Whether you’ve made the decision to homeschool right from the start, or sent you child to kindergarten only to realize it wasn’t right for your family, this magical season of crayon drawings and picture books can actually be the most stressful.

It’s hard to believe, but there is an intense pressure that can come with those first few years as you scramble to learn all you can about being a home educator, become hyper aware of the expectations of those around you, find yourself drained and exhausted by the demands of managing one or more littles, and struggle with seasons of serious doubt.

But you can manage the fear, the anxiety, and the stress by making just a few changes in your thinking about early education, and lean on the expertise of pioneers and experts in child development.

Read more about how to set yourself up for success before you even start.

It is also important to note, that when you’re dealing with littles, the more intensely you focus on hard deadlines and goals, the more likely they may be to pick up your stress and resist your best efforts to get them to show your uncle that they know all the countries in Africa at age 5 and you’re the best homeschooling mom ever.

Play Hard

Choosing to educate at home means you have the freedom to give your toddler and young child an abundance of the very best thing they need for their development. That thing is, of course, play.

There is abundant research on the subject, so when you’re feeling like you’re out of your element, bookmark some of the following links to understand more about how play helps your child thrive:
https://www.nifplay.org/play-science/summary-of-key-findings/

https://www.nifplay.org/play-science/scientific-disciplines-researching-play/

I know it feels like you’re not doing anything important snuggling up with a three year old and reading their favorite book again, but these first few years are so foundational to the people they will become. You will have more than enough time for math and science and all the other things. Enjoy these first five or six years and know just by being with them you’re giving them what they need.

Create a learning-rich environment.

There are, of course, many different theories about what early education should look like, but I lean a bit on Maria Montessori for this one, without being exactly Montessori. She believed in fueling children’s natural curiosity by providing them with real world objects and accessible tools to explore. Looking at how your environment is set up, and whether you have provided enough to satisfy your child’s need for exploration is a great way to destress from the confusion of traditional school’s early education standards.

A note about early education in traditional school: keep always in mind that school as we know it is designed to meet the needs of many children from diverse backgrounds. The focus on adding more and more to early education is not based in psychology or science, but in sociology. In the desire to level the playing field and provide to children what they might be missing at home. It isn’t unimportant, but it isn’t especially relevant when compared to a home education environment.

Do not focus on academic goals.

Feeling overwhelmed by the education goals of those first few years? Wondering why there’s so much pressure for academic achievement, when you remember kindergarten as a whimsical time of shapes, colors, and crafts? You’re not alone. Even some top researchers are beginning to question our push to cram so much into those early years, finding that the net benefit over time isn’t what we thought it was. And keep in mind, early education is meant to help kids who might fall behind due to socio-economic situations.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of wanting to prove that you’ve got a good handle on your child’s education by making sure they can do all the things that traditional school kids are doing, but if you spend some time making sure you are in the right head space, with the right support network, this becomes far less important.

There are also schools of thought that believe academic focus is harmful to kids. But if you still want to be ready, consider offering simple, fun, and easy activities, such as phonics games and videos to prepare them to read, math concepts through normal activities such as cooking. In the least stressful way possible, you’ll soon see what your child is ready for.