The Toddler Years Should Be Filled with Snuggling, Story Time and Music

Toddlers are a challenge for even the most patient and loving parent. Children that are suddenly mobile cannot be held back, as adults we have forgotten how exciting it is to suddenly be able to go wherever our eyes can see. Toddlers are designed for exploration, down to their pudgy little fingertips and toes. It is important to protect this time in their young lives while not limiting their curiosity. As your baby progresses into the toddler era, make sure that your house is “baby safe,” electrical outlets blocked, poisons and cleaners on a high locked cabinet in the garage and all other potentially dangerous items are well out of reach. Before turning your young one loose in the house, get down on all fours and look at things that might fall, trip, crush or otherwise endanger your baby.

Once you have secured the premises, let your toddler have freedom to roam and interact with your home. Be sure that you remain in the room with he or she at all time, watching, talking and training as questions are asked. When you talk and interact with your toddler, get down on the ground, look your child in the eyes and speak clearly. Remember, while very simplistic, this is a homeschool environment for your young learner, model behaviors such as curiosity, imagination and shower your child with love. Whether you decide to homeschool long term or just during the first five years of life, remember you are your child’s first teacher. Now is a great time to visit Sonlight.com to purchase their Fiction, Fairy Tales and Fun for Little Learners. This package is a fun and exciting way to introduce academics without actively teaching a homeschool program. If you begin to implement the basic concepts of literature and music in your toddlers daily life through quality Christian preschool homeschool curriculum you will soon discover that as your child grows, so will his academic abilities and interests.

Online Homeschool Information Offers Wonderful Guidance For The New Homeschool Family

For most first time homeschool families, deciding to homeschool is not a decision that is made swiftly but rather is calculated out against the pros and cons of public and private school verses keeping children home for their education. This is a personal decision that homeschool families make based upon personal criteria. If you are an individual that has determined homeschool is the best option for your family, it might feel intimidating as you take your first steps toward your goal. Homeschooling information is plentiful at libraries, educational services, school districts and other educational resource locations.

However, the Internet is an easily accessed resource that is full of homeschool curriculum resources, online homeschool programs, listings of support groups, training locations and co-ops that will help to mentor and guide your initial years as a homeschool family. If you are interested in simple research on homeschool resources, you need only enter the keyword “homeschool” to bring up a number of resources. The more specific your interest, the more specific your search phrase should be; the results will be spectacular. When you begin your search, you will soon discover that homeschooling is no longer a “different way” of teaching but is quickly growing into a very popular way to control the things children learn, the influence that they are exposed to and as a way to educate children in the morals, values and beliefs that are important to a family. Not to mention the wonderful curriculums that exists and are proven to create independent and self-reliant individuals.

Quality Homeschool Language Arts Programs Will Create Lifelong Learners

If you are currently shopping for a quality Christian based homeschool language arts program, Sonlight Curriculum® is a wonderful program to implement into your homeschool classroom. Sonlight uses quality literature from all different genres, many of the quality pieces are written by mainstream children and young adult authors that provide stories filled with drama, emotion, conflict and triumph. Literary treasures that create and build upon an emotional connection with the reader, an emotional connection that often extends well beyond when the book has been completed.

For many, the different readers used in the Sonlight Curriculum become lifelong favorite books that are passed down to siblings, nieces and nephews and often saved to share with their own children. Studies have proven that when a child is exposed to authentic literacy, the emotional attachment to each story enhances the child’s desire to continue reading. Great readers are not born, they are created from birth, from picture books to story time read-alouds, each literary experience builds upon the previous one, with a natural progression to age appropriate chapter books, magazines and adult classics. For the child that enjoys language arts, the time spent reading isn’t homework at all but rather an opportunity to travel to another place and time. Using the Sonlight Curriculum, your child will enjoy just this type of learning environment every day. It is often reported by many Sonlight Curriculum parents that the language arts readers are enjoyed by everyone in the family and often become the “family read aloud” at the end of each day.

How Do I Find The Best Homeschool Group For My Family?

If your family is struggling with finding a co-op or homeschool support group intended for the homeschool family, there are many different tools you can implement within your search for the best homeschool program for you.

The first place you might investigate is your local or state homeschooling organizations. Generally speaking, most agencies in this category should be able to provide a local resource or listing of homeschool co-ops that you could then review by visiting websites. It is best to do a complete investigative research on each location, viewing such important documents as mission statements, belief doctrines, member handbooks, newsletters and member comments.

By reviewing the website, you should be able to establish if the co-op has similar belief structures for education, religions, fundraising, parent and child responsibilities within the group, the amount of annual fees or financial obligations. If you do not find anyone that can assist you at the state or local level, it is possible to contact National Homeschool Groups, which might be able to advise or refer you to someone locally to assist with finding a group that is in alignment with your homeschool academic goals.

If you are still unable to find a group that fits your personal family homeschool needs, it might be a good idea to research homeschool co-ops online to determine if there is a charter group you would like to start in your own neighborhood.