Archive for the ‘Early Childhood’ Category

What Love Meant

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

what-love-meantThis is a humbling story about a toddler who taught me what love meant.

One morning when my oldest son was 3 years old, I was lying down, exhausted from potty training a boy who was making no progress. I was tired of cleaning up pee, and the smell of Lysol permeated the house. I was frustrated and angry with my son. I prayed that God would help me not to be so exasperated.

I looked at my son, who was sitting next to me on the bed. Despite how bad the morning had gone, I wanted my son to know that I loved him. I said, “I love you.”

He hugged me and said, “I love you, too.”

It occurred to me that he didn’t know what love meant. I asked him, “Do you know what love is?”

“Hugs.”

“It’s more than that,” I said. I tried to think of how to explain it, when I Corinthians 13 came to mind. “Love is patient…”

Suddenly my 3-year-old son recited the rest of the passage, which he had learned when he was 2. “Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

There was a lump in my throat as I fought back tears. I felt convicted by the Word of God out of the mouth of my toddler. I knew I had not shown love that morning to my son, that I had disobeyed the majority of that passage. I realized that my “I love you” meant nothing because I hadn’t done it. I resolved within my heart that I would change.

Out of the mouths of babes…

Nature Hunt for Colors

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

nature-hunt-for-colors

When my children were toddlers and preschoolers, I grabbed an egg carton and painted each hole a different color. After it was dry, we went on a nature hunt for colors, and my children tried to find something in nature that matched the color of each hole. A small pine cone was brown, moss was light green, grass was dark green, and a small rock was gray. Pink flower petals were lying on the ground, and we picked them up. My children had a great time, and it helped them to pay closer attention to nature.

Teaching Preschoolers is Not A Sin

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

teaching-preschoolers

I am so fed up by people who say that if you teach a toddler or preschooler anything academic, you are abusing them. This is complete bunk. All of my children loved being empowered to learn to read. I spent five minutes a day on it, and they were never upset; they always loved it.

The same with any other academic skill. They gobble it up. They love it, if it is done when they are well-rested and want to do something new. I’m not talking about workbooks. I’m talking about teaching something for five or ten minutes, maybe about an animal, maybe about numbers. Counting some frogs in a picture book takes a few seconds. It is interesting to the child. To call this abuse is ridiculous.

Studies have been done (What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child by Glenn Doman) where babies with half their brain missing were given infant stimulation exercises and taught to read. By age two these babies were reading. They were not vegetables like the doctors said they would be. I’m sure their parents were so grateful, they had tears streaming down their face. Because the babies’ minds were stimulated, they thrived.

One reason toddlers cry all day and pitch fits is because they’re so bored. Their parents think that they can’t learn anything. The young children are just blobs that need to be fed and clothed. I wonder what they do all day. Watch TV while they’re waiting for their kid to grow up?

One statement that was made today in a workshop on preschoolers was that when all kids turn 18, they are the same. Not so. She said that someone who read at age 4 and someone else at age 7 (or even age 10) would be equal by 18. This might or might not be true depending on the personality of each of the children. But for me, my own children learned to read as toddlers. All my kids were reading independently (easy books) in their preschool years. By age 7, my oldest two sons were reading on a high school level. They’ve read so many classics in their free time. You can’t tell me kids can catch up on all the years they didn’t know how to read. They are not equals by 18. The kids that started earlier have a deeper knowledge of the world around them because they are well-read. They can pick up and read a book about any subject at any age and teach themselves from the vast treasure troves of knowledge.

Young children absolutely love learning, and their days are long, stretching out before them. They have nothing to do, except for what you do with them, and what you give to them. You can choose what will go into their minds. I taught my children the Word of God at young ages, too, and my children have such hearts for God now. They draw spiritual conclusions that are way beyond their years.

It’s worth teaching your young children.

Jady A interviewed me about Homeschooling in Early Childhood.

These were my responses to her questions:

For more information, check out the video workshop Early Childhood Education.

Spice Chart

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

spice-chart

No matter what your age, it’s good to be able to identify different spices by their look and smell. Make a spice chart to learn the different spices.

Even in early childhood, I did infant stimulation exercises with my babies, having them smell different spices while I was cooking or baking. When the children got a little bit older, we made a chart of different spices, making a grid and labeling each box. Then we put a circle of glue in the middle of a square and dumped a little bit of spice on it. If you pick it up, all the excess spice falls off. We did this with each square. The next day when it was dry, even my toddlers were sniffing the different spices, and my elementary-aged children told the toddlers what the spice was.

I recently saw a spice chart at the fair that is a variation on this idea. You make a “lift-the-flaps” chart by taping squares of paper on top of each square. Glue the spice onto the outside of the flap. See if you can identify the spice by the smell and the look. Then lift the flap to see the word, to check if you were right.

One time when my second son was 6 years old and was helping me cook, he cried out, “That’s not oregano, Mom!” I had accidentally gotten the wrong spice, and my son could tell by the smell that it was the wrong spice. I’m telling you, it’s useful to be able to identify spices.