Early Childhood Education

I was reading an article this morning about pre-school/kindergarden curriculum and just wanted to share these words from the article:

From personal experience, and that of many friends who have traveled this path, I feel I can say that the sooner a parent lets go of the idea of being a teacher, and embraces the idea of being more of a tour guide or docent, the sooner it will all fit smoothly together and allow the magic to proceed. Lead them through the world and tell them a little about what you know – while also letting them lead you while they explore in their own way.

You can just go about living your lives, exploring, observing, and posing questions for yourselves. That is an appropriate pre-school/kindergarten curriculum for a homeschooler. Your child will ask plenty of questions – you won’t need to worry about what to teach. Promise! They want to learn and will learn about their world, because it’s a built in human drive – we need only to give them some freedom, provide rich opportunities, and model the joy to be found in learning.

Childhood is short and fleeting – and important – don’t let them miss the opportunity to fully experience it and be a child during those very important golden years.

I often wonder if I need to be doing some sort of structured curriculm with Ian for pre-school and I compare myself to what other parents are doing.  But, then I read articles like this one and I am reassured I’m doing what’s best for us.  Just giving Ian and Sean daily experiences to learn as we go about our day.  What a lovely image!