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Should you send your young child to school if he asks to go? "I'm really keen to homeschool my 3.5 year old, but lately he has been asking to go to school and preschool." by Beverley Paine, May 2019 Home educated kids often ask if they can try school, or express an interest in it and want to go. Going to school is normal - it is what most kids do. And like most things they see around them, they're keen to find out about it. Consider this though: as toddlers they mad keen to help you with the chores but by the time they reached five and understood that it wasn't really playing, it was actually work, and that they need to be done everyday or most days even if you didn't want to do them, the shine had rubbed off doing the chores. School's a bit like that too. This curiosity about school is something that comes and goes as kids grow through various stages of development. There are times when during our development we're full steam ahead learning everything that matters socially and we need to knock about with a range of people. Notice I said range of people. These people don't need to be same age peers!
My daughter showed a huge need for learning from other people at age 3-4 years, and between 4-6 she very much withdrew, was content to hang out with her parents and her siblings. At 6-7 she had another massive need for social learning. Over the years we noticed that other kids seemed to go through similar stages at about the same developmental age. And lastly, play 'school' at home. Set up some desks, take turns being the teacher. Create a school uniform. Pack lunches. Younger children love playing this game. We know what school is like and they don't. So share your memories and experiences with them in a fun way. |
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