As you try to decide what to wear for the day, your clothes start competing for your attention. Write their reasons for why you should choose one outfit instead of another.
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[Podcast #225] Homeschooling with Babies & Toddlers in Tow
Today’s Brave Writer podcast episode is about how to homeschool while you have a baby or toddler in tow.
First, Julie and Melissa talk about daily routines, like finding pockets of time to teach your older kids while your toddler is napping or when you are all taking a family walk. Then they give specific activities that can keep toddlers occupied.
They wrap up by covering a few strategies to involve friends and family, including:
- co-ops,
- babysitting swaps,
- and grandparent-led science experiments.
Show Notes
Find Natural Pockets in the Day
Homeschooling is all about the 5-15 minute pockets of learning throughout the day, evening, and even weekends. Get a feel for the natural flow of the day for your toddlers and your older kids. Is there a time of day when your toddler naps, or tends to be slightly more calm (relatively speaking)? Just as importantly, are there times during the day when you know, realistically, you can’t force any structured learning to happen?
Find what works for you and your kids, and be okay with seizing teaching moments whenever they arise. Most learning happens through conversation, and those conversations can happen any time, even while taking a walk with a toddler in the stroller.
Time-Tested, Toddler-Approved Activities
The cold hard truth is that most of the time you do need to distract the beast baby. Julie and Melissa’s now-grown kids contributed to their list of tried-and-true distraction activities like:
- dot paints,
- magnets on a cookie sheet,
- bubbles,
- water play stations,
- a sheet of contact paper with the sticky side up,
- a soup pot (yes, just a soup pot…toddlers love putting things in things),
- indoor play equipment,
- post-it notes and stickers.
Another tip is to pick certain beloved toys that are only pulled out in situations when you really need to bribe the toddler.
Tap Into Community
Remember, just because you are in charge of your children’s education doesn’t mean you have to do it all by yourself. Team up with other homeschool families in co-ops or just informal, temporary meet-ups. If grandparents are in the picture, get them involved, either with the babies or with the older children. Consider putting your toddler in a forest school, YMCA program, etc. for a day or two a week. It takes a village, as they say.
At the end of the day, just remember this is temporary. Babies grow fast. Just because one year of homeschooling isn’t super shiny and perfect, doesn’t mean that your kids aren’t learning or that next year won’t be better. Before you know it, they will be teenagers wondering whatever happened to their dot paints.
Resources
- Susie Allison of Busy Toddler – https://www.instagram.com/busytoddler
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
- Want help getting started with Brave Writer? Go to bravewriter.com/getting-started
- Download our free 7-Day Writing Blitz to transform your writing program in just one week!
- Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention!
Connect with Julie
- Website: bravewriter.com
- Instagram: @juliebravewriter
- Threads: @juliebravewriter
- Twitter: @bravewriter
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Connect with Melissa
- Website: melissawiley.com
- Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
- Instagram: @melissawileybooks
- Twitter: @melissawiley
- Facebook: facebook.com/authorMelissaWiley
Produced by NOVA Media
Simply Do It
If you want your child to learn something, try the thing in your child’s presence. Work the math problem or copy the passage in full view. Don’t announce it. Simply do it. Be an object of curiosity rather than a teacher.
Pick something that you would love to do and then, just do it.
Perhaps you’d love to:
- paint,
- play with clay,
- repot all your African violets,
- run through the sprinklers,
- quilt,
- make pancakes from scratch,
- map the constellations,
- or learn how to play a new board game.
Do it.
In silence. No announcements, no declarations of “wouldn’t this be fun to do together?”
Rather, wake up and start doing the thing. Your kids may notice. When they do, scooch over. Let them handle the implement, or make a mark on a page, or run through the sprinklers in their pajamas.
Your task is to serve as a participant, not as a teacher. See what happens! You might be surprised.
Open the math book; work a problem. Copy your favorite quote from Emma into a notebook.
LEARN. See what happens.
This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebravewriter is my account there
so come follow along for more conversations like this one!
An Easier Way to Teach Decoding with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg
Is there a way to teach reading that is stress-free and tear-free?
We asked an expert! Dr. Marnie Ginsberg, founder of Reading Simplified, knows how to grow strong readers with her streamlined approach.
Dr. Ginsberg’s mission is to support busy educators in teaching an evidence-based system of reading instruction. She is passionate about finding solutions to reading problems, and we are excited to learn from her expertise.
She gets results. And she’s passionate about sharing her knowledge with others.
You’ll walk away with resources you can use with your reader right away!
Purchase the webinar replay for only $15.00! (FREE with Brave Learner Home membership.)
Purchase the Webinar
The webinar replay link will be emailed to you upon purchase. Look for an email under separate cover from the receipt.
P.S. You can check out our program called Quill for all those important pre-reading skills as well!
Friday Freewrite: Alien Perspective
The word “monotonous” means something that is “dull, tedious, and repetitious.” Think of a routine task that you find monotonous. Now, imagine an alien visits and excitedly does that task for the very first time! Describe their experience.
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