- Cherisse La'Shea
- Feb 18, 2019
- 3 min read
This post will explain how to introduce Tot-Schooling to your toddler in a way that is very simple and fun for the both of you!
You may be wondering, what the heck is "Tot-School" in the first place? Simply put, it is the idea of home-schooling a toddler. You can do it in a variety of ways that fit your family's needs. We use Montessori methods and we started at six months. Max is now 18 months and he absolutely loves it!
Max is 18 months and he absolutely loves it!
What Do You Need?
Tot-Schooling gives you the freedom to decide what items to purchase for your classroom, depending on how dedicated you will be. And how much you are willing to spend!
We take it very seriously so we have just about everything you would find in a normal classroom setting including:
Reading books and work books
Flash cards
Wooden toys
Laminated classroom posters
Lots of craft supplies like markers, pencils, crayons, etc
Felt play sets
Tons of education materials such as globes, puzzles, shapes, etc
How To Introduce Tot-Schooling:
1. Determine what method you are going to use. After researching many homeschooling methods such as #Waldorf , #Unschooling , #TraditionalHomeschool , and others... we decided to use #Montessori because it works best for our family.
2. Organize your curriculum. During this time, focus on what you want to teach your child(ren). If you child is in daycare, they may already be learning basic concepts such as numbers and letters, so you may want to teach something else like Spanish or manners. If your child is not in daycare, you can pretty much pick any topics you want your child to learn.
We teach basic concepts like letters and numbers, along with more advanced concepts like Spanish, practical life skills, and more.
3. Gather you teaching resources. You can create your own lesson plans, if you have time and are willing. However, there are other options: you can find pre-made lessons plans online from #Pinterest or similar sites and you can even buy them, if you want.
I typically create my own, but I do get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and various online resources that I will share in the future.
4. Start small and expand upon your routine. Do not try to teach you child every single thing at once, or it will lead to major disappointment. Instead, create a fun and positive learning environment that you and your child can look forward to. When starting out, maybe plan to work for 30 minutes that day to see how you child likes it. If your child likes it, add more time the next day.
We are up to three hours per day for learning time, not including extra time for our crafts and science experiments. Some people are surprised that Max can stay still for that long of a time period, but again, we started at six months.
5. Be consistent! This is the most important piece of the puzzle. Once you start tot-schooling on the regular basis, you will see you child(ren) look forward to the time spent together learning together. When you are consistent, you will really see the child(ren) are understanding the concepts being taught because they will start to participate in the alphabet when you say them or say their numbers in orders.
We typically shoot for five days per week and during the weekend, Max will still go to his "Daily Weather Board" and wait for us to change the date so class can start. Actions like these show us that he looks forward to being in class each day.
Xoxo, Bliss & Miss
