgroups and storytimes for her. But of course focusing on your preschoolers will be detrimental to the older child. Sounds like a good time to reassess goals.

My preschooler loves to learn through play. We play "I spy" where we look for things that are different shapes and colors. We have story-time. He learned his numbers by counting small toys like legos, cars, teddy bears. We sing the alphabet song in different music styles (rock, country, rap, etc). Developing small motor skills like cutting with scissors and coloring will help with learning to write letters. Instead of paper and pencil we use sidewalk chalk and the driveway. Just some ideas - Good Luck.

I homeschool my 4 year old as well. She's easy, but I know what you mean because I have a feeling that her 3 year old sister is going to be a challenge.
http://www.dltk-teach.com/ - This is the best site for crafts
http://www.starfall.com/ - If she'll sit in front of the computer, this is a great site for learning letter sounds and phonics
http://www.tlsbooks.com/ - A great site for printables

Hope this helps a bit!

Check out this site http://www.teachinglearning.com/freebie_display.php?type=A

There is a website for homeschooling preschooler that has a lot of creative ideas. http://www.universalpreschool.com/