Thursday, June 3, 2010

Baby Preschool?!?

I have a tendency to think about and research issues long before they become a problem. I started looking at what was involved in planning a wedding over a year before my husband proposed. I started discussing baby names two years before we started trying. When I was pregnant I was researching after school programs. I always try to remain flexible when the time comes, but I want to have a chance to do all the research and come to my own conclusions before I have to think about implementing them. This lets me be reasonably prepared when the unexpected happens and helps me remain level headed and confident.) That is what caused me to click a link in an email to learn about homeschooling despite the fact that my only child is not quite 8 months old. I spent a couple days reading through information on curriculums that are available and what my state requirements are. (Shockingly enough I don't really need to think about this stuff for another 5 years or so.) Then I happened across some links for information on "homeschooling" preschool. This excited me because I hoped that I could use some of the information immediately. The lesson plans looked like a ton of fun and were mostly just games and such to play with your child, but they were still designed for older children. It will be another couple years before I can really use them. Finally I happened across a link for a nursery age curriculum. This had "lessons" for babies as young as 3 months. At first I was sceptical because while I would love to teach my daughter new things, I don't want to force it on her and she really is too young for anything like school. But, being me, I looked anyway. I am so glad I did. Basically it has lists of various books, poems, nursery rhymes, scriptures and games to enjoy with your baby. Each is age appropriate for the baby and enjoyable for the parents. As I was going through the various lessons I kept coming across things I had loved myself as a child and since forgotten. I found I could still recite some of the poems from A Child's Garden of Verses. I still knew some of the nursery rhymes, and others were fun to look up and relearn. They even have music suggestions that sent me to YouTube. Below is this week's music. Enjoy.

2 comments:

  1. This is really neat! I'm also glad for your compulsive researching :)

    Happy Saturday!

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  2. Thanks, we've been having fun with this. Whenever Audrey needs to cuddle or need a change of pace from playing I'll throw some music on or cuddle with her while reading one of the suggestions. Also, a lot of the poems are pretty easy to memorize so when she starts getting fussy, but I'm up to my elbows in bread or something I'll start reciting. This generally keeps her entertained long enough for me to get to a stopping place and pick her up.

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