- Melissa Wiley

What early childhood education looks like at home

• Daily rhythm
• Play-based
• Tons of readalouds—fiction & nonfiction
• Poetry teatime (or anytime)
• Nature walks (around your own block is fine!)
• Go light on formal academics (I hold off until age 7)
• Learning to read (BOB Books, tons of readalouds, turn on the TV captions, watch Signing Time)
• Quiet time
• Narration (read or watch something together and have your child tell it back to you)
• Playful approach to writing
• Games, especially dice, counting, money games (early math skills)
• Learning with the whole body
• Strewing
• If you build it, they will come (if you want kids to get interested in something, do it yourself & they’ll often want in on it)
• Timelines and maps (but as a fun family activity)
• Don’t have to do everything every day
• Relationship is key

Five things I try to fit into our days

• readalouds & poetry
• encounters with beauty (art, music, nature)
• meaningful work (helping around the house; when older, includes academic work)
• imaginative play (including unstructured down time)
• big ideas to ponder and discuss