In this post, I will share some of the ways I was able to develop the love of reading, writing (I will focus on writing in my next blog) and learning in my children.
The children are naturally curious and they learn by observing and asking questions. We always made sure to listen to them and answer their questions as much as we can. This is very important in their early learning stage for encouraging curiosity and inquisitiveness. We also never talked to them in baby language. We always talked to them in full sentences using the true facts.
I started reading to my kids even before they turned one. I bought some board books. I made this a regular part of our bedtime routine. Once the kids turned two, they loved going to library every week to pick their favourite books. It really helped in developing the love of reading in them.
Although I am a big supporter of screen free parenting especially in the early years, I personally implemented a balanced approach. I allowed my kids to go on their devices for half an hour everyday to watch nursery rhymes or learn about letters/ numbers/shapes from video and games. It helped them in language acquistion and gave me a little break too. My kids learned to recognize the letters and numbers by watching YouTube videos even before they turned 3. As they grew older, they also learned a lot from kids' Netflix shows like Super Why, Dora, Paw Patrol, etc. After my older child started school, they only get limited screen time at home on weekends.
After my older child turned 3, I started teaching her phonics. I got inspiration from blogs of some Montessori homeschoolers. I introduced her one letter sound every week and helped her sort pictures of things starting with that letter sound. After introducing the new letter sound the first day, we would review that letter everyday through different tools like Play doh, pipe cleaners, textured letters, magnetic letters, etc. We also made crafts for animals or things starting with the letter sound we were learning. Using all these visual, auditory and sensory learning methods really help in stimulating their senses and muscle memory for learning and retaining the new sounds.
I was so busy researching, exploring and applying the new teaching ideas with my older child that I did not get time to share them. But with my younger child, I am able to take pictures and record his learning.
My almost 3 year old placing the magnetic letters in order with my help.
A review lesson for the letter sounds 'bah' and 'dah' :sorting the pictures of animals/things starting with these sounds. At the same time, he is tracing on textured letters with his fingers.
Connecting the letter sounds with crafts we made together for 'bah bah bear' and 'dah dah duck'. We also followed it by reading one of our favourite books 'Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?'
Of course none of them are my own ideas. I got these ideas from the blogs of amazing homeschoolers/educators and also from Pinterest. I tried many approaches to find out what works best for my kids. Different approaches worked for different kids. I also learned that if any strategy does not work at one time then it does not necessarily imply that it is not going to work in the future as well. It may mean that the child is not ready for it yet and trying again later may work for the child. So it was a continuous process of introducing, modifying, reflecting, revisiting and reinforcing until it clicks your child (a high five moment). Everything which I mentioned in this blog did not happen in one magical lesson. Sometimes it took days and other times it took months. But I learned to never give up on our children.
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