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JUNE 4, 2020 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
TIPS FROM A HOME SCHOOLING MOM PART V: YOUR PRESCHOOLER BY SARA RAYVYCH, MSED
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s a professional educator I’ve been fortunate to see students at various stages of learning, but as a homeschooler I’ve been privileged to be with my children from the very start. Our community is blessed to have very talented and hardworking morahs for our preschoolers. Even so, virtual learning can be an extra challenge for our youngest students – more so than older students. Because of this, many parents will feel the need to play a greater role in their preschooler’s learning. I will confess; as a homeschooling mom, I do little, if any, formal education at the preschool age. This doesn’t at all mean my little ones aren’t learning. I make my home into a “rich learning environment.” Kids, as you know, are like little sponges. What they hear you say today is what you’ll hear them repeat tomorrow (for good and bad). Adults underestimate just how much kids learn from play and experience. As a parent, you can set up your home to be a natural learning environment for your child. Providing hands-on toys such as blocks, crayons, dolls
(for both genders), and kitchen and pretend play items can create an environment that will give your child many of those crucial pre-learning skills. Put on music, stories or an audiobook, even if it’s just on as background noise. Children learn from observation, especially watching their parents. If you’re cooking in the kitchen, hand them a bowl and spoon to mix their pretend cookies. If you’re cleaning, hand them a broom. Preschoolers are busy learning many of the skills that will prepare them for the bigger kid subjects they will encounter when they get older. These crucial beginner skills set the stage for more mature learning.
PRE-READING AND KRIAH SKILLS Books are amazing, and kids of all ages love books. Read to your child, and let them “read” picture books to themselves and let them see how much you enjoy reading books or periodicals. This early love of reading
can become a gift of lifelong learning. When you read to a child, they begin to make the connection between letters and words and that words have meaning. Pointing to words as you read them out loud makes this connection even clearer. Many curious little ones will even ask about the letters, their sounds, and what the words mean. Many children’s books contain repetitive words or phrases, and children enjoy being able to join in and “read along.” Point to pictures as you go along and ask basic questions to help with comprehension. The questions don’t need to be complicated; you want them to enjoy and follow along, not get stressed. Many songs and books contain rhymes and playful sounds. Kids benefit from learning how to hear the sounds in isolation and pick up on the different sounds within a word. In order to read, children need to not only hear a word but recognize the distinct sounds made by each letter. Games that revolve around rhymes and sounds further encourage this skill. The sillier it is, the more they’ll enjoy it.
Singing the alef bais or ABCs gives the child familiarity with the names of the letters. Many songs that are readily available online give playful ways to sing the alphabet and teach the letters’ sounds. You can sing as you cook, sing when you’re stressed or whenever; it doesn’t need to be a formal lesson. If they can hear it, then they’re absorbing it. Many puzzles, magnets, games, cookie cutters, coloring sheets and other toys or household items come in letter shapes that kids enjoy.
PRE-MATH SKILLS
Math is everywhere and shouldn’t cause the fear that it does. It’s one of the subjects parents are most afraid to teach, yet is naturally in your home environment. Especially at the preschool age, math should be hands-on. Children need to see it and touch it in order to learn it. Many pre-math skills are easily taught in the home such as shapes, patterns, matching and counting. Count out loud with your children whenever it comes up and let them see you point
