How to Teach a Toddler

The idea of homeschooling started to appeal to us shortly after our first baby was born in 2020 (what a year). Though the roller coaster of events that took place in the following years aren't the ONLY reason we decided to homeschool, they sure helped make the decision easier.

I wanted to get started at once. My only problem was that my baby was only one year old.. So I spent a few months planning out themes and activities that I could do with my new little student, and once she turned 18 months old, we were off!

I started out with a whole lot of time and energy on my hands, because I only had one child. Everyone said that structured learning was not necessary at that age. They claimed playing and reading were all she needed. We already did plenty of playing and reading, we needed something more! Plus, we were always very unstructured.. I promise.

So my 18 month old started her schooling with intricately planned out thematic units, and the cutest sensory bins and activities. She loved it, I loved it. It was beautiful.

As you can see, most of these materials were made by hand, or free products online printed and prepped at home. We also checked most of our books out from the library. It didn't cost a lot of money, but it did cost a whole lot of time. I'm glad I did this with her, but two kids later, I do not have the time or energy for this. Soon after our second baby was born, I knew we needed something a little easier. That is where our next curriculum comes in..

When she was 2 years old, we started using Gentle Classical Press. This is a beautiful curriculum intended to be a mix of both Classical and Charlotte Mason style learning. This was exactly the duo I was looking for, so we dove in. I set up our memory board every week, and prepared supplemental activities that went along with the main story for each unit.

This was also fun, until..... I got pregnant again. With another new baby coming, plus caring for two toddlers, I just wasn't able to keep up with the amount of prepping needed in order to plan the supplemental activities every week. To be clear, the additional activities aren't really required in order to use this curriculum. People use it all the time without all of this fluff. But I was looking for something a little more... yet requiring a little less work.. so we moved on.

That brings us to our 3 year old preschool year, which I share more about in my blog post, How to Teach a 3 Year Old. But let's get back to the subject of teaching a toddler. Like I said before, it was a blast. If you have a young toddler, and you have the time and energy to go all out and do fun hands-on school with them, go for it! Don't let anyone tell you not to. However, if you are like me, and you have other children or responsibilities taking up some of your time and energy, it's ok! Toddlers are in a constant state of learning, regardless of what you do. So with these next two toddlers, I'm taking a different approach, one that works better with our current season. We are reading, playing, going places, meeting people, and seeing things. As my good friend Charlotte Mason said:

"And this is the process the child should continue for the first few years of his life. Now is the storing time which should be spent in laying up images of things familiar. By and by he will have to conceive of things he has never seen. How can he do it except by comparison with things he has seen and knows?"

We are simply attempting to store up as many images and experiences as we can, so that we have something to build on down the road!