The "Littles"

In so many homeschooling forums and support groups, the question always arises - "What to do with my Preschooler while schooling the older children?" (I like to call the preschoolers and toddlers, "the littles".) When I was looking at curriculums, a friend sent me a CD of a speaker, entitled "Occupying Toddlers/Preschoolers While Homeschooling Others", by David Hazell. It was a great talk, and he was very encouraging of two things - give the littles a bit of "mommy time" all to themselves, just for 15-20 minutes every morning, and then include the littles in everything that's possible to include them in. Ironically, two months later, I ended up picking My Father's World curriculum, which is written by the Hazells... I didn't even put the connection together for a while!

We have been having a great time in My Father's World Kindergarten. We've done seven lessons so far, with each week having a different theme. Joel is involved with every part of it. He has his own notebook, and does whatever projects the bigger kids do. He sits in on all the stories we read, and makes his own badge with each week's "words to remember" - Biblical truths and character building phrases to memorize each week.

Lesson 6, last week, our words to remember were "I don't quit - I persevere!" and we read several stories about perseverance. "The Little Engine that Could" was a favorite, as well as "Oops-a-Daisy", about a little bunny trying to learn new things.

This afternoon, while sitting at the park watching the olders play tennis, Joel's sandal came undone. He was struggling to refasten it, and I heard him say "I can do it, I can do it!" Sure enough, he was able to do it, and he came to me with a big smile and said "Mama, I persevered! Just like the little bunny!"

So, my answer to the question - what to do with the preschoolers? Include them, include them, include them!! They might be little, but they have big ears and growing hearts!