Take a Peak at Our Homeschool
- Our Choice to Homeschool
- Homeschool Room Makeover
- Our NEW Workboxes
- 5 Things We Changed in our Homeschool
- Homeschool Schedule & Curriculum Choices Year by Year
- This is How I Teach Preschool-2nd Grade
Homeschooling with Toddlers
Toddler School
Begin the school day with toddler school and making one of these 26 alphabet crafts. Fill up your child's need for time and attention before you
turn your focus to your older kids. Recite nursery rhymes, play counting games, and sing silly songs together.
Snuggle and read a few board books, work on wooden puzzles, or simply build towers with blocks. The activity doesn't matter as much as spending time with your toddler at the beginning of the homeschool day.
Here are some of our favorite Toddler School activities:
High Chair Activities
As you begin your homeschool day, place your toddler in the high chair so you can homeschool with your toddler in the high chair next to you. The trick to keeping your tot happy in the high chair is to have special high chair activities.
Give your tot pudding to use as finger paint or use this easy, homemade, edible fingerpaint. I'm always leery of giving my toddlers actual finger paint because everything, and I mean everything, goes into the mouth! Pudding has the right consistency and doesn't matter if they eat every bite.
Also try giving kids edible play dough, cheerios, and board books. You can tape paper onto the tray of the high chair for coloring.
Your little one will enjoy their 'independent work' while you homeschool your older kids.
Lock Toddler in Your Room
Nothing worse than a toddler roaming the house unsupervised. But toddlers don't tolerate being strapped into the high chair for hours on end.
Instead of leaving your toddler on the loose, put up gates to keep your toddler in the same room with you.
Leave a stack of books on the floor, keep a bin of toys in the corner, even pull out pots and pans for your toddler to explore. Mom used to keep cans and plastic containers on a low shelf for toddlers to find. They'll happily empty the shelf while you homeschool.
Keeping your tot in the room with you allows you to keep an eye on your little one while homeschooling.
Special Play Time
Try alternating special play times instead of sending your kids to complete independent work. These special play times are when your older children play with your toddler.
The kids can play in the backyard, in a playroom, or in their bedrooms. They can play with blocks, stuffed animals, or cars. They can even read, do puzzles, or color together.
The possibilities are endless and your toddler will adore having special time with older siblings.
Nap time
If all else fails, there's always nap time. Toddlers can't explore the house when they're asleep making this the perfect time for experiments, projects, and focused attention.
You won't need to worry about little fingers appearing in the mummified chicken. The jello cell for science won't be sampled prematurely. And your bathroom won't be repainted with toothpaste.
Your little one will be safe and sound asleep in their bed.
Homeschooling with toddlers is challenging but doable. You'll need to spend some time making a list of possible activities for your toddler.
But you can homeschool with toddlers in the house.
Sara Dennis is a homeschooling mother of 6 children ages 4 through 18. After much research into homeschooling in 2000, she and her husband fell in love with classical education and used it as the foundation for their homeschool. Sara blogs at Classically Homeschooling, and you can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+.
