Stay-at-Home Versus Working Parents
Once the learning areas are established, rotating toys and equipment should require less than 15 minutes a day. The learning areas and toys can be used any time your children are at home.
A stay-at-home parent can use this system as part of a homeschool program, or simply to keep their young children occupied and learning throughout the day until they attend preschool or school full-time.
Full-time working parents can use this system for their children before and after daycare, or by a babysitter, grandparent, or nanny if they are cared for in the home.
A child who is home for 10 hours a day will require much more stimuli, equipment, toys, and activities than one who is at preschool or daycare for four to eight hours a day.
Once a home is set up and equipped, it simply comes down to an adult rotating materials in and out and to organize and encourage play.
Set up the playroom every evening after the children go to sleep. You will love watching them wake up and run downstairs as though it were a holiday morning, eager to see the playroom with “new” toys to play with and explore. Mine ran to the playroom ready to “work.” I’m not sure why, but at some point, we started calling the play or activities “jobs,” and to this day, they find challenges and “working” (like schoolwork) fun. This also made the transition to formal schooling much easier.
On days I was too tired or forgot to set up the play area, my middle daughter would often remind me or ask, “Mommy, what jobs can I do today?” Or she would simply go get the bin of toys she wanted to play with on her own. This becomes a system and a way of life for young children at home.
When children start school full time, set up the playroom for before and after school, so when they come home, they have constructive and imaginative play waiting. It balances the restrictions of being in a classroom when children have to be quiet, stand in line, and hold back their inherent need for freedom and movement. After sitting most of the day, being able to come home to a playroom full of opportunity provides children the freedom to move their bodies at their own pace and do whatever they choose. It supplements the academic with necessary independence, creativity, and fun. Simply set up the right environment, provide the right resources each day, and let them play.
The paperback version of Create a Home of Learning is available at Amazon, your favorite bookseller or jodidee.com