Homeschooling. It's on.

I'm a little worried about getting started with schooling too soon. My focus right now is exposing my kids to different ideas and building habits. We read a lot :D We get new books from the library weekly. We go play outside every day, kicking a ball and playing with dirt. We sing. We go to playgroups. We play board games. We play chase and tickle fight. They play with water in the sink while helping me wash dishes; they play with pots and measuring cups while "helping" me cook; they help tidy the house and put away laundry. Jack helps take care of Lily by bringing her toys when she's sad and holding her hand if she's walking near the road. We have toys that facilitate learning: puzzles, blocks, cars, etc.

We have played around with learning the alphabet and numbers, phonics, arithmetic, writing, etc. My poor son is a perfectionist and will immediately shy away from something he can't do perfectly, so I just let concepts come up in everyday life and he picks things up that way. He can count to 20, recognizes most letters of the alphabet and knows some of the sounds they make, recognizes numbers up to 7, can add and subtract 1 and 2, knows the words to the songs we sing at church, knows his friends' names, knows how to play lots of games. He knows that babies can't eat the same things that grownups can, and he knows how to get a toy from a baby without making her cry (give her something more interesting!). He knows many of the stories in the Book of Mormon and Bible and can act a couple of them out for you. He is getting old enough for schooling, and it amazes me the things he can do that I thought he wasn't big enough for, but I would like to see some well-developed interest before I start.

We lean towards the Thomas Jefferson philosophy of education, and so I don't plan to start formal schooling for a few years. Of course I'm always re-evaluating :) I have a friend who did this and her oldest son started demanding lessons at age 7; I love watching that kid learn, he's so excited about everything! It's been hard in the face of so many moms who put their kids in preschool; there is so much pressure in this area to get started so young. I am choosing to give my kids a longer childhood in the hopes that they will develop a deeper passion for learning when they're older.

So, I guess you could say that our curriculum is this:
Every single day, we read, play outside, and do chores together. Most days we play a game together, too. And every single night we learn stories from the Bible and Book of Mormon. For variety and social interaction, we go somewhere almost every day, whether it's the store, the library, a friend's house, or a museum. It's simple, we love it, and it's free!