Send Factor

Parents who decide to home school their pre-school children have researched the value of teaching your own children at home. Beginning home school at the pre-school age is an excellent way to get the parent and the child used to the idea of learning at home.  This is also a great way to ease into learning how to teach and organize the home school schedule.  The child is not used to attending a school; therefore there is no adjustment period.  Also, pre-school children are incredibly easy to teach because it is mostly in playing that they learn.

When creating a tailored preschool curriculum, parents provide a safe environment with interactive toys.  Believe it or not, the parent is the child’s first teacher.  Children at this age imitate everything their parents do by observation, playing, helping, talking, and listening.  Reading to children at this age is one of the best ways to develop avid readers.  At this age, a standardized curriculum isn’t necessary.  Children learn from coloring, cutting, pasting, counting, singing, rhymes, games, playing with clay, playing in the playground, and learning to get along with others.  It is important to include some of these activities daily in an unstressed, relaxed manner.  Children at this age need your love and attention more than they need academics and structure.

The key to learning at this age is to provide a lot of hands on projects, particularly with arts and crafts.  Many children in this age group have play dates where they meet with other children and go to parks, farms, even shopping trips.  Pre-schoolers love to be included in everything you do, whether it be emptying the dishwasher, or sorting mail, and especially baking.  Even though it may seem that their short attention span doesn’t allow for intense learning, they are learning real life experiences.

The kids are home from school.  They haven’t had anything to eat since lunch time three hours ago.  They are starving.  Will they reach for the bag of potato chips, or find some fruit wedges and dip?  Helping our kids eat nutrition snacks is easy if they are the only choice.  Don’t buy the junk foods at the store and your children won’t have to resist eating them.  Here are some fun ideas for snack time at home.
Kids love to dip.  Make foods that they can dip with.  Vegetables are a given, but fruits are also good with a fruit dip.  You can make one using some whipping cream and jello mix.  This sounds really sweet and sugary, but you are getting them to eat fruit as well.  Limit their dip to a spoonful so they don’t put too much on each piece.
Adding creativity to the display or cut of the food makes it fun to eat.  You can slice apples and cut them into bites and serve them with toothpicks or skewers.  Add bites of bananas or other fruits between the apple bites.
Fast snacks are another choice.  Bagels with peanut butter, rice cakes, fruit,  nutrition bars, granola bars, and fruit rollups are some quick ideas.  Add a glass of fruit juice and your kids will be set.
There are lots of recipes that you can find for your kid’s after school snack.  If you don’t have time to bake during the day, make a batch of cookies or other snack on the weekend and freeze the dough or the cooked food.  Then before the kids get home from school, pull it out of the freezer and let it thaw, or cook it.  Providing nutritious snacks gives your kids the energy they need to make it to dinner time.