Getting started homeschooling.......Advice?

My wife and I have decided to homeschool.It started with myself being the primary advocate of such, and my wife slowly coming around through examples. She was worried about "socialization", but I think I've convinced her that publik skool would only hurt our daughter's social skills.
My daughter is 18 months old, and oboviously, her mother and I have been her "teachers" thus far. I was wondering if any of you started this early, and if so, what did you concentrate on? My daughter is already 6 months ahead mentally, according to our pediatrician and any literature we can find. She can touch and say the following:
eye
ear
nose
mouth
hair
knee
elbow

She also says many other words. I'd estimate her vocabulary at 60 words we can identify easily, and she adds more every day. She knows how to turn on the stereo when she wants music.
We want her to keep learning as much as she can, but we don't want to push her. Is this too early to teach letters? Are there any good resources for someone this young? Good Books? I've started reading her The Wizard Of Oz, and she seems to really enjoy it, though I doubt she understands much of it yet.
Help?

 

That's awesome


I think you just follow your instincts, if she seems ready and interested then go for it.
My parents have always been huge book/reading advocates, so probably did start reading to me at that age, I pretty much just figured it out letters and stuff as we went along. Maybe you can ask at your local library for books best suited to that age group.

 

Yes, you can do a lot at that age! I realize that it's a controversial subject, but little kids love to learn. I have 6 kids and I have been homeschooling all of them plus some of my friends' kids for the last 8 years.

As far as socialization goes, well, it depends if you want to teach your kid to be a loving, kind, and intelligent person, because as we all know from public school, that is not what you learn there.

Anyways, at the age of 18 months you can do all sorts of things. If you have time to make some flash cards, kids at that age love them. You can make a set of the outline of the continents (one my little boy's first words was "asia"!), big pictures of animals, flowers, you can do the alphabet letters (big, and it is best to start by teaching them the sounds of the letters not the names,for example you say "a" as in bat, for b you say "bu", c "cu", etc.) You can do flashcards on what ever you think the kids would like to learn. You can do fun motor skills activities like scooping beans, pouring water, all kinds of things. You can start counting with fun little things to count, matching, doing patterns, etc.
There are some books you could check out. Glen Doman was a big advocate of early learning. I have followed some of his methods with teaching reading, and all of my kids have learned to read when they are 4, which is fun because once they like to read they can learn anything you put in their little hands.
Anyways, I could go on and on about this, but if you have any questions please let me know. Have fun!

 

Shine,
Please feel free to "go on and on", as you put it, I'd like to hear anything you have to offer. Maybe email me? I can be reached through my profile. I really love working with my daughter to teach her things. It's like I'm seeing the world brand new with her!
Thanks for the tips so far, they're great.

 

I don't have any parenting experience, nor do I have any idea what I'd do. My only thought would be to make sure you know you'll be able to decide when she would do better in a public school (while my mother would disagree, parents don't know everything).

 

That would be never. My child will not be sent to a government propaganda center, for them to strip her of her heart, imagination, and sense of right and wrong.

 

So you know everything they'd learn in high school?

 

My best advice for you is to follow what she's interested in and help her learn from there. In my opinion, you need to trust that your child knows what he/she needs to learn and at what time he/she needs to learn it. In the mean time, I'd suggest looking around online for ideas... There are TONS out there. I'd also suggest surrounding her with educational activities that she can choose to do (puzzles, legos, books, games, etc)

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Nope, but I know what they wouldn't learn in high school.

Independent thinking skills
manners
morals
rational thinking
the ability to ferret out truth from lies in books and newspapers
self defense
How to survive in the real world
TANSTAAFL
Self Reliance

The system is broken.
Long live the individual.

 

You are very paranoid. You learn... all of those, except possibly self defense in public school. Sheltering your kid at home and at small gatherings is going to help them "learn to survive" much less than in a competitive environment. At my school, we do go thru literature and debate it. Schools are a pretty far run from back in the 50's/60's/70's (to me at least). And watchign over your kid's movement isn't going to help self reliance either (you'll know what they ghave to do...).

Seriously, you are way too paranoid.

 

I just wanted to say that I live with a few young people between the ages of 18 and 26. They have all been homeschooled for their entire education. I personally attended public school for all twelve years.

In general, I was a good student. I enjoy learning and I got fairly good grades throughout my school years. The last couple of years I didn't get such good grades, but I was usually skipping class to get high.
I have to say though, that it is obvious that these people I live with have a much better education than I do. They are not all brothers and sisters, nor were they schooled with a perfect on going curriculum, or by the same people all the time.
During the last few years that I have lived with them, I have learned a lot. They know much more than I do about history and what really happened in some of those important historical events. They know a lot about politics and keep up with current events. They are always explaining the history of situations going on now to me. They can read faster and better and remember what they read much better than I can.
As far as practical skills, they have a lot of experience in just about anything from baking bread to taking care of babies to cooking a perfect and beautiful meal to fixing things that are broken, sewing, cleaning, gardening, etc. I am always asking them for help with everything!
Socialization? Well, that is quite amazing. I think that a lot of people have this idea of homeschooled kids to grow up to be quiet little nerds that are afraid of everyone and can't talk to anyone and can't handle the real world. Well, what really is the real world?
I have seen that these young people have grown up to be caring, compassionate, individuals who can relate to anyone and have an intelligent conversation with anyone, including lawyers, professors, etc. They are not stuck in that little box you get stuck in in highschool where everyone hangs out with their little groups, and cannot even carry on a conversation with anyone from any other group. They don't even belong in any stupid group, but they have their own minds and can decide for themselves what to take as truth.
One last thing. We have a friend who was getting his master's degree in engineering at a university near where we live. He would sometimes study at our house. One day one of the girls here who has been homeschooled up to 10th grade was hanging out with him while he was studying. He got really stuck on something and just wasn't understanding it, so she took his textbook, skimmed through it, and explained it to him! So there you go...

 

I know a few kids who are really far behind from homeschooling; different events influencing opinions. The OP jsut seems too paranoid.

 

You are doing fine. My advice is keep reading, reading, reading to her. Let her explore.


One activity that every kid I know loved involved a set of those large foam letters. They would throw a few on the floor and make a game of picking the right letter or sound. After they master the sounds they can spell out simple words by jumping on them in order. Sing and dance and have a blast.