Homeschool

A Simple Home for Learning

Can you believe it is August!? Ours schools start within a couple weeks and I know some of you are already back in session. We’ll be doing preschool at home again and I’m excited that Bella is old enough to join in a bit this year.  With that in mind, I wanted to share a few simple ways we encourage learning in our home.

Preschool Learning
He asked to wash dishes even though we have a dishwasher and while it was definitely messy, it was worth it.

Allow your children to help with chores.

At 18 months, Bella loves to help out around the house.  If she spills something, she goes to the cabinet, grabs a towel, and then wipes up her mess.  I created a simple, mild cleaner- a spray bottle filled with water, a couple drops of dish liquid, and some vinegar.  When I clean the dining table or counters, I spray and she helps me wipe, same goes for spots on the floor, etc.  Bryson doesn’t enjoy helping nearly as much as she does, but he loves to help me clean the windows.  Again, I’ll spray and he wipes.  Little ones can also sort laundry (think socks), put away toys, dust, wipe door handles, and water plants.

Kids in the garden

Read, read, read.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it one thousand times, but reading to your children is so important.  Not only does it provide quality time with your little ones, but it exposes them to the world around them.  I purchase most of our books used, but I also plan to take advantage of our local library.  It’s amazing how many different questions and subjects one simple book can bring to Bryson’s mind.  I love watching his face as the story unfolds and then listening to his thoughts.

Helping in the garden

Create, play, get messy.

Justin planted a nice garden this year and the kids have helped him every step of the way- planting, watering, weeding, and now harvesting.  They come in covered with dirt from head to toe and are so excited to show me the pickings of the day.  Both Bryson and Bella are hands-on and I try to set-up activities for them that allow them to learn through play.  For instance with our homemade play dough, they can roll out letters and numbers.  When building with blocks, Bryson and I will count to see how high he can build and then we’ll go over the colors.  It seems so simple, but those are fun, teachable moments.

How do you make your house into a home for learning?  Please share your tips and ideas in the comments.

As a member of Clever Girls Collective, I was selected to participate in the Healthy Habits program sponsored by Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #healthyhabits #cgc

3 Comments

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  • Whitney, your pictures make me so nostalgic and wispy (I hope that makes sense). They make me want to be a kid again playing hide and seek in the corn fields behind my house! You’ve got a lucky couple of munchkins, girl. And that last picture of Bella with those cucumbers? I could just scoop her up and smoosh her!

  • You are so wise to create this environment for learning in your home! Our children learn BEST from and with us guiding them.

    I’ve read to my child since I was pregnant with them, and I’m happy to report we still read aloud (they are 11 and 7) every day and they are both voracious readers. All that reading pays off.

    I love your blog!





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