Sanity-Saving
for Homeschooling
By Terri Johnson
With Toddlers
. . . Let’s take a look at the best ways to be a great parent for your toddler, while still
devoting a good portion of your day to teach and train older kids at home.
Do you get nervous when it gets really quiet around your house? Do you have to put markers, glue, and other
creative art supplies up on a high shelf?
Do step stools located in unusual places
around the house make you cringe? If
you have answered yes to two or more
of these questions, then you must have
a toddler living in your home. Toddlers
are a joy, there is no doubt about that,
but they can also create havoc if left
alone with nothing productive to do for
too long . . .
Parenting young children is not exactly easy. Any mother or father can tell you
this! It requires a good deal of consistency, steadfastness, and compassion on
the part of the parent. When said parent
is also a homeschool mom, it requires an
extra dose of creativity, organization, and
determination just to juggle your many
responsibilities. But these are the very
qualities that you bring to the homeschool table anyway, so let’s take a look at
the best ways to be a great parent for your
toddler, while still devoting a good portion of your day to teach and train older
kids at home.
There are three strategies to use when
homeschooling with toddlers in your
home:
Let’s look at each one, as you will want
to employ a combination of these sanity-
saving strategies in your home to gain
the most enjoyment and satisfaction with
both your older and younger children.
individually ziplock-bagged, age-appro-
priate* supplies and activity ideas, such
as these:
•;Puzzles;(large;and;few;pieces;for;little
hands)
1. Keep them busy.
2. Divide and conquer.
3. Get creative.
Keep Him Busy
Are you ready to start homeschooling
your toddler? Guess what? It’s not necessary! He will learn so much just by playing and listening and talking and interacting with his family. If you want to give
him a head start in academics, then take
the time to read, read, read to your little
ones—in the morning, before naptime,
and before bed. Additionally, talk to him
about what you are doing during the day
and let him help you when it is safe to
do so. As an example, you can count out
loud the number of forks that you will
need for the dinner table and then let
him put them on.
But please, don’t pull out the workbooks just yet! Your toddler will learn far
more just from spending time with her
family members in attentive conversation
and meaningful work and play. However,
that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan
special activities for her so that she can
be part of “school” too.
1. Have a special school box for your
toddler that he uses only during school
time. It may include special crayons to
be used during handwriting time, snap
cubes to be used during math time, etc.
Our special preschool box is filled with
*Note: Please use discretion. If your child
is going to chew, bite, or swallow some-
thing (such as beads or crayons or paper
clips), don’t put them in the box!
