Homeschooling newbie

[Marianna1988]

Hi all
I've never really thought I wanted to homeschool. I'm not even sure why I am really considering it now, but its been on my mind a lot the past few months. I am a decent product of public school education, as are all of my siblings, but even when I was in school, I felt like things were going downhill lol. I was thinking of maybe starting home schooling for preschool during the spring/summer, then come fall we can try public preschool, maybe doing both at the same time. Then we can decide what is the best fit for us. My biggest hesitation is that I lack patience with explaining things. If I know it, you should know it. Thats really going to help a three year old, right? Lol. I'm also never motivated to stick to a schedule.

I guess I'm just wondering, how do I get started with finding a good program? My son will be 3 in May. He has some speech delays if that matters, and I haven't done much with teaching colors, shapes, numbers, or letters. I think I was kind of in denial that he's old enough to be learning, I just wanted him to stay my little boy i say things while we play, but i dont teach, kwim? he knows a couple shapes (star, circle, and heart, not the easy ones like square) and knows that red, yellow, green, and blue *are* colors... Just not which is which lol. We "work" on body parts, so I knw he is probably capable of learning more colors and shapes by now.

I would like a secular (that's the term for not religion based?) program. What are good ones that will help both of us? What sort of other supplies would you recommend for us to start with? We have a move in a month or two, so I probably won't be starting before march/April.

Thanks for any help!

[oregonmom]

We don't do anything formal as far as learning until our kids are 5+. For a kid as young as your son I would have it all be play learning. Things like if you have colored building blocks you pick up a red one and ask if he can find one that is the same color. Most kids, especially boys, at that age want to be on the move and not having to sit and learn. So a great thing to do is find ways to include both. Make big letters or numbers and have him jump from on to the next while you count or say the alphabet. Find silly songs online to teach things.
We also do lots and lots of reading together at that age. So you could could find fun books to read together that cover things you want him to learn. Just make sure they are short books or that you are willing to cover one book in more then one sitting. We get most of our books from the library.
If you are ok with him being on the computer starfall.com is another great resource to help learn the letters.